May 14, 2021 2:35 am
Authorities are investigating a death Thursday afternoon around one-thirty at the Washington County Correctional Facility as a possible suicide. The Washington County Coroner’s Office says 53 year old Gregory Roddy of New Derry, Pa. was found unresponsive in a cell during a regular check by a corrections officer. They say the individual was transported to Washington Hospital and was pronounced dead in the emergency department. The coroner’s office says the cause and manner of death are pending.
May 13, 2021 2:45 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is easing indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places. The new guidance was announced Thursday at the White House. It will still call for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but could ease restrictions for reopening workplaces and schools. The CDC will also no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, says, “We have all longed for this moment — when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.”
May 13, 2021 1:33 pm
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Gov. Mike DeWine’s announcement of a weekly $1 million prize to entice Ohioans to get coronavirus vaccines is raising questions and objections. Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers say it isn’t appropriate to use federal pandemic dollars for the lottery, which also will provide five full-ride college scholarships to vaccinated young people. The Republican governor says people may think it’s a waste of money or that he’s crazy. But he says the real waste is a loss of life to the virus now that the vaccine is available. President Joe Biden’s senior COVID-19 advisor, Andy Slavitt, says anything that draws attention to vaccines is a good thing.
May 13, 2021 9:26 am
McDonald’s is raising pay at 650 company-owned stores in the U.S. as part of its push to hire thousands of new workers in a tight labor market. Ninety-five percent of McDonald’s are franchisees, and it’s also encouraging them to raise wages. The fast-food giant followed Chipotle, which also announced pay hikes this week. Wages and benefits for U.S. workers have been growing quickly as vaccinations increase and employers try to meet growing demand at restaurants and other businesses. McDonald’s said its hourly wages will increase an average of 10% over the next few months to $13 per hour, rising to $15 per hour by 2024.
May 13, 2021 9:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 473,000, a new pandemic low and the latest evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs as consumers ramp up spending and more businesses reopen. Applications declined 34,000 from a revised 507,000 a week earlier. The number of weekly jobless claims – a rough measure of the pace of layoffs – has fallen significantly from a peak of 900,000 in January. Instead of cutting jobs, many employers are struggling to attract enough applicants for open positions.
May 13, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans are seeking to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. At a hearing Wednesday, some Republicans tried to shift the narrative by painting the Trump supporters who stormed the building as patriots. And Democrats clashed with Donald Trump’s former Pentagon chief over the government’s unprepared response. Former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen testified publicly for the first time about the events and defended their respective agencies’ responses to the chaos. But the hearing almost immediately devolved into partisan bickering, with Democrats accusing Republicans of rewriting history and GOP lawmakers insisting their party had been unfairly vilified for objecting to election results.
May 13, 2021 4:18 am
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israel is pressing ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip. It killed as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures Wednesday and toppled a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities. The Islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities. In just three days, this latest round of fighting between the bitter enemies has already begun to resemble or exceed a devastating 50-day war in 2014. Like that previous war, neither side appears to have a plan for ending the fighting. The conflict has also triggered the worst Jewish-Arab violence inside Israel in decades.
May 13, 2021 4:18 am
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – President Joe Biden has signed an executive order meant to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity defenses in response to a series of headline-grabbing hacking incidents that highlight how vulnerable the country’s public and private sectors are to high-tech spies and criminals operating from half a world away. The order will require all federal agencies to use basic cybersecurity defenses, like multi-factor authentication, and require new security standards for software makers that contract with the federal government. Officials are hoping to leverage the federal government’s massive spending power to improve software security in the private sector.
May 13, 2021 4:16 am
DENVER (AP) – Federal officials say two airplanes collided in the air near Denver and managed to land without anyone being hurt. Authorities say the collision between the twin-engine Fairchild Metroliner and the single-engine Cirrus SR22 happened Wednesday as both planes prepared to land at a small regional airport in a Denver suburb. Key Lime Air says its Metroliner’s tail section was substantially damaged, but that the pilot landed safely at the Centennial Airport. Authorities say a pilot and one passenger were on the other plane that deployed a parachute and drifted safely down to a field.
May 13, 2021 4:15 am
CLEMMONS, N.C. (AP) – The cybersecurity attack on the Colonial Pipeline has stricken fear and stress into the lives of people in the Southeastern U.S. who have been waiting in long lines amid distribution problems and panic-buying. The company said it initiated the restart of pipeline operations late Wednesday. But it will take several days for deliveries to return to normal. The situation forced some people to face the prospect of lost wages and missed doctors appointments. Restaurants and bars may be particularly squeezed since some workers may not be able to come to work and some customers may abandon plans to eat out.
