September 3, 2020 9:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Vice President Joe Biden has spoken with Jacob Blake on the phone for 15 minutes during a visit to Wisconsin. Blake is a Black man whose shooting by a white Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer last week led to days of protests and violence. Biden says Blake “talked about how nothing was going to defeat him, about how whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up.” Blake’s family members have said he is paralyzed from the waist down after being shot seven times. The shooting remains under investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
September 3, 2020 9:12 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI)- A former West Penn Hospital worker is facing 83 new charges after he recorded at least 21 fellow employees and 34 patients in a bathroom and an imaging room, police said. Guy Caley, 52, was first charged in July after an investigation stemming from a camera found in a unisex employee bathroom in December. Five workers were identified as victims in that instance, in which a small camera had been taped to a chair with the lens facing toward a toilet, police said. The Canonsburg man told investigators he had previously used the same camera several other times to take video of people in the bathroom. He would take the camera home and download the videos to his laptop. In a new criminal complaint filed Wednesday, it was revealed that additional hospital employees, as well as radiology department patients, were identified as victims and that other cameras had been used by Caley. Police said Caley told them most, if not all, of the recordings of patients were taken in a room housing the MRI and other imaging equipment. All of the patients were women. “The majority of the videos appeared to follow two distinctive patterns; to capture hospital employees using the bathroom toilet, and to capture nude or partially nude female patients while in an imaging room within the Radiology Department,” the complaint said. Investigators looked at videos that were taken over a two-year period, in 2018 and 2019. Authorities believe there might be more victims.
September 3, 2020 6:28 am
Washington County Commissioners have directed Controller Michael Namie and Finance Director Joshua Hatfield to launch policy and fiscal reviews of county boards and authorities. Commissioner’s Chairman Diana Irey Vaughn says they want to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent on appropriate expenses and the review will safeguard the financial well-being of these organizations and also determine a level of uniformity for policies related to costs. The reviews are to include; the Washington County Conservation District, Drug and Alcohol Commission, Tourism and Promotion Agency, Transportation Authority, Redevelopment Authority, Washington County Authority, and Washington Greene County Job Training Agency. A licensed auditing firm independently audits each organization but the commissioner’s say this will allow them to offer suggestions to improve and strengthen each organization.
September 3, 2020 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Election experts are taking issue with President Donald Trump’s suggestion that people who vote early by mail should vote again at their polling place if their ballot hasn’t been counted. Experts and state voting officials say the president’s idea would lead to chaos, long lines and more work for election officials. Information on whether a ballot has been counted isn’t even typically available right away. What can be checked is whether an absentee ballot has been received, and in some cases, whether it’s passed a security review and will be submitted for counting. Most states offer ways for voters to verify the status of their ballot online. (Photo: CNN)
September 3, 2020 4:12 am
PUNTA GORDA, Belize (AP) – Nana has strengthened into a hurricane as it barrels westward just off the coast of Honduras on a collision course with the Central American nation of Belize, where thousands of people were stocking up on food, water and construction materials. Long lines stretched through supermarkets and hardware store shelves were nearly bare as residents of Belize bought materials to board up windows and doors ahead of Nana’s expected landfall early Thursday as a hurricane. The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that Nana was located about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southeast of Belize City with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).
September 3, 2020 2:41 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Federal agents searched a nursing home near Pittsburgh that had the worst coronavirus outbreak of any in Pennsylvania and was already being investigated by the state on suspicion of criminal neglect. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said in a written statement that agents were at the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County, as well as at the Mount Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Allegheny County. Meanwhile, Temple University announced Thursday that the majority of classes will shift online through the end of the fall semester amid rising numbers of coronavirus cases among students.
September 3, 2020 2:28 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration is relaxing restrictions on spectators at some fall sporting events, though attendance at high school football and volleyball games might still prove to be impossible because of statewide limits on mass gatherings. The revised guidance issued Wednesday says that “spectators may attend sporting events,” but they count toward the statewide gathering limits of 25 people indoors and 250 people outdoors. Meanwhile, the state House of Representatives approved a bill to give parents more power to let their children repeat a year of schooling if they feel their child didn’t get the education they needed or missed out on extracurricular activities amid the pandemic. It doesn’t include sports.
September 3, 2020 2:19 am
DETROIT (AP) – Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia are recalling over 591,000 vehicles in the U.S. to fix a brake fluid leak that could cause engine fires. The recalls cover more than 440,000 Kia Optima midsize sedans from 2013 through 2015 and Kia Sorento SUVs from 2014 and 2015. Also covered are 151,000 Hyundai Santa Fe SUVs from 2013 to 2015. The affiliated automakers say brake fluid can leak inside a hydraulic control unit for the anti-lock brakes, possibly causing an electrical short that can lead to fires. Kia’s recall will start Oct. 15, while Hyundai’s will start Oct. 23. Dealers for both companies will inspect the control units for leaks and replace them if needed at no cost to owners.
September 2, 2020 5:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The debates between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are expected to be knock-down, drag-out heavyweight political battles. And now, we know who will referee them. The moderators will represent Fox News, C-SPAN and NBC. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has named Chris Wallace of Fox for the first debate, Sept. 29 in Cleveland. Steve Scully of C-SPAN will handle the town meeting forum debate forum on Oct. 15 in Miami. And NBC’s Kristen Welker will do the Oct. 22 debate in Nashville, Tennessee. The commission also says USA Today’s Susan Page will moderate the vice presidential debate. That’s set for Oct. 7 in Salt Lake City, where Vice President Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris will square off.
September 2, 2020 10:38 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. companies added jobs at a modest pace last month, a private survey found, a sign that while hiring continues, it is only soaking up a relatively small proportion of the unemployed. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that businesses added 428,000 jobs in August, a figure that before the pandemic would have represented a healthy gain. But the increase represents a small slice of the 12 million jobs that have been lost to the spread of the coronavirus.
