May 6, 2020 4:01 am
PHOENIX (AP) – President Donald Trump has put personal action into his call to reopen the country, visiting an Arizona face mask factory on Tuesday. Yet Trump didn’t wear a mask himself while touring a Honeywell factory in Phoenix. The president acknowledged that easing restrictions will result in some people being, in his words, “affected badly.” But he said it is imperative to get the country going again. An Associated Press analysis finds infection rates rising even as states start lifting their lockdowns. The White House says it hopes to wind down its coronavirus task force while shifting from battling an “invisible enemy” to rebooting the economy.
May 6, 2020 3:57 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania Game Commission says the number of hunting-related shooting fatalities in Pennsylvania went up in the past year. There were 26 hunting-related shooting injuries in Pennsylvania in 2019, four of which were fatal. The number of fatalities is up from the previous year when only one of the 27 hunting-related shootings were fatal. According to the commission, a little over half of the injuries in 2019 were inflicted by others. The primary cause was a person being in the line of fire and the second most common cause was the unintended discharge of a firearm.
May 6, 2020 3:56 am
MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (AP) – A body found in an unplugged refrigerator at a western Pennsylvania apartment building has been identified as a woman who went missing last week. Authorities say 41-year-old Daryl Jones, of McKees Rocks, was charged Monday with abusing a corpse. He was ordered held without bail because he may be a danger to the community and himself, according to court records. McKees Rocks police went to the apartment building Monday morning after residents who had smelled a foul odor discovered the decomposed body of 38-year-old Kristy Jefferson. Authorities haven’t said how Jefferson’s body ended up in the refrigerator, which was in a common area of the building.
May 6, 2020 2:40 am
Gov. Tom Wolf said at a Tuesday press briefing that the southwest region can expect an announcement on moving from the red to yellow phase “soon.” “As I said last week, southwestern Pennsylvania is doing a really good job. We’re doing the best we can to keep people safe within the constraints of this deadly virus.” “The southwest is doing a great job, and the hope is that they can move into the yellow phase like the 24 counties I announced last Friday fairly quickly,” Gov. Wolf added. On Friday, the governor announced that 24 counties in the rural northern part of the state would reopen on May 8th. Wolf, at the time, said the southwest region would remain in the “red” phase, meaning the stay-at-home order would stay in place until the area is moved into the “yellow” phase.
May 6, 2020 2:11 am
UNDATED (AP) – U.S. meat supplies are dwindling due to coronavirus-related production shutdowns. As a result, some stores like Costco and restaurants like Wendy’s are limiting sales. U.S. beef and pork processing capacity is down 40% from last year. On Monday night, nearly 20% of U.S. Wendy’s didn’t have beef available on their online menus, according to an analysis by Stephens, an investment bank. Wendy’s confirms it’s seeing temporary shortages. Meat production plants are gradually reopening. In the meantime, some alternative meat companies like Impossible Foods are hoping to fill the void. Impossible says its soy-based burger will go on sale at 1,700 Kroger stores this week.
May 5, 2020 6:16 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – A government scientist says he was ousted from his job after raising concerns that the Trump administration wanted to “flood” coronavirus hot spots like New York and New Jersey with a malaria drug, despite little scientific evidence it helped. Rick Bright filed a complaint Tuesday with the Office of Special Counsel, a government agency responsible for whistleblower complaints. He’s the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Bright alleges he was removed from his job and reassigned to a lesser role because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug favored by Trump.
May 5, 2020 9:52 am
Cecil Township Supervisors intended to live stream their regular meeting Monday night but ran into technical difficulties. Township officials state that the internet was down and the meeting was unable to be viewed as a live event. During the meeting supervisors approved a township Facebook page. The Facebook page will be constructed so as to not allow public comment. Supervisor Eric Sivavec has been calling for the page for several months. Supervisor Cindy Fisher is still reluctant saying that a new township website is in the works and a Facebook page should wait to be simultaneously released. The measure passed 4-1 with Supervisor Ron Fleeher voting no. Supervisors approved an emergency declaration as it relates to the Covid-19 pandemic. Supervisors also passed a measure to allow Township Manager Don Gennuso to order appraisals for land parcels that the township is interested in for the development of a public works building. Gennuso identified the two properties as that the Cowden Property and a property on Angerer Road where a radio station facility is located.
May 5, 2020 9:30 am
BOSTON (AP) – Public transit systems typically marked by jammed buses and subway trains are now grappling with the exact opposite: disappearing riders. Some systems are reporting subway ridership of less than 10% of usual demand as fears of the coronavirus and stay-at-home orders have riders abandoning time-worn methods of navigating cities. While agencies say public transit is still critical to help doctors, nurses and medical workers get to their jobs, no one is exactly sure when riders will begin returning in larger numbers – and how. A $25 billion federal aid package is helping some systems maintain service in the meantime.
May 5, 2020 8:58 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — (WPXI) – Surveillance video inside Forty Bar and Grille in Washington County shows a man breaking into the restaurant Saturday evening. The owner said he has to clean up blood and glass after a man busted through this garage door with a hammer. The owner said he was already having difficult time making ends meet due to the pandemic and tonight he wants this suspect caught. “He obviously didn’t see the cameras, broke in stole bottles of beer, liquor, grabbed our bank bag, only had a dollar in it,” said the owner Robert Merashoff. “He couldn’t get in through basement door, he was carrying a hammer with him. He busted one of the glass doors and broke in through that, cutting himself, leaving a bloody palm print on top facing the camera for the world to see,” Merashoff said. Merashoff said they’re struggling here trying to remain open for takeout orders, but not making enough money. And fixing this damage is not something he can afford. If you recognize the man in the picture, contact state police. (Photo: WPXI)
May 5, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The economic paralysis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic is forcing the U.S. Treasury to borrow far more than it ever has before – $2.99 trillion in the current quarter alone. The amount is more than five times the government’s previous record borrowing for a quarter, $569 billion, set in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. It also dwarfs the $1.28 trillion the government borrowed in the bond market for all of 2019. The Treasury Department said the huge sum is needed to pay for nearly $3 trillion in rescue aid that the government has unleashed in programs to support tens of millions of jobless workers and shuttered businesses with direct payments and loans.
