September 14, 2020 4:18 am
PITTSBURGH — In the latest sign of the chaos overshadowing the 2020 election, none of Pennsylvania’s counties will be able to send out ballots to voters Monday, the first day the critical battleground state allows counties to do so. Due to a slew of lawsuits and other issues, the commonwealth, which has drawn intense interest from Democrats and Republicans after June’s disastrous primary, has not finalized its ballot less than eight weeks before Election Day. The state’s Democratic Party remains in court battling to keep the Green Party off the ballot. The pending legal dispute has led to a delay in certification of the November ballot, and as a result, all Pennsylvania county election officials who this year could have started offering absentee or mail-in ballots, as well as in-person early absentee voting, starting September 14 are in a holding pattern. Pennsylvania, which President Donald Trump won by less than 1 point in 2016, is just one example of a critical swing state that has come under enhanced scrutiny for elections laws that could further confuse and delay results on Election Day “I’m concerned right now, only because once we do receive state certification, there are quite a few steps that you have to do,” Debbie Olivieri, Berks County Director of Elections, told CNN. The county, which includes Reading, remains a battleground. “You can’t just real quick turn it over and have everything ready. It’s going to take some time to do those other steps.”
September 14, 2020 4:15 am
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – Police in Pennsylvania have deployed tear gas on a crowd of people protesting early Monday after an officer shot and killed a man while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Hundreds of people protested outside the police station in Lancaster following the shooting death of 27-year-old Ricardo Munoz. Police say Munoz charged at an officer with a knife before the officer opened fire, killing him. The department has released body camera video of the shooting. News outlets report the officer is on administrative leave. Police say tear gas was used because protesters threw several items at officers and failed to disperse after they were given several warnings to leave.
September 14, 2020 4:13 am
ROSTRAVER, Pa. — (WPXI) – The Westmoreland County Coroner was called to the scene of a deadly head-on crash Sunday in Rostraver. According to the Rostraver Central Fire Department, emergency crews were called to the 1200 block of Rostraver Road on Sunday afternoon. Route 201 was closed for several hours between Callaway Lane and Indian Hill Road. An SUV and a car collided, according to the department. County 911 said one person was killed, and two other people declined to be taken to the hospital by paramedics. It’s not clear what caused the crash. (Photo: Rostraver Central Fire Department)
September 13, 2020 7:36 am
COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — The shooting of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in an apparent ambush prompted a manhunt for the shooter, reaction from the president and protests outside the hospital where the wounded deputies were being treated Saturday night in California. The 31-year-old female deputy and 24-year-old male deputy both underwent surgery Saturday evening, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a late-night news conference. Both graduated from the academy 14 months ago, he said. The deputies were shot while sitting in their patrol car at a Metro rail station and were able to radio for help, the sheriff said. Villanueva, whose department has come under fire during recent protests over racial unrest, expressed frustration over anti-police sentiment as he urged people to pray for the officers.
September 13, 2020 7:36 am
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Coronavirus infections in the Dakotas are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic. The argument over masks raged this week in Brookings, South Dakota, as the city council considered requiring face coverings in businesses. The city was forced to move its meeting to a local arena to accommodate intense interest, with many citizens speaking against it, before the mask requirement ultimately passed. Amid the brute force of the pandemic, health experts warn that the infections must be contained before care systems are overwhelmed. North Dakota and South Dakota lead the country in new cases per capita over the last two weeks, ranking first and second respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
September 13, 2020 7:35 am
LONDON (AP) — Two former British prime ministers who played crucial roles in bringing peace to Northern Ireland joined forces Sunday to urge lawmakers to reject government plans to override the Brexit deal with the European Union, arguing that it imperils that peace and damages the U.K.’s reputation. In an article in The Sunday Times, John Major and Tony Blair slammed the current British government for “shaming” the country with legislation that, in places, goes against the very deal it signed to allow for the U.K.’s smooth departure from the EU earlier this year.
September 13, 2020 7:33 am
MINDEN, Nev. (AP) — Kicking off a Western swing, President Donald Trump barreled into Nevada for the weekend, looking to expand his path to victory while unleashing a torrent of unsubstantiated claims that Democrats were trying to steal the election. Trump defied local authorities by holding a Saturday night rally in tiny Minden after his initial plan to hold one in Reno was stopped out of concern it would have violated coronavirus health guidelines. Unleashing 90-plus minutes of grievances and attacks, Trump claimed the state’s Democratic governor tried to block him and repeated his false claim that mail-in ballots would taint the election result.
September 13, 2020 7:32 am
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The path of devastation spans thousands of miles where flames have consumed people, homes and cars while leaving a barren, gray landscape. But the massive wildfires aren’t done chewing through the West, shrouding the skies with choking smoke or driving residents from their homes. It’s an ominous harbinger of fall for the region that was the first to be hit hard by the coronavirus and where the cries for social justice have rung especially loud this summer with protests in Portland for more than 100 days. “What’s next?” asked Danielle Oliver, who had to flee her home southeast of Portland ahead of the deadly flames. “You have the protests, coronavirus pandemic, now the wildfires. What else can go wrong?”
September 13, 2020 7:29 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — A professor at Duquesne University was placed on paid leave after video surfaced showing him using a racial slur during a virtual lesson. The professor was not named by the university, but he did teach education. Effective Friday afternoon, he was put on paid leave pending an investigation. Multiple videos showing the portions of the virtual class lesson were posted om social media Friday afternoon. “He is not teaching,” Gabriel Welsch, Vice President of Marketing & Communications, said in a statement. “Please know that this matter is being taken very seriously by School of Education leadership, and please feel free to reach out to us if you have any ongoing questions or concerns. Duquesne University takes very seriously our work in creating an inclusive environment.”
September 13, 2020 7:25 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania voters will soon issue their verdict on the legislature’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by either extending the gains Democrats made two years ago or further tightening Republicans’ longstanding grip on both chambers. The GOP-majority General Assembly has been in hybrid mode this year, after senators and representatives gave themselves the choice of attending floor sessions in person or casting votes remotely. In a string of bipartisan votes early in the crisis this spring, they gave schools flexibility on the 180-day instruction requirement, provided front-line workers with protective equipment and delayed the April primary election to June. But Republicans soured on elements of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic response, unsuccessfully attempting to overturn his business closure orders and prompting seven vetoes of COVID-19 legislation. More recently, the parties have struggled to find common ground on a bill to fine-tune mail-in voting, including changes sought by the counties that must implement it. State lawmakers rushed through a partial budget that avoided some difficult decisions in hopes the cloudy financial picture will become more clear.
