September 18, 2020 9:52 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate took a steep drop in August, as the labor force shrank and payrolls shot up again in a continuing rebound from the pandemic. The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 10.3% in August, down 2.2 percentage points from July’s adjusted rate of 12.5%. It had initially estimated July’s rate at 13.7% in July. The national rate was 8.4% in August. Payrolls gained back almost 60,000 of the more than 1.1 million jobs lost since March. Pennsylvania has now regained slightly more than half the jobs lost in the last six months, according to state figures.
September 18, 2020 8:48 am
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) – A firefighter has died battling a wildfire in California that officials say was sparked by a device used to reveal a baby’s gender. The U.S. Forest Service says the death occurred Thursday in the San Bernardino National Forest as crews battled the El Dorado Fire. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, has said that wildfire was sparked by a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used for a gender reveal party. The name of the firefighter is being withheld until family members are notified. The cause of the death is under investigation. Wildfires in California this year are blamed for at least 25 deaths.
September 18, 2020 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence has joined the chorus of former Trump administration officials urging voters to deny him a second term. Olivia Troye was Pence’s former Homeland Security adviser and served as a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force. She says in a new video released Thursday by the group Republican Voters Against Trump that Trump was more concerned about his reelection chances than the virus. She also claims Trump once suggested the coronavirus might be a good thing because it would stop him from having to shake hands with “disgusting people.” The White House adamantly denies it.
September 18, 2020 4:15 am
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – Hurricane Sally left some people on the Gulf Coast cut off by floodwaters until they could be rescued by teams in boats and high-water vehicles. Crews were pulling people out of flooded areas Thursday near Pensacola, Florida, while Alabama National Guard troops helped people evacuate near Mobile Bay. Homeowners and businesses along the soggy Gulf Coast were cleaning up, even as a second round of flooding took shape along rivers and creeks swollen by the storm’s heavy rains. Sally has been blamed for at least one death, in Alabama.
September 18, 2020 4:14 am
MOSINEE, Wis. (AP) – President Donald Trump is stepping up his rhetoric on cultural issues, aiming to boost enthusiasm among rural Wisconsin voters. He held a rally Thursday evening in Mosinee, in central Wisconsin, an area of the state that shifted dramatically toward Republicans in 2016. He called for a statute to ban burning the American flag in protest – a freedom protected by the Supreme Court – and criticized sports players and leagues for allowing demonstrations against racial inequality. Trump is increasingly using his public appearances to elevate cultural issues important to his generally whiter and older base.
September 18, 2020 4:12 am
MOOSIC, Pa. (AP) – Joe Biden is deriding President Donald Trump for his handling of COVID-19, calling his downplaying of the pandemic “criminal” and his administration “totally irresponsible.” Speaking Thursday about Trump’s admission that he publicly played down the impact of the virus while aware of its severity, Biden declared: “He knew it and did nothing. It’s close to criminal.” The pandemic is responsible for the unusual format of the event. It’s a drive-in of 35 cars parked outside PNC Field, and audience members are watching Biden onstage as they listen from outside their cars or from radios inside their cars.
September 18, 2020 4:09 am
SEATTLE (AP) – A U.S. judge blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election. Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said Thursday he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service. The states challenged the Postal Service’s so-called “leave mail behind” policy, where trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load. They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as first class mail.
September 18, 2020 4:08 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court says the Green Party’s candidate for president didn’t strictly follow procedures for getting on the state ballot in November’s election and cannot appear on it. Thursday’s decision is a win for Democrats as Joe Biden tries to recapture the critical battleground state’s electoral votes from President Donald Trump. The court in a 5-2 Democratic majority reversed the ruling by a Republican judge on the candidacy of Howie Hawkins. In this case, Democrats targeted what they said were disqualifying irregularities in how the Green Party candidate filed affidavits that accompany paperwork to get on the ballot.
September 18, 2020 2:54 am
A positive coronavirus test has been reported in the Washington School District. The District’s Pandemic Team announced on Thursday that they have notified parents and staff that there is one confirmed case of COVID-19 at the Washington Park School. They say that they have consulted the State Department of Health, and classes will continue as usual. District officials say the only students or staff who may have been exposed to the individual are hybrid students in group B, and staff who were at the school on September 10th or 11th. They say no student or staff from grades seven through tweleve or students in group A had any exposure to the indivudal at school. Students in the Washington School District went back to class on September 8th, under a hybrid learning plan.
September 18, 2020 2:52 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio has released guidelines for Halloween that discourage traditional trick-or-treating. The guidelines provided by the Ohio Department of Health on Friday also strongly recommend that haunted houses and hayrides be canceled. The guidelines recommend trick-or-treating alternatives such as drive-through events with children in cars collecting treats from individuals spaced at least six feet apart. The guidelines also suggest leaving treats in mailboxes or decorating houses and hiding treats outside. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said that decisions to allow trick-or-treating will be up to local communities. The Health Department also says large in-person parties shouldn’t be held.
