February 9, 2021 4:40 am
Vaccine administration has been the most recent hurdle for health care providers to cross in the battle against Covid-19. Washington Health System CEO Brook Ward provided an update to their progress in getting shots into people’s arms. Ward stated that a website dedicated to vaccine distribution only went down after two minutes when it was turned on Monday February, 1. Ward indicated that the site’s popularity is what crashed it several times that day. Improvements have been made to prevent that in the future. Nearly 25,000 people have registered on the site and roughly 1500 people have been scheduled to receive vaccines last week and this week. Patients can expect to gain greater access to vaccines as WHS will be expanding their footprint by using the old Ross Store in the Washington Crown Center, the Recreation Center in Peters Township and a larger facility at the hospital in Waynesburg. Ward states that WHS will have the capability to administer 8000 vaccines per week but that all depends on if the vaccines that are ordered are delivered by the federal government. Ward says that he orders his allotment of vaccines for first and second doses on Wednesday of each week and it is never guaranteed that what is ordered is what is delivered. Ward says cooperation between systems is the best way to get through the scheduling dilemma. He pointed to a coordinated effort between WHS, Mon Valley Hospital and Cornerstone Care to administer vaccines to local schools.
February 9, 2021 4:15 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Mary Wilson, the longest-reigning original Supreme, has died at 76 years old. Publicist Jay Schwartz says Wilson died Monday night at her home in Las Vegas and that the cause was not immediately clear. Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard made up the first successful configuration of The Supremes. She stayed with the group until it was officially disbanded by Motown in 1977. The group’s first No. 1, million-selling song, “Where Did Our Love Go,” was released June 17, 1964.
February 9, 2021 4:10 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia’s secretary of state’s office has opened an investigation into a phone call between Donald Trump and the state’s top elections official. During the Jan. 2 call, then-President Donald Trump told Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger he wanted to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state. A spokesman for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed that the investigation was opened Monday. Trump had refused to accept his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and focused much of his attention on Georgia, a traditionally red state that he narrowly lost. A Trump adviser says there was “nothing improper or untoward” about the call.
February 9, 2021 4:09 am
BUFFALO, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say multiple people were shot at a Minnesota health clinic and a suspect was taken into custody afterward. Kelly Prestidge, an office manager for the Buffalo Police Department, says the shooting happened Tuesday at an Allina clinic in Buffalo, about 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis, and that one person was taken into custody. She says she doesn’t know how many people were shot or if anyone was killed. Police Chief Pat Budke says the situation was contained and there is no further threat. Gov. Tim Walz says improvised explosive devices were part of the attack, but he didn’t say whether any were detonated.
February 9, 2021 4:08 am
Authorities say a hacker gained access to a Florida city’s water treatment plant in an unsuccessful attempt to taint the water supply with a caustic chemical. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Monday that someone was able to breach a computer system for the city of Oldsmar’s water treatment plant on Friday. The hacker briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide by a factor of more than 100. The sheriff said a supervisor saw the chemical being tampered with and was able to intervene and reverse it. Officials say the city’s 15,000 residents were not at risk. Investigators said it wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack.
February 9, 2021 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee are proposing an additional $1,400 in direct payments to individuals, bolstered unemployment benefits and more generous tax breaks for families with children and for lower earners. The panel is unveiling its bill as Congress starts piecing together a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. The plan is expected to closely follow President Joe Biden’s proposed package to address the tolls of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 460,000 Americans, and the nation’s still staggering economy, which has lost 10 million jobs since the crisis began last year.
February 9, 2021 4:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial has opened in the Senate with graphic video of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on Congress after the defeated former president whips up a rally crowd. He shouts that “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” as he encourages a futile fight over his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump is charged by the House with inciting the violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol to overturn the election. Prosecutors argue Trump committed a “grievous constitutional crime,” but his defense team insists his fiery words at the rally were just figures of speech. His lawyers also say that trying a former president is unconstitutional. The debate over that constitutional question is expected to highlight the opening day
February 9, 2021 3:10 am
Washington County Commissioners continue to distribute funding to municipalities and organizations to help offset costs that they encountered during the coronavirus pandemic. Two organizations received their share on Monday. The Washington Health System received a check for $1.95 million for costs associated with their Covid-19 testing site and several facility upgrades necessitated by patient needs. South Strabane Township received $303,866 to help reimburse that township for cleaning supplies and computer network upgrades. All of the monies distributed come from the federal CARES Act. Organizations were able to apply for reimbursement for supplies and upgrades to facilities and equipment needed to combat the Covid-19 virus.
February 8, 2021 4:45 pm
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Advocates say inmates who set fires and broke windows at a St. Louis jail over the weekend did so to protest inhumane conditions, including a lack of personal protective equipment to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a leader of the group Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing St. Louis said during a virtual rally Sunday that the uprising was “an act of courage” necessitated by inmates’ basic needs not being met. More than 100 inmates broke out of their cells at the downtown facility on Saturday and smashed windows and set fires. A corrections officer was attacked by detainees and was hospitalized but is expected to recover.
February 8, 2021 12:34 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Enrollment in Roman Catholic schools in the United States has dropped more than 6% from the previous academic year amid the pandemic and economic stresses. Catholic education officials say that’s the largest single-year decline in at least five decades. One key factor is the difficulty for many parents of paying tuition fees averaging more than $5,000 for grades K-8 and over $10,000 for secondary schools. Nationwide enrollment has fallen by 110,000 students from the 2019-2020 school year to about 1.6 million. In the 1960s, that figure was more than 5 million. In addition, more than 200 Catholic schools were permanently closed last year.
