December 25, 2020 7:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s sudden demand for $2,000 checks for most Americans was swiftly rejected by House Republicans as his haphazard actions have thrown a massive COVIDrelief and government funding bill into chaos. The rare Christmas Eve session of the House lasted just minutes, with help for millions of Americans awaiting Trump’s signature on the bill. Unemployment benefits, eviction protections and other emergency aid, including smaller $600 checks, are at risk. Trump’s refusal of the $900 billion package, which is linked to $1.4 trillion government funds bill, could spark a federal shutdown at midnight Monday. “We’re not going to let the government shut down, nor are we going to let the American people down,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader. The optics appear terrible for Republicans, and the outgoing president, as the nation suffers through the worst holiday season many can remember. Families are isolated under COVID precautions and millions of American households are devastated without adequate income, food or shelter. The virus death toll of 327,000-plus is rising.
December 25, 2020 7:05 am
ATLANTA (AP) — The United States will require airline passengers from Britain to get a negative COVID-19 test before their flight, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late Thursday. The U.S. is the latest country to announce new travel restrictions because of a new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading in Britain and elsewhere. Airline passengers from the United Kingdom will need to get negative COVID-19 tests within three days of their trip and provide the results to the airline, the CDC said in a statement. The agency said the order will be signed Friday and go into effect on Monday. “If a passenger chooses not to take a test, the airline must deny boarding to the passenger,” the CDC said in its statement. The agency said because of travel restrictions in place since March, air travel to the U.S. from the U.K. is already down by 90%.
December 25, 2020 7:04 am
ROME (AP) — Curfews, quarantines and even border closings complicated Christmas celebrations Friday for countless people around the globe, but ingenuity, determination and imagination helped keep the day special for many. In Beijing, official churches abruptly cancelled Mass on Christmas Day in a last-minute move, after China’s capital was put on high alert following the confirmation of two confirmed COVID-19 cases last week, and two new asymptomatic cases were reported on Friday. One of several notices was posted at Beijing’s St. Josephs’ Church, which was built originally by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century. Border crossing closures kept thousands of migrants from economically devastated Venezuela who live in Colombia from going home for Christmas. Colombia’s government shut down the crossings in a bid to slow down the spread of COVID-19 infections. Those trying to return home for the holidays this year had to turn to smugglers.
December 25, 2020 7:01 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Without an extension, the deadline to apply for a $300 per-week federal unemployment benefit will pass Friday night, as will an extension of pandemic benefits for hundreds of thousands of jobless, including self-employed people who don’t normally qualify for the payments. Applications for the $300 per-week Lost Wages Assistance program must be submitted by 10 p.m. Friday to receive the benefit for six weeks in August and September, the state Department of Labor and Industry said. The department has paid claims under the program to more than 1 million people, and 6.1 million weeks of benefits. Meanwhile, extended unemployment benefits for people who lost their jobs during the pandemic, as well as for self-employed people who don’t normally qualify for the payments, is running out this week for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians. Those programs had been set to expire after Christmas.
December 25, 2020 6:58 am
LOS ANGELES — (WPXI) More than 10 years after Michael Jackson’s death, his Neverland Ranch in California was sold to billionaire investor and co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ron Burkle. Burkle, a former friend of Jackson, bought the estate after the pop star had abandoned it after his trial on charges of molesting a young boy there. Jackson was eventually acquitted of all charges The Wall Street Journal said it was renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch several years ago. The asking price was $100 million in 2015 and it was dropped to $67 in 2017. A spokesperson for Burkle told NBC he saw the ranch from the air while looking at another location and saw the investment as a land banking opportunity. It features a 12,000-square-foot Normandy-style mansion, several guesthouses, a swimming pool with a cabana, a basketball court, a tennis court and a 50-seat movie theater. Jackson died from an overdose of Propofol in 2009 at the age of 50. The property lies about 120 miles north of Los Angeles and Jackson bought it in 1988 for $19.5 million. It became the pop star’s favorite retreat and once featured a zoo, railroad and theme park rides.
December 25, 2020 4:03 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI)- Soaking rain changed to snow Thursday night with icy roads making travel difficult on Christmas Eve. Roads became snow-covered and slick by the evening on Thursday. A Winter Weather Advisory will be in effect until 1 p.m. Friday for our entire area. Road conditions worsened through the evening as the snow fell. Travel restrictions were implemented by PennDOT for Interstates 70 and 79 in the area. Periods of moderate snow are still possible. Several inches will accumulate from this storm. The National Weather Service is predicting widespread accumulations of 4 to 6 inches.
December 24, 2020 4:21 am
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year’s, despite pleas from public health experts that they stay home to avoid fueling the raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 nationwide. Many people at airports this week thought long and hard about whether to go anywhere and found a way to rationalize it. Some are elderly and figure they don’t have many Christmases left. Others are trying to keep long-distance romance alive. Some just yearn for the human connection that’s been absent for the past nine months.
December 24, 2020 4:18 am
BALTIMORE (AP) – An explosion in a high-rise building in Baltimore has injured 23 people and temporarily trapped a window washing crew on dangling scaffolding. Twenty-one of the victims were brought to area hospitals following Wednesday’s explosion, which caused a partial roof collapse. The city’s fire department tweeted that at least nine of the victims were in critical condition, while another was in serious condition. The trapped workers were rescued through a window. The firefighters’ union says evidence points to an explosion on the 16th floor of the downtown building, where the offices of Baltimore Gas and Electric Company are located.
December 24, 2020 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency. Trump has offered a series of rationales for vetoing the bill, including a demand for lawmakers to include limits on social media companies he claimed are biased against him. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump’s action “an act of staggering recklessness.” A Republican ally of the president, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, said America’s troops “shouldn’t be denied what they need – ever.”
December 24, 2020 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A late-term maneuver by President Donald Trump to use lower drug prices paid overseas to limit some of Medicare’s costs suffered has a legal setback that appears likely to keep the policy from taking effect before the president leaves office. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake in Baltimore issued a nationwide injunction that prevents the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, from carrying out the so-called “most favored nations” rule as scheduled on Jan. 1. The policy would have applied to drugs administered in a doctor’s office, including many cancer medications.
