August 23, 2020 8:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans will aim to recast the story of Donald Trump’s presidency when they hold their national convention, featuring speakers drawn from everyday life as well as cable news and the White House while drawing a stark contrast with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Trump is looking to shift his campaign away from being a referendum on a presidency ravaged by a pandemic and economic collapse and toward a choice between vastly different visions of America’s future. The four-day event is themed “Honoring the Great American Story,” according to four Trump campaign officials involved with the planning process but not authorized to discuss it by name. The convention will feature prominently a number of well-known Trump supporters, including members of the Trump family, but also those whom the GOP say are members of the “silent majority” of Americans who have been aided by Trump’s policies. Some have been “silenced” by a “cancel culture” pushed by Democrats, the campaign officials said.
August 23, 2020 8:04 am
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — The mother of a man fatally shot by Louisiana police said her son was intelligent, shy and had sought therapy for social anxiety. Her lawyers said they plan to sue over the death of Trayford Pellerin, who police said had a knife and was trying to enter a convenience store. The shooting Friday night was captured on video, and the state ACLU condemned what it described as a “horrific and deadly incident of police violence against a Black person.” Both the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center quickly called for an investigation. Pellerin’s death prompted a crowd of protesters to gather Saturday and demonstrate against the latest fatal police shooting. Officers in riot gear fired smoke canisters on Saturday night to get the crowd to disperse, Trooper Derek Senegal said. No tear gas was deployed, he said. At a news conference late Saturday, local officials said the protest began peacefully, but violence later erupted with fireworks shot at buildings and fires set in the median of the road.
August 23, 2020 7:56 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A western Pennsylvania woman convicted in the shooting death of an FBI agent during pre-dawn drug raid at her home a dozen years ago is seeking release from prison, citing the coronavirus. The Tribune-Review reports that Christina Korbe, who is serving a 15-year, 10-month sentence in a federal prison in Connecticut, is currently scheduled for release in May 2022. Korbe pleaded guilty in 2011 to voluntary manslaughter and a firearms charge in the death of Special Agent Samuel Hicks, who was the first agent through the front door of the Indiana Township home in November 2008. Prosecutors dropped charges of murder of a federal officer, drug-trafficking conspiracy and weapons counts. Hicks and other law enforcement officers were trying to arrest Korbe’s husband on drug charges. A shot fired from the second floor down the dark stairwell struck the agent and entered his chest despite his bulletproof vest. Korbe said she thought someone was breaking into their home, and she fired in self-protection. Attorneys for Korbe, who has sought a reduced sentence several times, filed a release request Thursday saying she contracted COVID-19 in March. Defense attorney W. Theodore Koch III is seeking compassionate release, saying she is still recovering and there is “no guarantee that a person develops full immunity after recovery.”
August 23, 2020 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. – The governing body for Pennsylvania interscholastic sports decided Friday to move forward with the fall season, rejecting the governor’s recommendation that all youth sports be postponed until 2021 to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The board of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association had delayed the start of fall sports by two weeks after Gov. Tom Wolf on Aug. 6 urged that scholastic and recreational youth sports be put off until January, citing the pandemic. The PIAA had said it was blindsided and “tremendously disappointed” by Wolf’s recommendation – which was not binding – and insisted that fall sports could be held safely. For his part, Wolf has pointed out that major collegiate leagues have independently canceled fall sports. The board voted 25-5 on Friday to allow high school football, soccer, tennis, field hockey and other fall sports to go on as planned, starting Monday. Among those voting no: board members representing professional associations of school boards, superintendents and principals.
August 22, 2020 4:23 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea is banning large gatherings, shutting nightspots and churches and removing fans from professional sports in unprecedented restrictions as it battles the spread of the coronavirus. The health minister announced the steps Saturday shortly after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 332 new cases in the ninth straight day of triple-digit increases. While most of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul area, infections were also reported in practically every major city and town, raising concerns that transmissions are slipping out of control. The government has already imposed elevated social distancing measures in Seoul this week after resisted them for months out of economic concerns.
August 22, 2020 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House is convening for a rare Saturday session to address mail delivery disruptions. Democrats are poised to pass legislation to reverse recent changes in postal operations and send emergency funds to help the agency before the November election. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the Postal Service will be “election central” as millions of Americans opt for mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans are unlikely to support the bill. They say the postal problems are overblown. President Donald Trump has railed against the idea of wide-scale mail-in voting. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told senators Friday that election mail will arrive on time, but he could not provide a plan.
August 22, 2020 4:20 am
India has recorded another 24-hour jump in coronavirus infections as the disease spreads across the country’s southern states after plateauing in the capital and the financial center of Mumbai. The Health Ministry reported 69,878 new cases on Saturday, bringing the total to 2,975,701. Globally India has been reporting the biggest daily rise in cases for 18 consecutive days. India has the third-highest caseload after the United States and Brazil, and its 55,794 deaths give it the fourth-highest death toll in the world. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said Friday that the goal was to end the pandemic within two years of its first emergence in Wuhan, China, late last year.
August 22, 2020 4:19 am
MONTFORT, Wis. (AP) – While the fight for northern swing states rages more intensely in the metro areas, a Democratic effort has been going on for months to shave President Donald Trump’s winning margins in pivotal rural and small-town regions. The object is to cut into Trump’s winning margins and raise the stakes for him in the burgeoning suburbs of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville says, “The general theory of the case goes like this: We’re trying not to lose as bad.” He’s helping raise money for Democratic super PAC American Bridge’s 21st Century’s $30 million advertising effort in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
August 22, 2020 4:18 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Firefighters and aircraft from 10 states have begun arriving in California to help weary crews battling some of the largest blazes in state history. But weekend weather is threatening to renew the advance of flames that have killed six people and incinerated hundreds of homes. Some 560 wildfires are burning throughout the state but the most damaging are three clusters of blazes in the San Francisco Bay Area and the wine country. State fire officials say their forces are stretched thin and they’re grateful for reinforcements. They’re hoping to make progress before unsettled weather beginning Sunday brings the threat of lightning strikes that could spark new blazes.
August 22, 2020 4:17 am
Tropical Storm Laura has formed in the eastern Caribbean and forecasters say it could pose a hurricane threat to the U.S. Gulf Coast. And if that’s not enough, Tropical Storm Marco at the other end of the Caribbean may hit the U.S. western Gulf Coast after running across Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting both to make it into the Gulf of Mexico next week in what would be an almost simultaneous threat to the entire region. But there’s lots of uncertainty. First, Laura has to survive encounters with Puerto Rico, Hispanola and Cuba. Marco has to cross Yucatan.
