August 11, 2020 4:19 am
SEATTLE (AP) – Seattle’s police chief says she will retire. The move was reported Monday, the same day the City Council approved reducing the department through layoffs and attrition. The cuts were supported by demonstrators who have marched in the city following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The reductions were strongly opposed by the mayor and police chief. KING-TV reported that Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, the city’s first Black police chief, told the department of her decision in a letter, saying her retirement will be effective Sept. 2. Budget measures approved Monday would cut less than $4 million of the department’s $400 million annual budget this year.
August 11, 2020 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are holding firm in their negotiations with the White House over coronavirus relief. With many Republicans balking at more big government spending, Democrats are using their leverage to force President Donald Trump into a politically risky standoff over help for millions of Americans. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnunchin told governors on Monday that passing congressional legislation remains the “first choice.” While Trump has issued some executive actions, Pelosi is dismissing them as an “illusion.” Trump says he’s still quite open to a deal with Congress.
August 11, 2020 4:17 am
CANTON, Ga. (AP) – A Georgia school district has quarantined more than 900 students and staff members because of possible exposure to the coronavirus since classes resumed this last week. The Cherokee County School District outside Atlanta said it would also temporarily shut down a hard-hit high school in which a widely shared photo showed dozens of maskless students posing together. The district serves more than 42,000 students. News of the quarantines came a day after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said that the reopening of some of the state’s schools amid the coronavirus outbreak has gone well with the exception of the viral photos of students crowded together without masks.
August 11, 2020 4:15 am
(AP) – A senior legal adviser to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign intentionally misgendered Pennsylvania’s secretary of health in a tweet Monday morning. “This guy is making decisions about your health,” Jenna Ellis, an attorney for Trump 2020, tweeted Monday morning. Ellis shared a May 13 news article about a different incident in which Dr. Rachel Levine was misgendered — when KDKA-AM radio personality Marty Griffin repeatedly called Levine “sir” on a press call. Levine is a transgender woman and one of the few openly transgender public officials in the country. “Dr. Levine is laser-focused on assisting Pennsylvanians in the midst of a national pandemic,” Department of Health Press Secretary Nate Wardle told our partners at channel 11 in response to the latest incident. “She does not have time for this nonsense.” The Human Rights Campaign, a LGBTQ civil rights organization, came to Levine’s defense, releasing a statement that dubbed Ellis a “bigot.” Ellis, the former director of the Dobson Policy Center of the James Dobson Family Institute, joined the Trump campaign in November 2019.
August 11, 2020 2:18 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Bill Cosby’s lawyers are arguing in a new appeals filing that it was “fundamentally unfair” to let prosecutors use Cosby’s damaging deposition from a sex accuser’s lawsuit against him at trial. The filing made Tuesday largely focuses on what Cosby believes was a binding promise from a district attorney that he wouldn’t be charged in the case. A spokeswoman for the Montgomery County district attorney’s office isn’t commenting but says prosecutors will file a response within a month. The 83-year-old Cosby is serving a three- to 10-year prison term for three counts of felony sex assault.
August 10, 2020 4:28 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Antonio Banderas says he’s tested positive for COVID-19 and is celebrating his 60th birthday in quarantine. The Spanish actor announced his positive test on Instagram on Monday. Banderas said he would spend his time in isolation reading, writing and “making plans to begin to give meaning to my 60th year to which I arrive full of enthusiasm.” A spokeperson for Banderas didn’t immediately respond to messages Monday. (Photo: CNN)
August 10, 2020 3:47 pm
(WPXI) – Member schools of the Big Ten Conference have voted to cancel the fall football season due to ongoing concerns with the coronavirus pandemic, according to reports from multiple media outlets. A formal announcement on the decision is expected to be made Tuesday, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press. The presidents of the member schools voted 12-2 Sunday to end the fall sports in the conference with only Nebraska and Iowa voting to play, Dan Patrick said on his radio show Monday. Unnamed sources told The Free Press Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren prefers the conference to play a spring football season, however no final decision has been made. Reports of the vote and meetings Sunday night prompted multiple players from across the “Power 5″ conferences to post messages on their social media platforms urging administrators to continue with fall football plans.
August 10, 2020 3:39 pm
BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (AP) – A shooting in a western Pennsylvania community has left three people critically wounded. Authorities say the shooting in Beaver Falls was reported shortly after 11:30 p.m. Sunday. Responding police officers soon found the three victims, and two of them were flown to a hospital. The other was taken there by ambulance. The names of the victims and details on their injuries were not disclosed. All three remained in critical condition early Monday. A motive for the shooting remains under investigation. Authorities have not said what type of weapon was used or where the shooting occurred. No arrests have been made.
August 10, 2020 2:55 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Authorities say a massive fire engulfed cooking show star Rachael Ray’s New York home. The fire coordinator for Warren County says firefighters responded to Ray’s home in Lake Luzerne, New York around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday and requested aid from other departments to transport water to the property. Photos of the house fire show flames bursting through the roof and long plumes of smoke extending into the sky. Since April, Ray has been filming “(hash)STAYHOME With Rachael” two days a week from the home. A representative says Ray, her husband and dog are safe, but that the extent of damage to the home is not yet clear. (Photo: CNN)
August 10, 2020 9:44 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination will be held at either the White House or the Gettysburg battlefield. In a Monday tweet, Trump says a decision on the location of the Aug. 27 speech will be made soon. Both sites are federal property raising legal and ethical issues for their use in a political event. The Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania could also resurface the president’s defense of monuments to heroes of the Confederacy. Trump’s original plans to address the convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida, were upended by the coronavirus. Now most of the convention will be conducted virtually.
