April 5, 2021 4:30 am
(AP) – Norwegian Cruise Line’s parent company wants to resume sailing from U.S. ports in July. On Monday, the company asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for permission to return to U.S. waters for the first time in more than a year, since the early days of the pandemic. Norwegian says its cruise lines will require that all passengers and crew members vaccinated against COVID-19 at least two weeks before the trip. The company says its safety measures go beyond steps taken by others including airlines, hotels and restaurants. Norwegian plans to start U.S. cruises at 60% of capacity and raise that to 80% in August and 100% in September.
April 5, 2021 4:29 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The emergency room doctor who pronounced George Floyd dead after trying to resuscitate him has testified that he theorized at the time that Floyd’s heart most likely stopped because of insufficient oxygen. Dr. Bradford Langenfeld was a senior resident on duty that night at Hennepin County Medical Center. He said Floyd’s heart had stopped by the time he got to the hospital, and he was not told of any efforts at the scene by bystanders or police to resuscitate Floyd, though paramedics told him they had tried for about 30 minutes. He took the stand at the beginning of Week Two at former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, as prosecutors seek to establish that it was Chauvin’s knee on the Black man’s neck that killed him last May.
April 5, 2021 4:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans in Congress are making the politically brazen bet that it’s more advantageous to oppose President Joe Biden’s ambitious rebuild America agenda than to lend support. They vow to fight the costly $2.3 trillion undertaking for roads, bridges and other infrastructure investments. Much the way Republicans provided no votes for the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, they plan to sit on the sidelines for this next big White House priority. The tension could mount this week. Biden shows no signs adjusting to satisfy Republican leaders, instead appealing directly to their constituents for support.
April 5, 2021 4:25 am
The starry cast of Aaron Sorkin’s 1960s courtroom drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7” took the top prize Sunday at a virtual, pre-taped Screen Actors Guild Awards that saw Netflix snag Hollywood actors’ highest honor for the first time. The win for “Trial of the Chicago 7” marked the first time a film from any streaming service won the guild’s ensemble award. Other winners included Chadwick Boseman for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Yuh-Jung Youn for “Minari” and Daniel Kaluuya for “Judas and the Black Messiah.” The SAG Awards are a closely watched Oscar harbinger. Actors make up the largest branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures, and SAG winners often line up with Oscar ones.
April 5, 2021 4:22 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A mixed martial arts fighter had his finger severed during a match in Philadelphia, but doctors were eventually able to reattach it. Khetag Pliev was injured Thursday night during the second round of his fight, which was stopped when the referee noticed Pliev was missing his left ring finger. Event promoter Rob Haydak told ESPN that officials began searching inside the cage where the match was held, and an announcement was made to the crowd, asking them to look for it also. After several minutes, the finger was ultimately discovered inside Pliev’s glove. Pliev’s opponent was declared the winner by TKO, but Pliev says he will appeal that ruling.
April 5, 2021 4:21 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Vaccine passports being developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status have become the latest flash point in America’s perpetual political wars. Supporters say the passports would allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine. But Republicans portray them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices. Vaccine passports currently exist in only one state – a limited government partnership in New York with a private company. But that hasn’t stopped GOP lawmakers in a handful of states from rushing out legislative proposals to ban their use as a tool to restrict what people may do.
April 5, 2021 4:19 am
SALEM TWP. — (WPXI)- Two people died from a massive house fire in Westmoreland County overnight. According to the county coroner’s office, the blaze broke out at the home in the 1600 block of Route 819 in Salem Township before 1 a.m. Sunday. Firefighters battled the flames for several hours. The home became fully engulfed — and the roof and side of the structure collapsed. Crews found the victims — identified as David Staats, 57, and Helena Staats, 84 — inside the house. The coroner pronounced them dead at the scene. It’s unclear how the fire started, and the state fire marshal is investigating.
April 4, 2021 7:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Details from more than 500 million Facebook users have been found available on a website for hackers. The information appears to be several years old, but it is another example of the vast amount of information collected by Facebook and other social media sites, and the limits to how secure that information is. The availability of the data set was first reported by Business Insider. According to that publication, it has information from 106 countries including phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, and email addresses. Facebook has been grappling with data security issues for years. In 2018, the social media giant disabled a feature that allowed users to search for one another via phone number following revelations that the political firm Cambridge Analytica had accessed information on up to 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge or consent.
April 4, 2021 7:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol, killing one of them before he was shot to death by police, had been suffering from delusions, paranoia and suicidal thoughts, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday. Investigators believe it was an isolated incident from a disturbed young man. Video of the Friday afternoon attack shows the driver emerging from the crashed car with a knife in his hand and starting to run at the pair of officers, Capitol Police acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters. Police shot the suspect, 25-year-old Noah Green, who died at a hospital. Investigators are increasingly focused on Green’s mental health as they work to identify any motive for the attack, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation and spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity. The official said investigators had talked to Green’s family, who spoke of his increasingly delusional thoughts. In online posts since removed, Green described being under government thought control and said he was being watched. He described himself as a follower of the Nation of Islam and its longtime leader, Louis Farrakhan, and spoke of going through a difficult time when he leaned on his faith. Some of the messages were captured by the group SITE, which tracks online activity.
April 4, 2021 7:01 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Vaccine passports being developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine have become the latest flash point in America’s perpetual political wars, with Republicans portraying them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices. They currently exist in only one state — a limited government partnership in New York with a private company — but that hasn’t stopped GOP lawmakers in a handful of states from rushing out legislative proposals to ban their use. The argument over whether passports are a sensible response to the pandemic or governmental overreach echoes the bitter disputes over the past year about masks, shutdown orders and even the vaccines themselves. Vaccine passports are typically an app with a code that verifies whether someone has been vaccinated or recently tested negative for COVID-19. They are in use in Israel and under development in parts of Europe, seen as a way to safely help rebuild the pandemic- devastated travel industry. They are intended to allow businesses to more safely open up as the vaccine drive gains momentum, and they mirror measures already in place for schools and overseas travel that require proof of immunization against various diseases.
