October 15, 2020 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate Judiciary Committee has set an Oct 22 vote on recommending approval of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination. Republicans are racing to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick and Democrats acknowledging there is little they can do stop them. Her confirmation would lock conservative majority on the court for years to come. Thursday’s session is without Barrett after she testified publicly for two days of questioning. It is a procedural formality setting the panel’s vote next week. In her Senate testimony, Barrett has stressed that she would be her own judge and sought to create distance between herself and past positions.
October 15, 2020 4:06 am
SOUTH STRABANE, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man is accused of more than 30 burglaries at Taco Bell locations in five states, including here in Washington County. Joshua Logue, 30, is in custody facing several charges including three counts of felony burglary in South Strabane Township. The recent revelation about Logue’s history came to light after police say he forced his way through the front door and stole cash in the early morning hours of Sept. 21. But after digging deeper, investigators said the 30-year-old from Columbus, Ohio robbed two other locations in Allegheny County that same morning. Then three days later, Logue was arrested in Decatur, Indiana almost immediately following the burglary of a Taco Bell in that state. And his record dates back to 2019, where he allegedly robbed other Taco Bell locations in Kentucky Ohio and West Virginia. South Strabane Township Police have now issued an arrest warrant for Logue.
October 15, 2020 2:50 am
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has taken to television and radio recently to encourage Pennsylvanians to vote early in the upcoming election. Here in Washington County, residents may vote early, but Melanie Ostrander, the county’s elections director, says those who choose to do so won’t find the traditional polling place set up. Ostrander says residents who wish to vote early may come into the elections office and request a mail-in ballot. They may then fill out that ballot in-person, in the office and return it the same day. Ostrander says there is no actual polling place set up for early voting. Ostrander says residents are taking advantage of the early voting option, with more than one-hundred people turning up in her office on Tuesday. As for mail-in ballots, Ostrander says they have sent out more than thirty-eight-thousand, with the ratio being three to one, Democrat. Ostrander says residents may vote in-person at their office until five p.m. on October 27th, the last day mail-in and absentee ballots will be accepted. Ostrander also addressed the issue of security at the polls. She says they’ve been in touch with the various municipalities and they are working on swearing in additional constables to ensure everyone’s safety.
October 15, 2020 2:28 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is “at the start of the fall resurgence” of COVID-19. That’s according to the state health secretary, who is urging residents once more to take steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Wednesday marked the ninth consecutive day that Pennsylvania’s daily case count surpassed 1,000. Though some of the increase caseload is due to expanded testing, hospitalization and test positivity rates are also rising. Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine says that indicates increased viral spread.
October 14, 2020 4:29 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Melania Trump says her 14-year-old son, Barron, has tested positive for the coronavirus but has no symptoms. The White House initially said he had tested negative, after both of his parents tested positive earlier this month. The first lady said Wednesday that subsequent testing showed Barron had also come down with COVID-19.
October 14, 2020 12:50 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Conchata Ferrell, who became known for her role as Berta the housekeeper on TV’s “Two and a Half Men,” has died. Ferrell was 77. áA publicist says the actor died in Los Angeles following cardiac arrest, with her family at her side. Ferrell gained fame on the sitcom after a long career as a character actor on stage and in movies, including “Mystic Pizza” and “Network.” áFerrell received two supporting actress Emmy nominations for “Two and a Half Men,” and an Emmy nod for her role as Susan Bloom on “L.A. Law.” She is survived by her husband, Arnie Anderson, and her daughter, Samantha.
October 14, 2020 4:09 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Fire crews from across the state are being deployed to Northern California where hot, windy conditions are renewing the threat of fire. The threat comes in the region where massive blazes have already destroyed hundreds of homes and killed 31 people this year. The National Weather Service issued a red-flag warning for extremely dangerous fire conditions from Wednesday through Friday morning. With bone-dry humidity and wind gusts possibly hitting 55 mph, Pacific Gas & Electric also may cut power Wednesday to as many as 54,000 customers in 24 counties. The shutoffs could last up to 48 hours.
October 14, 2020 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is trying to shore up support from constituencies that not so long ago he thought he had in the bag: big business and voters in the red state of Iowa. Trump on Wednesday expressed puzzlement in an address to business leaders that they would even consider supporting his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. He’s headed to Iowa later today, a state he won handily in 2016 but where Biden is making a late push. Biden is holding a virtual fundraiser from Wilmington, Delaware, and delivering pre-taped remarks to American Muslims, but he doesn’t have any public campaign events scheduled Wednesday.
October 14, 2020 4:06 am
MOSCOW (AP) – A trio of space travelers has launched successfully to the International Space Station, for the first time using a fast-track maneuver to reach the orbiting outpost in just three hours. NASA’s Kate Rubins, along with Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, lifted off as scheduled Wednesday from the Russia-leased Baikonur space launch facility in Kazakhstan for a six-month stint on the station. For the first time, they are trying a two-orbit, three-hour approach to the orbiting outpost. Previously it took twice as long for the crews to reach the station. Rubins said the crew spent weeks in quarantine to avoid any threat from the coronavirus.
October 14, 2020 4:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Amy Coney Barrett has said repeatedly at her confirmation hearings that she’d be her own judge if she’s confirmed to the Supreme Court. But she was careful not to take on the president who nominated her. And she sought to create distance between herself and her own personal positions, past writings on controversial subjects and even her late mentor. Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court to take the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seems inevitable, as even some Senate Democrats acknowledged on Wednesday. The shift would cement a 6-3 conservative majority on the court and would be the most pronounced ideological change in 30 years, from the liberal icon Ginsburg to the conservative appeals court judge.
