August 10, 2020 2:55 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Authorities say a massive fire engulfed cooking show star Rachael Ray’s New York home. The fire coordinator for Warren County says firefighters responded to Ray’s home in Lake Luzerne, New York around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday and requested aid from other departments to transport water to the property. Photos of the house fire show flames bursting through the roof and long plumes of smoke extending into the sky. Since April, Ray has been filming “(hash)STAYHOME With Rachael” two days a week from the home. A representative says Ray, her husband and dog are safe, but that the extent of damage to the home is not yet clear. (Photo: CNN)
August 10, 2020 9:44 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination will be held at either the White House or the Gettysburg battlefield. In a Monday tweet, Trump says a decision on the location of the Aug. 27 speech will be made soon. Both sites are federal property raising legal and ethical issues for their use in a political event. The Civil War battlefield in Pennsylvania could also resurface the president’s defense of monuments to heroes of the Confederacy. Trump’s original plans to address the convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida, were upended by the coronavirus. Now most of the convention will be conducted virtually.
August 10, 2020 4:32 am
DALLAS, Ga. (AP) – A Georgia high school plans to start the week with all classes shifting online after nine students and staff tested positive for the coronavirus as the school year opened with in-person classes last week. News outlets report all students at North Paulding High School west of Atlanta will take online classes Monday and Tuesday. Paulding County Schools Superintendent Brian Ott sent a letter to parents Sunday saying those two days will be used to clean and disinfect the school. The school made headlines last week with photos posted to social media that showed hallways crowded with students who weren’t wearing masks. Ott disclosed Saturday that six students and three staff had tested positive for the virus.
August 10, 2020 4:31 am
ROME (AP) – With confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. reaching 5 million Sunday, by far the highest of any country, the failure of the most powerful nation in the world to contain the scourge has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe. Much of the incredulity stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus. That is something the old continent didn’t have when the first COVID-19 patients started overwhelming its intensive care units. Yet the U.S. is facing a sustained outbreak, more than four months into the crisis.
August 10, 2020 4:29 am
BALTIMORE (AP) – A natural gas explosion has leveled three row houses in Baltimore, killing a woman and trapping others. Four people have been hospitalized with serious injuries, and rescuers are trying to reach at least one more survivor in the wreckage. A fourth row house was ripped open by the blast, which shattered windows around the neighborhood. The Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. was called in to shut off gas around the immediate vicinity. The cause of the explosion wasn’t immediately clear, but leaky pipes are a growing problem in Baltimore. The utility estimated that replacing aging pipes would cost nearly $1 billion and take two decades.
August 10, 2020 4:27 am
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) – States are having to consider whether they can afford a plan from President Donald Trump to extend additional unemployment benefits, The plan requires states to provide 25 percent of the funds, and it’s unclear whether states have the money or the will to do it. Trump issued an executive order Saturday to provide an additional $400 a week in benefits after Congress failed to extend a $600 weekly benefit. But Trump’s plan requires states to kick in $100 a week, and many states are already suffering budget woes related to the coronavirus. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says it would cost his state alone $500 million to provide the extra benefit through the rest of 2020.
August 10, 2020 4:24 am
On days when it’s 90 degrees and the sun is shining brightly, people want to be outside, so they flock to state parks. But the number of people visiting is growing, causing places like Keystone State Park to turn visitors away. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is warning several Pennsylvania state parks and forests about overcrowding. On Sunday at the beach area in Keystone State Park, umbrellas and tents were lined up as far as you could see. Groups of people were swimming and barbecuing, and kids were on the playground. Right now, capacity is limited to 75 percent of normal capacity, face masks are required and social distancing is encouraged. But with the influx of people on the weekends, state parks are having to turn visitors away. To help reduce overcrowding, overflow parking may be closed to turn people away. The parks also asking people to look for other less-crowded locations for recreation.
August 10, 2020 4:22 am
A small plane overturned off the runway at the Rostraver Airport in Westmoreland County on Sunday afternoon. Dispatchers said it happened at around 2:48 p.m. According to our partners at WPXI, the pilot was coming in for a landing and flipped. The pilot managed to get himself out of the plane and was evaluated for minor injuries. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. (Photo: Rostraver Central Fire Dept.)
August 10, 2020 2:00 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) — Around 10% of Pitt students will be randomly tested for the coronavirus even if they’re not showing any symptoms. The university will test students who live on and off campus. Students will receive an email notifying them of the date and time of their test. They will receive a test kit, collect a sample using a nasal swab themselves and then drop it off. Testing is expected to occur throughout the fall semester.
August 9, 2020 8:07 am
The number of British companies planning to cut staff numbers in June was five times higher than in the same month a year earlier, in an ominous sign of COVID-19’s economic impact. Figures obtained by the BBC show that 1,778 companies informed the government of plans to cut a total of 139,000 jobs. A year earlier the figure was 345 companies announcing a total of 24,000 job losses. Businesses are required to inform the Insolvency Service if they plan to cut 20 or more jobs. During the pandemic the government has been paying the salaries of almost 10 million furloughed workers. Economists are predicting a surge in unemployment when that program ends in October.
