September 15, 2020 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Israel on Tuesday signed historic diplomatic pacts with two Gulf Arab states at a White House ceremony that President Donald Trump hopes will mark the “dawn of a new Middle East” and cast him as a peacemaker at the height of his reelection campaign. Hundreds of people massed on the sun-washed South Lawn to witness the signing of agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The agreements formalize the normalization of the Jewish state’s already warming relations with the two countries over Iranian aggression in the region. But they do not address the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
September 15, 2020 4:21 am
Washington County Commissioners held a news conference Monday evening to announce their pleasure with a federal judge’s ruling that struck down restrictions and closures of businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Judge William Stickman, IV ruled in a 66 page opinion that the restrictions that Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine overstepped constitutional boundaries by ordering business closures, restricting outdoor gatherings and mandating stay at home orders. Commissioner Diana Irey-Vaughn applauded the decision as a victory for constitutional rights of business people. Appearing with Irey-Vaughn, Commissioner Nick Sherman cautioned businesses that “We did not cure Covid-19 today.” Sherman asks that people use common sense going forward and strictly adhere to CDC guidelines of wearing masks, keeping six feet apart and frequent washing of hands. Irey-Vaughn looks for the Wolf administration to appeal the ruling. She also looks for the administration to ask for a stay on the decision. When asked if this decision will have effects outside of Pennsylvania, Irey-Vaughn said she expects this ruling to be a landmark nationally as other states look to try and crawl out from restrictive actions of other governors.
September 15, 2020 4:18 am
Peters Township Council held a special hearing regarding changes to its ordinance regulating wireless technology tower locations in the township. Currently, towers are only allowed in industrial zones and on existing structures that allow for combined location of utilities. Changes to the ordinance are in anticipation of upcoming 5G wireless technology. That technology will require hundreds of wireless towers to be deployed throughout the township. The towers by design broadcast communications signals several hundred feet at a time as opposed to several miles similar to the towers currently in use. Because 5G towers can be combined with existing applications, neighborhoods that employ telephone poles will have less of a problem acquiring 5G technology than those neighborhoods with underground utilities. The amended ordinance will still prohibit 5G towers from being built in underground utility neighborhoods. According to Township Manager Paul Lauer, “this will create a delicate balancing act for residents.” They will need to decide if having high speed broadband service is more important than having a wireless tower in their yard. The ordinance also allows the township control over esthetic nature of the structures. Council will enact the ordinance in its next meeting.
September 15, 2020 4:16 am
BEIJING (AP) – The U.S. has issued a new advisory warning against travel to mainland China and Hong Kong, citing the risk of “arbitrary detention” and “arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” The advisory issued Tuesday warned U.S. citizens that China imposes “arbitrary detention and exit bans” to compel cooperation with investigations, pressure family members to return to China from abroad, influence civil disputes and “gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments.” In Hong Kong, it said China “unilaterally and arbitrarily exercises police and security power,” It added that new legislation also covers offenses committed by non-Hong Kong residents, possibly subjecting U.S. citizens who have publicly criticized China to a “heightened risk of arrest, detention, expulsion, or prosecution.”
September 14, 2020 5:48 pm
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota investigators says that Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg reported hitting a deer with his car on Saturday night but actually killed a pedestrian whose body was not found until the next day. Ravnsborg’s office has said he immediately called 911 after the accident. The Department of Public Safety said Monday only that he told the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office that he had hit a deer and did not say whether he reported the crash in a 911 call. The man was identified as 55-year-old Joseph Boever. He was not found until Sunday morning.
September 14, 2020 5:33 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving parade has been reimagined for the coronavirus pandemic. Macy’s officials said Monday that the parade will feature floats, performers and giant balloons parading along a one-block stretch of 34th Street in front of the retailer’s flagship Manhattan store. The spectacle will be broadcast as usual from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern time on NBC and will include both live and recorded elements. The giant balloons will be flown without the traditional 80 to 100 handlers and will instead be tethered to vehicles. Most of the parade’s performers will be locally based to cut down on travel.
September 14, 2020 4:26 am
WAVELAND, Miss. (AP) – A rapidly intensifying Hurricane Sally is closing on the northern Gulf Coast, threatening Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with high wind and possible flooding from storm surge and heavy rain. Sally reached Category 2 strength with sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) and the potential for as much as 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain. It is one of five storms churning simultaneously in the Atlantic. Storm-weary Gulf Coast residents are rushing to buy bottled water and other supplies ahead of Sally. The storm is on a track that would take it past the tip of southeast Louisiana on a track toward the Mississippi-Alabama state line late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
September 14, 2020 4:25 am
(AP) – TikTok’s owner has chosen Oracle over Microsoft as the tech partner that could help keep the popular video-sharing app running in the U.S., according to a source familiar with the deal. The choice came a week before President Donald Trump’s deadline to ban it in the U.S. Microsoft said in a Sunday statement that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, “let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft.” The Trump administration has threatened to ban TikTok by mid-September and ordered ByteDance to sell its U.S. business, claiming national-security risks due to its Chinese ownership.
September 14, 2020 4:23 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) – President Donald Trump openly defied state regulations and his own administration’s pandemic guidelines as he gathered thousands of supporters inside a suburban Las Vegas warehouse Sunday night. Trump soaked up the raucous cheers from the largely mask-free crowd but made no mention of the nearly 200,000 U.S. deaths and ongoing infections from the novel coronavirus. Not since a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that was blamed for a surge of infections has Trump gathered so many indoors. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, said Trump was “taking reckless and selfish actions” that endangered lives. Those in the stands directly behind Trump and likely to be captured on TV were ordered to wear face coverings.
September 14, 2020 4:21 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – With the smell of California wildfires in the air, President Donald Trump on Monday ignored the scientific consensus that climate change is playing a central role in West Coast infernos. He reiterated his unfounded claim that poor forest management is to blame. The fires are threatening to become another front in Trump’s reelection bid, which is already facing hurdles because of the coronavirus pandemic, joblessness and social unrest. His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in his own speech on Monday said the destruction and mounting death toll across California, Oregon and Washington required stronger presidential leadership, and he labeled Trump a “climate arsonist.”
