October 12, 2020 4:17 am
ATLANTA (AP) – People eager to cast ballots are lining up on Georgia’s first day of early in-person voting. Some voters showed up before dawn to be among the first in line. Problems soon developed at a massive voting site in the state’s most populous county. Fulton County spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez said technicians had to fix the electronic poll books used to check voters in at State Farm Arena, where the Atlanta Hawks NBA team plays. And the wait was up to four hours at Cobb County’s election headquarters. Early in-person voting began Monday throughout Georgia and runs through Oct. 30.
October 12, 2020 4:14 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Authorities in western Pennsylvania say two people were arrested after climbing onto a Pittsburgh bridge in an attempt to hang a protest banner. Police said the man and woman climbed the superstructure of the 6th Street/Roberto Clemente Bridge at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday. The bridge was then closed to traffic and fire department crews cut the line the protesters were using to try to hang the banner. The protesters were arrested after they descended three hours later. Public safety officials said criminal charges were planned but didn’t specify what they would be.
October 12, 2020 4:13 am
BRADDOCK, Pa. (AP) – The wife of Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor says state police have identified and spoken with a woman who used a racial slur in confronting her at a western Pennsylvania grocery store. Gisele Fetterman says the woman appeared to recognize her and began harassing her late Sunday afternoon at a store near the Fetterman home in Braddock. She’s the wife of Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Gisele Fetterman says the woman directed a racial epithet at her repeatedly, even following after Fetterman retreated to her vehicle in the parking lot. That’s where Fetterman recorded a two-second clip and posted it to social media. A state police spokesman says he is unsure of the status of any investigation and offered no immediate comment.
October 12, 2020 4:10 am
MCKEESPORT, Pa. —(WPXI) -The Serra Catholic high school football team is being suspended for two weeks after one person on the team tested positive for COVID-19, according to a release from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. Officials said one “individual with the team” tested positive, so more than 40 student-athletes and staff will quarantine as well over the next two weeks. In addition to the team postponing activities and quarantining, the release said the high school will be closed Monday — students will learn virtually out of “an abundance of caution.” According to the release, the person who tested positive for the coronavirus is following all health guidelines and experiencing only mild symptoms. Each person who was in close contact with that person is being notified by the health department. Last month, the high school closed for several days after two students tested positive for the virus.
October 11, 2020 7:55 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Sunday urged North Korea to commit to its past disarmament pledges while expressing concerns over the North’s unveiling of a suspected new long-range missile during a military parade. During celebrations marking the 75th birthday of its ruling party in Pyongyang on Saturday, North Korea paraded a variety of weapons systems, including two missiles that were disclosed for the first time to a foreign audience. One is what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile that is larger than any of the North’s known ICBMs, and the other would likely be an upgraded version of a missile that can be fired from submarines. While some experts say they could be mock-ups of missiles under development, their disclosures suggest North Korea has been continuously pushing to boost its weapons capability amid a stalemate in nuclear diplomacy with the United States.
October 11, 2020 7:52 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s confirmed coronavirus toll crossed 7 million on Sunday with a number of new cases dipping in recent weeks, even as health experts warn of mask and distancing fatigue setting in. The Health Ministry registered another 74,383 infections in the past 24 hours. India is expected to become the pandemic’s worst-hit country in coming weeks, surpassing the U.S., where more than 7.7 million infections have been reported. The ministry also reported 918 additional deaths, taking total fatalities to 108,334. The number of people who have died of COVID-19 has remained relatively low in South and Southeast Asia — from India to Vietnam and Taiwan — compared to European countries and the United States, said Dr. Randeep Guleria, a government health expert.
October 11, 2020 7:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House doctor said that President Donald Trump was no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus but did not say explicitly whether Trump had tested negative for it. The diagnosis came as the president prepared to resume campaign rallies and other activities. In a memo released Saturday night by the White House, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley said Trump met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by “currently recognized standards” he was no longer considered a transmission risk. The memo did not declare Trump had tested negative for the virus. But sensitive lab tests — like the PCR test cited in the doctor’s statements — detect virus in swab samples taken from the nose and throat. Dr. William Morice, who oversees laboratories at the Mayo Clinic, said earlier this week that using the PCR tests, the president’s medical team could hypothetically measure and track the amount of virus in samples over time and watch the viral load go down.
October 11, 2020 7:50 am
LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — Hurricane Delta made landfall Friday evening near the coastal town of Creole with top winds of 100 mph (155 kph). It moved over Lake Charles, a city where Hurricane Laura damaged nearly every home and building in late August. No deaths had been reported by Saturday evening, but a hurricane’s wake can be treacherous. Seven of the 32 deaths attributed to Laura came the day that hurricane struck. Many others were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning from generators, and 10,000 utility workers were dispatched Saturday to get power restored to thousands of customers. Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter estimated that hundreds of already battered homes took on water. And people were already exhausted and stressed — for two weeks the Wesleys had been sleeping on their back porch to escape the heat because they had no power.
October 11, 2020 7:45 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Saturday threw out a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump’s campaign, dismissing its challenges to the battleground state’s poll-watching law and its efforts to limit how mail-in ballots can be collected and which of them can be counted. The ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan — who was appointed by Trump — in Pittsburgh also poured cold water on Trump’s claims that Pennsylvania is fertile ground for election fraud. Trump’s campaign said it would appeal at least one element of the decision, with barely three weeks to go until Election Day in a state hotly contested by Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The lawsuit was opposed by the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, the state Democratic Party, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP’s Pennsylvania office and other allied groups.
October 11, 2020 7:42 am
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WPXI) — President Donald Trump will make an appearance at a reelection rally in Johnstown on Tuesday, his campaign confirmed Saturday. Campaign officials said Trump will speak at the Make America Great Again rally at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport starting at 7 p.m. The event is general admission, and doors will open at 4 p.m. The campaign did not specify any details about COVID-19 protocols, but it will be an outdoor event. This announcement comes after the president’s planned visit to Beaver County on Monday was canceled.
