October 24, 2020 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – As President Donald Trump sows doubts about the election, an obscure government agency he created is working behind the scenes to inspire confidence in the vote amid unprecedented challenges. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, which Trump signed into existence in 2018, is working with other parts of the government to safeguard an election in the middle of a pandemic. Trump hasn’t made it easy by predicting that voting at a time of COVID-19 will be a “disaster,” insisting mail-in balloting is a recipe for fraud and dismissing reports of Russian interference. CISA quietly offers a counternarrative on these issues and more, and its director projects optimism about the election.
October 24, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans and Democrats are unleashing millions in eleventh-hour spending in Senate races. But with Election Day less than two weeks off, much of it is coming in states that wouldn’t normally see late spending. They include normal GOP strongholds like Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina and Texas. President Donald Trump’s unpopularity is putting red-leaning seats into play and Democratic candidates are raising so much money that national Democrats can afford to spend money in races they might normally ignore.
October 24, 2020 4:09 am
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – The United States is approaching a record for the number of new daily coronavirus cases in the latest ominous sign of the disease’s grip on the nation. The surge’s impact is being felt in every section of the country. Among the latest developments: a lockdown at the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s reservation in South Dakota and a plea by a Florida health official for a halt to children’s birthday parties. There’s an increasingly desperate situation at a hospital in northern Idaho, which is running out of space for patients and considering airlifts to Portland, Oregon, or Seattle. The surge in the U.S. mirrors a similar spike in Europe.
October 24, 2020 4:07 am
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – President Donald Trump is set to cast his own ballot in his adopted home state of Florida Saturday before rallying supporters in three other critical battleground states. Democrat Joe Biden is throwing his attention – with a little help from rock legend Jon Bon Jovi – on the closely contested pockets of Pennsylvania that could prove key to deciding the outcome there. Trump promises to go full throttle over the final 10 days of the campaign with a series of big rallies even as the number of new daily coronavirus cases continues to climb. Biden is making the case that Trump doesn’t deserve a second term because of his handling of the pandemic.
October 24, 2020 4:05 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — There are new COVID-19 situations, and updates in cases announced earlier this week from schools within the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. School administrators continue to follow policies and protocols which include immediate reporting of the cases to appropriate health agencies. With an abundance of caution and a focus on keeping school communities safe, actions are taken based on medical guidance as offered through those health agencies. Following health and safety protocols after a third person reported a positive COVID-19 test result, St. Louise De Marillac Catholic School in Upper Saint Clair will close, and students will learn online until November 2, 2020. Based on updated direction from the Allegheny County Health Department, the boys’ soccer program at North Catholic High School will be back at school Monday, October 26, and able to resume practices and matches effective immediately. All 27 people involved with the North Catholic Varsity Boys Soccer Team had begun quarantine based on original guidance from the Allegheny County Health Department upon being notified that the team was potentially exposed to COVID-19 in a recent match.
October 24, 2020 4:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court is prohibiting counties from rejecting ballots if the voter’s signature on it does not resemble the signature on the voter’s registration form. Two Republican justices joined five Democratic justices in Friday’s decision. It addresses a key concern surrounding an avalanche of mail-in ballots in the presidential battleground state. The verdict was a victory for the state’s top election official. Kathy Boockvar is a Democrat who had asked the court to back her up in a legal dispute with President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republican lawmakers. Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are locked in a battle to win Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.
October 24, 2020 3:58 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Shelley Moore Capito has leaned hard on her record as she tries to become the first West Virginia Republican re-elected to the U.S. Senate in more than a century. And she hopes to ride the overwhelming popularity of President Donald Trump in the state from the 2016 election. Standing in her way on Nov. 3 is Democrat Paula Jean Swearengin, who is using her stances on progressive issues, her popularity from a role in a Netflix movie, and the hard realities of life in the southern coalfields to try to snap Capito’s two-decade streak in political office.
October 23, 2020 12:40 pm
The cancellation of Light Up Night is among changes being made to the 2020 holiday season in downtown Pittsburgh because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Pivoting efforts towards a reimagined holiday season, we’re excited to bring back other returning traditions and new surprises that can be hosted safely,” an announcement said. The Peoples Gas Holiday Market will return for a ninth year, though it will be reconfigured with social distancing in mind. It is scheduled to open on Nov. 27. Another change coming is “Santa Zoom: Live from the North Pole,” replacing the traditional Santa’s House in Market Square with a unique experience offering a live chat with Santa while providing a digital keepsake for families. Open daily between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it will be free with a minimum $5 suggested donation to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. This year would have been the 60th year of Light Up Night.
October 23, 2020 4:15 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – A federal judge is urging the Trump administration to do more to help court-appointed researchers find hundreds of parents who are still separated from their children three years after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. The judge didn’t issue an order Thursday but asked the government to explore ways to make it easier to find the parents. Most of them were deported to their Central American homelands. A court filing revealed this week that researchers have been unable to track down the parents of 545 children. The number is much larger than previously known and has drawn outcry.
October 23, 2020 4:14 am
U.S. regulators have approved the first drug to treat COVID-19. Remdesivir is an antiviral medicine given through an IV. Its maker, Gilead Sciences Inc., said Thursday that the drug is approved for people at least 12 years old who need hospitalization for their coronavirus infection. The company is calling it Veklury. A large U.S. study found it cut the time to recovery by five days — from 15 days to 10 on average. It has been authorized for use on an emergency basis since spring. It works by inhibiting a substance the virus uses to make copies of itself.
