May 26, 2020 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Two GOP governors are offering up their states to host the Republican National Convention, a day after President Donald Trump demanded assurances from North Carolina’s Democratic governor that the convention can go forward in August despite coronavirus fears. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sent an open plea to Trump on Tuesday to consider his state as an alternate site. Kemp’s offer was followed by one from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, The convention is set to gather more than 2,500 delegates and thousands more guests, press and security officials. Plans have been underway for more than a year to hold it in Charlotte.
May 26, 2020 4:12 am
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – Stormy weather is threatening to delay SpaceX’s first astronaut launch. A SpaceX rocket is scheduled to blast off Wednesday from Florida, carrying a Dragon capsule with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. It will be the first time astronauts launch from the U.S. in nine years and a first for a private company. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 40%. But that doesn’t include the need for favorable conditions all the way up the U.S. and Canadian coasts and across the sea to Ireland. The Dragon’s emergency escape system can kick in, if necessary, all the way to orbit.
May 26, 2020 4:09 am
Jimmy Cobb, a percussionist and the last surviving member of Miles Davis’ 1959 “Kind of Blue” groundbreaking jazz album, has died. His wife, Eleana Tee Cobb, announced on Facebook that her husband died Sunday at his New York City home from lung cancer. He was 91. Born in Washington, D.C., Cobb was a drummer on the “Kind of Blue” jam session headed by Davis that also featured Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. It is the best-selling jazz album of all time. Cobb says he and his bandmates knew the album, released on Aug. 17, 1959, would be a hit. It has sold more than 4 million copies.
May 26, 2020 4:08 am
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – A U.S. biotechnology company has begun injecting a coronavirus vaccine candidate into people in Australia with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year. A Novavax official says 131 volunteers will get an injection in the first phase of the trial testing the safety of the vaccine and looking for signs of its effectiveness. About a dozen experimental vaccines are in early stages of testing or poised to start. It’s not clear that any will prove safe and effective. But they use different methods and technologies, increasing the odds one might succeed. Novovax expects the results of the Australian trial to be known in July and it’s making more doses in anticipation the vaccine will work.
May 26, 2020 4:06 am
MOSCOW (AP) – The Russian military says one of its helicopters has crash-landed on an airfield in the far eastern Chukotka region, killing four people. The Defense Ministry said the crash Tuesday involving a Mi-8 helicopter may have been caused by a technical malfunction. áThe region’s governor says three crew members and a technician on board died in the crash. It’s the second fatal incident with a military Mi-8 helicopter in a week. On May 19, another Mi-8 crash-landed near the town of Klin, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Moscow, killing all three crew members. The Mi-8 is a multipurpose, medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed in the Soviet Union and now produced by Russia.
May 26, 2020 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Authorities in western Pennsylvania are investigating vandalism of a Pittsburgh war memorial on the eve of Memorial Day. The statue of a World War I doughboy in the city’s Lawrenceville neighborhood was splashed with red paint during the night. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said vandalizing a memorial was wrong on any day but was “incomprehensible” on Memorial Day. He vowed that city police “will vigorously investigate this crime.” Police spokeswoman Cara Cruz said Monday that investigators are reviewing “all available video footage” from the area. She also said that arrangements are being made to clean the memorial.
May 26, 2020 2:16 am
Shortly before noon on Memorial Day, the 911th Airlift Wing of the Pennsylvania National Guard flew over WHS Washington Hospital as a tribute to honor healthcare professionals and first responders who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The flyovers also took place at several hospitals in Allegheny County as well as Canonsburg General Hospital. (Photo courtesy of WHS/Facebook)
May 25, 2020 3:44 am
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Nearly two weeks ago the White House urged governors to ensure that every nursing home resident and staff member be tested for the coronavirus within 14 days. It’s not going to happen. A review by The Associated Press found that at least half of the states are not going to meet White House’s Monday deadline and many aren’t even bothering to try. Many say the logistics, costs and manpower needs are too great to accomplish the testing goal in a two-week window. Some say they need another week or so, while others say they need much more time.
May 25, 2020 3:43 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House has broadened its travel ban against countries hard-hit by the coronavirus by denying admission to foreigners who have been in Brazil in the two weeks before they sought entry to the U.S. President Donald Trump has now banned travel from China, Europe and the United Kingdom and Ireland. He had said last week that he was considering similar restrictions for Brazil. The restrictions are scheduled to take effect late Thursday. The U.S. leads the world in the number of confirmed cases, followed by Brazil, now Latin America’s hardest-hit country. Third on the list is Russia.
May 25, 2020 3:41 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A huge fire that tore through a warehouse on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf has destroyed fishing gear used to deliver about two-thirds of the city’s fresh seafood. Larry Collins, who runs the San Francisco Community Fishing Association, estimates that thousands of crab, shrimp and black cod traps worth up to $5 million were lost in the blaze. With the Dungeness crab season expected to begin in mid-November, crab boat owners were racing to raise $1 million to buy new gear.
