February 12, 2021 4:48 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – With Valentine’s Day coming, romance is in the air. The ongoing pandemic, however, has made dating even harder, leading many to turn to dating apps and websites to find someone special. A Washington County woman recently used a dating site and had more than her heart broken. State troopers said the victim was a victim of “catfishing” and was scammed out of $620,000. “She was talking to some military men online. Met on Facebook. They just took somebody’s picture and posed as them and here they were from Nigeria,” said Nadine Voelker. Voelker also has a friend who was scammed out of her hard earned money, too. Officials with the FBI office in Pittsburgh said last year, more than 5,700 people in western Pennsylvania were affected by romance scams. That’s 2,100 more than the year before. The total losses were about $20 million. The agency is warning people ahead of Valentine’s Day that criminals are using dating sites to build relationships and scam you out of your money. To avoid becoming a victim, the FBI recommends not giving away your financial information and don’t loan money out. Only use well-known dating sites and apps. Research photos and profiles and ask questions because scammers often create fake accounts. If you plan to meet someone in person, meet in a public place and let someone know where you are.
February 12, 2021 4:26 am
(AP) – The nation’s top public health agency says in-person schooling can be done safely with mask use, social distancing and other strategies, but vaccination of teachers, while important, is not a prerequisite for reopening. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released its long-awaited roadmap for getting students back to classrooms in the middle of a pandemic. But its guidance is just that – the agency cannot force schools to reopen, and agency officials were careful to say they are not calling for a mandate that all U.S. schools be reopened.
February 12, 2021 4:24 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ripped into the performance of his Cabinet and fired a senior economic official he appointed a month ago, saying they’d failed to come up with new ideas to salvage an economy in decay. The report by state media on Friday comes during the toughest period of Kim’s nine-year rule. The diplomacy he had hoped would lift U.S.-led sanctions over his nuclear program is stalemated, and pandemic border closures and crop-killing natural disasters last year deepened the damage to an economy broken by decades of policy failures. Some analysts say the current challenges may set up conditions for an economic catastrophe that destabilizes markets and triggers public panic and unrest.
February 12, 2021 4:23 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The city of San Francisco says that suicide rates of children have hit record highs in a lawsuit aimed at pushing the city’s school district to reopen classrooms. City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed the lawsuit Thursday in the San Francisco Superior Court. It includes testimony from hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area and doctors who cite alarming increases in suicidal youth. San Francisco’s public schools have been closed since March. The lawsuit argues that keeping the schools closed, despite city permission to reopen, violates the state constitution and is harming San Francisco’s children.
February 12, 2021 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s lawyers are arguing that his words to his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol – to “fight like hell” – are common political rhetoric, using a video montage to show almost every single Senate Democrat using the word “fight” in political speeches. The lengthy video featured Vice President Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and countless other Democrats using the word “fight,” without context. It also featured most of the Democratic impeachment managers who are prosecuting the case against Trump. Once the video finished, lawyer David Schoen pointed at both the senators and the impeachment managers and told them to “stop the hypocrisy.”
February 12, 2021 4:19 am
BUTLER, Pa. — Forty-year-old Rachel Powell has been released from jail. Powell is accused of using a large pipe to break a window at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and giving directions to fellow insurrectionists about how to take over the building. The government believes Powell may be a flight risk, but her attorney said she doesn’t have any prior criminal record. Her attorney also pointed out she did not physically harm anyone during the riot. Authorities searched Powell’s home and found several smashed cell phones; “go bags” with ammunition, rope, duct tape, throwing stars, knives, lighters, a tarp, zip ties and loaded magazines for an AK-47 rifle. Powell faces a long list of charges including violent entry or disorderly conduct, and entering a restricted building. She’s been ordered to remain on house arrest, meaning she must stay in the area and must wear a mask when leaving the house.
February 12, 2021 4:15 am
Pennsylvania school superintendents, school boards and teachers unions are coming together to ask Gov. Tom Wolf to prioritize school staff for the COVID-19 vaccine. The education groups call it an “absolutely essential” step toward reopening schools and keeping them open. More than 4 million people in Pennsylvania are currently eligible for the vaccine, with teachers and other essential workers next in line. In a letter to Wolf on Thursday, the education groups contended that “school staff members and students are in a uniquely dangerous position” and need to be vaccinated right away. The Wolf administration says it’s following federal government guidance on vaccinations.
February 12, 2021 3:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. airlines are pressing their case against requiring coronavirus testing of passengers on domestic flights. The CEOs of several major airlines met Friday with the White House’s coronavirus-response coordinator to lobby against a testing requirement. They say it would further undermine air travel, which is still running at less than half its pre-pandemic level. A person familiar with the discussions says the Biden administration isn’t currently planning to impose a testing requirement. But Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that such a requirement is under consideration to slow the spread of COVID-19.
February 11, 2021 4:11 am
Joe Biden has held his first call as president with Xi Jinping, pressing the Chinese leader about trade and Beijing’s crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong. A White House statement says Biden raised concerns about Beijing’s “coercive and unfair economic practices.” Biden also pressed Xi on China’s actions toward Taiwan and human rights abuses against Uighur and ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province. China’s state broadcaster says Xi pushed back against those concerns and warned, “The U.S. should respect China’s core interests.” The two leaders spoke just hours after Biden announced plans for a Pentagon task force to review U.S. national security strategy in China.
February 11, 2021 4:10 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Lucasfilm says Gina Carano is no longer a part of “The Mandalorian” cast after many online called for her firing over a social media post that likened the experience of Jews during the Holocaust to the U.S. political climate. A spokesperson with the production company said in a statement on Wednesday that Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm with “no plans for her to be in the future.” Carano played the recurring character Cara Dune on the “Star Wars” series. She deleted the post but it was widely shared online and spurred the #FireGinaCarano hashtag to trend.
