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.
September 2, 2020 10:37 am
BERLIN (AP) – The German government says tests have shown “proof without doubt” that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Navalny is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics. He fell into a coma on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on Aug 20. Doctors at Berlin’s Charite hospital last week said there were indications that Navalny had been poisoned. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Wednesday that a special German military laboratory found proof of “a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group.” The Kremlin said it hadn’t been informed yet of Navalny being poisoned with a nerve agent.
September 2, 2020 4:16 am
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – Demonstrators marched through Kenosha after President Donald Trump wrapped up his visit to the area. More than 100 people followed a man with a megaphone, shouting, “Arrest the police” and other chants. The city has seen protests and some violence since the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake. The 29-year-old Black man was shot seven times in the back. His family says he is paralyzed. At one point Tuesday afternoon, a group of protesters surrounded a man who they said belongs to a white nationalist group. Police officers moved in quickly and pulled the man away.
September 2, 2020 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration says it will not work with an international cooperative effort to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine because it does not want to be constrained by multilateral groups like the World Health Organization. The decision to go it alone, first reported by The Washington Post, follows the White House’s decision in early July to pull the United States out of the WHO. Trump claims the WHO needs reform and is heavily influenced by China. White House spokesman Judd Deere says the U.S. will continue engaging with its global partners to defeat the virus, but will not be “constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China.”
September 2, 2020 4:14 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – A strengthening Tropical Storm Nana is roaring toward Central America and is expected to become hurricane before making landfall on the coast of Belize after brushing past Honduras. The National Hurricane Center said the entire coast of Belize had been placed under a hurricane watch and warned that people in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula should closely monitor the storm’s progress. It said Nana is expected to pass near but north of the coast of Honduras on Wednesday and likely reach Belize early Thursday, it said.
September 2, 2020 4:13 am
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A Minnesota man who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota last month has died from COVID-19. Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health. says the man who died was in his 60s and had underlying health problems. The death is the first reported from the biker rally that drew hundreds of thousands of people. Cases among people who attended the rally have been reported in 11 other states. The rally went forward despite fears it could become a super-spread event. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem welcomed the bikers and the tourist dollars they spend.
September 2, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in rural Pennsylvania where one of the hijacked planes crashed in a field. The White House and Biden’s campaign are confirming the appearances. It’s not immediately clear whether their visits to the memorial in Shanksville will overlap. But it probably will be the closest that the candidates have been to one another in months. The National Park Service is planning an abbreviated ceremony this year to minimize the spread of the coronavirus, and no keynote speaker or musical guests are expected.
September 2, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A new book about President Donald Trump is reviving questions about his unscheduled visit to a military hospital last fall. The book by New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt says “word went out” at the White House for Vice President Mike Pence to stand by to temporarily assume presidential powers if Trump needed a medical procedure that would require him to be put under anesthesia. The White House has said the visit was part of Trump’s annual physical and that he was getting a head start because he’d be busy this year campaigning. Dr. Sean Conley, Trump’s White House doctor, said Tuesday Trump remains healthy and able to perform the duties of his office.
September 2, 2020 4:05 am
Matthew Vasquez, 32 of Monessen and 3 other co-conspirators faced plea hearings in front of Judge Valerie Costanzo on Tuesday. Vasquez is accused of 4 misdemeanor counts of defrauding secured creditors and criminal conspiracy to defraud secured creditors. Recorded phone conversations, video chats and texts provided by Washington County Detective Kiprian Yarosh revealed a plot for Vasquez to conceal 2 Harley Davidson motorcycles on which he had stopped making payments. Co-conspirators Michael Showalter and David Wadsworth pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy to defraud secured creditors and both men received 2 years probation. Karen Wadsworth received 1 year probation for her guilty plea to receiving stolen property. Vasquez, for his part in the conspiracy, had his case continued as his new court appointed attorney had yet to receive any information about the case. Costanzo continued the hearing until November 4 at 11:00 AM.
