March 11, 2021 3:43 pm
UNDATED (AP) – The White House says the $1,400 direct payments for most Americans funded by the American Rescue Plan will start showing up in bank accounts as early as this weekend. Press secretary Jen Psaki says the government will make the first direct deposits this weekend. She says payments will continue throughout the next several weeks. President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the Oval Office on Thursday. Besides the $1,400 direct payments to individuals, the plan includes money to help distribute coronavirus vaccines, provide relief to homeowners and renters, help reopen schools, provide aid to state and local governments, and an expansion of the child tax credit, among other features.
March 11, 2021 9:38 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A judge has granted prosecutors’ request to add a third-degree murder charge against the former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death. Judge Peter Cahill on Thursday added the charge after the former officer, Derek Chauvin, failed to get appellate courts to block it. Cahill had earlier rejected the charge as not warranted by the circumstances of Floyd’s death, but an appellate court ruling in an unrelated case established new grounds for it. Chauvin already faced second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Legal experts say the additional charge helps prosecutors by giving jurors one more option to convict Chauvin. Potential jurors in Chauvin’s trial return Thursday to continue the selection process that started this week.
March 11, 2021 9:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 712,000. That’s the lowest total since early November, and evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs amid a decline in confirmed coronavirus cases and signs of an improving economy. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for unemployment aid dropped by 42,000 from 754,000 the week before. Though the job market has been slowly strengthening, many businesses remain under pressure, and 9.6 million jobs remain lost to the pandemic that flattened the economy 12 months ago.
March 11, 2021 4:15 am
TOKYO (AP) – Japan is marking the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster with many survivors’ lives are still on hold. People walked to the coast to pray for relatives and friends washed away by the tsunami. Emperor Naruhito and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga are scheduled to observe a moment of silence at a memorial service later Thursday. The magnitude 9.0 quake that struck on March 11, 2011, was one of the biggest temblors on record and set off a massive tsunami that swept far inland, destroying towns and causing meltdowns at a nuclear plant. More than 18,000 people died. Tens of thousands are still unable to return home.
March 11, 2021 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Some of the largest law enforcement groups in the U.S. are throwing their support behind President Joe Biden’s nominee to run the Justice Department’s civil rights division. The support for Kristen Clarke, who is nominated to be assistant attorney general for civil rights, includes some of the nation’s most powerful law enforcement organizations, including the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. She’s expected to play a pivotal role as the Justice Department focuses more on civil rights issues, criminal justice and policing policies in the wake of nationwide protests over the death of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement.
March 11, 2021 4:12 am
HONOLULU (AP) – Heavy rains are part of the winter wet season in Hawaiian Islands. But the downpours triggering flooding that destroyed homes and bridges and set off mass evacuations on multiple islands this week are also an example of the more intense rainstorms that climate scientists say are occurring more frequently as the planet warms. Meteorologists are extending a flash flood watch for the entire state through Friday because of the potential for more rain and because the ground is already so saturated. Hawaii’s state climatologist says large flooding episodes may no longer be once-in-a hundred-years events.
March 11, 2021 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is has signed into law the $1.9 trillion relief package that he says will help the U.S. defeat the coronavirus and nurse the economy back to health. He had been set to sign the American Rescue Plan on Friday. But the White House moved the signing up to Thursday afternoon, hours before the president plans to deliver his first prime-time address to the American public on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. Chief of staff Ron Klain tweets that the bill arrived at the White House late Wednesday, more quickly than anticipated. Klain says, “We want to move as fast as possible.”
March 11, 2021 4:11 am
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – A lawyer for Gov. Andrew Cuomo said she has reported a groping allegation made against him to local police after the woman involved declined to press charges herself. The Times Union of Albany reported Wednesday that an unidentified aide had claimed Cuomo reached under her shirt and fondled her after summoning her to his official residence. Cuomo said he never touched anyone inappropriately. Beth Garvey, the governor’s acting counsel, said in a statement Thursday that as a matter of state policy, the woman who made the allegations was told she should contact her local police department. She said she phoned police herself when the woman declined, through her lawyer, to make a formal complaint.
March 11, 2021 4:08 am
SOUTH FAYETTE, Pa. — (WPXI) – A South Fayette homework assignment is now under scrutiny. The assignment in question, given to high school students, asks students to figure out if they could turn a profit as a slave trader, and whether they could make more money “tightly packing” or “loosely packing” slaves on a ship. Several parents say this homework assignment is insensitive and needs to be removed from the curriculum permanently. “It’s just shocking that my son had to sit in class and figure out the price his ancestors were bought and sold for,” said Leigh Hill. Her son, Elijah, got the assignment. The district sent our news partners at Channel 11 a statement reading in part:
Dear Parents and Guardians,
“A concern from a student was brought to the attention of our administration regarding a social studies assignment about slavery. While the District does have defined and approved curricula, teachers have some latitude in the resources and materials they choose to use in their lessons. Once alerted to the existence of this assignment, the administration reviewed the assignment and met with the teacher. After taking these steps it was determined that the assignment is inappropriate, offensive and unacceptable. The assignment will no longer be used in any class and the teacher has been suspended. Further, we will engage in a systematic process to ensure that any other inappropriate assignments are identified and removed immediately. We commend the student for speaking up about this assignment and apologize for the harm that this has caused. The voices of our young people are important and heard.
Sincerely, Dr. Ken Lockette”
March 11, 2021 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The chairman of Pennsylvania’s Senate Transportation Committee wants to halt plans to toll nine major bridges around the state. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Wayne Langerholc introduced a bill this week to require legislative authorization of any proposed transportation project with a user fee. The Public-Private Transportation Partnership Board in November authorized PennDOT to install electronic tolling gantries on bridges to finance their reconstruction. The department named nine bridges last month, but some lawmakers are unhappy over it. Transportation Secretary Yassmin Gramian says the aging bridges are in need of major reconstruction and the department needs more money to keep up with its public safety obligations.
