October 2, 2020 8:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s employers added 661,000 jobs in September, the third straight month of slower hiring and evidence from the final jobs report before the presidential election that the economic recovery has weakened. With September’s hiring gain, the economy has recovered only slightly more than half the 22 million jobs that were wiped out by the viral pandemic. The roughly 10 million jobs that remain lost exceed the number that the nation shed during the entire 2008-2009 Great Recession.
October 2, 2020 8:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence tested negative for COVID-19 Friday morning. This comes hours after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were diagnosed with the coronavirus. Spokesman Devin O’Malley says Pence “remains in good health and wishes the Trumps well in their recovery.” He says the vice president is tested every day for the virus. Trump announced on Twitter early Friday that he and the first lady had tested positive for the coronavirus.
October 2, 2020 5:25 am
Recreation was on the mind of Washington City Council as they approved steps to make improvements to the Seventh Ward Playground. That playground has been a nuisance to neighbors as council has received complaints about possible drug dealing, setting off of fireworks, teens making noise after hours and residents just leaving trash. Council approved a two year cooperative agreement with the Dreamers Company to help enhance and develop the Seventh Ward Playground. Councilman Matt Staniszewski describes the Dreamers Company as an organization of volunteers that are interested in keeping recreation areas safe and up to date. They will be assisting the city in application for a Kaboom Grant to offset the cost of new playground equipment. The city has committed $5000 in years 2020 and 2021 as financial matches to funds from the Kaboom Grant. The city is taking preventive measures in the meantime by fencing off the playground to deter intruders.
October 2, 2020 4:03 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Prosecutors say Harvey Weinstein has been charged with the rape of two more women in Los Angeles County. The district attorney’s office said Friday that Weinstein faces three new counts of rape and three new counts of forcible oral copulation involving two women. The incidents span from 2004 to 2010 and all allegedly took place at a hotel in Beverly Hills. The new charges mean Weinstein is now charged with 11 felony counts in California, involving five women. The 68-year-old ex-movie mogul is serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York. A Weinstein spokesman declined comment on the new charges
October 2, 2020 4:01 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Winds are getting stronger in California’s wine country, threatening to escalate a massive wildfire that has burned for days and destroyed hundreds of buildings. The Glass Fire north of San Francisco is burning near Calistoga, a small town known for hot springs, mud baths and wineries. More fire crews and equipment were deployed in the town of 5,000 people in the hills of Napa County, after a forecast called for strong winds and extremely low humidity. More than 2,000 firefighters are battling the blaze in Napa and Sonoma counties.
October 2, 2020 3:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House says President Donald Trump will spend a “few days” at a military hospital after contracting COVID-19. Trump departed the White House by helicopter late Friday for Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a White House official said. The official said the visit was precautionary and that Trump would work from the hospital’s presidential suite, which is equipped to allow him to continue his official duties. Earlier Friday the White House said Trump remains “fatigued” and had been injected with an experimental antibody cocktail for the virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans. Trump and First Lady Melania were both diagnosed Thursday with COVID-19.
October 1, 2020 1:41 pm
(AP) – Health officials are urging Americans to seek a flu vaccine this month, hoping to avoid twin epidemics as COVID-19 continues to circulate. Europe is gearing up for flu vaccinations, too. Manufacturers have produced record numbers of doses, with as much as 198 million expected in the U.S. But they’re not all shipped at once, and there are sporadic reports of a drugstore or clinic temporarily out of stock. Vaccine makers say shipments still are coming. And the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions says early demand may be high but don’t get frustrated – keep trying.
October 1, 2020 12:38 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Back in 2002, Roman Catholic bishops in the United States adopted a charter containing guidelines for combating child sex abuse by priests and other church personnel. A think tank has now completed a two-year investigation of the resulting policies adopted in all 32 archdioceses in the U.S. Its verdict: The policies are inconsistent and often worryingly incomplete. CHILD USA says prevention will remain flawed as long as individual bishops remain in charge of implementation without more forceful independent oversight. The group wants the church to establish more detailed mandatory standards. The national bishops’ conference defends its overall effort, though it says improvements are needed.
October 1, 2020 8:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined last week to a still-high 837,000, evidence that the economy is struggling to sustain a tentative recovery that began this summer. The Labor Department’s report, released Thursday, suggests that companies are still cutting a historically high number of jobs, though the weekly numbers have become less reliable as states have increased their efforts to root out fraudulent claims and process earlier applications that have piled up. For example, California, which accounts for more than one-quarter of aid applications, simply provided the same figure it submitted the previous week. The state had said it would stop accepting jobless claims online so it could tackle a backlog of 600,000 claims.
October 1, 2020 4:18 am
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Twelve Democratic governors have issued a joint statement defending American democracy, vowing that every ballot will be counted in the election after President Donald Trump sowed distrust during the first presidential debate. Trump claimed without evidence Tuesday night that mail voting is ripe for fraud, and he refused to say whether he would accept the results. The governors said Wednesday that efforts to toss ballots or refuse a peaceful transfer of power “are nothing less than an assault on democracy.” Signing the statement were the governors of Michigan, California, Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico and Delaware.
