May 4, 2020 4:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate gaveled in Monday as the coronavirus raged. The senators face a deepening national debate over how best to confront the deadly pandemic and its economic devastation. With the House staying away due to the health risks, but the 100 senators meeting for the first time since March, the conflicted Congress reflects an uneasy nation. Tops on the Senate agenda is not the next virus aid package, but confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees. Senate Republicans are reluctant to spend more money on virus relief. They’re counting on the country’s re-opening to kick start the economy and reduce the need for aid. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is quietly crafting the next relief package and Democrats say more must be done.
May 4, 2020 3:55 am
Students at more than 25 universities are filing lawsuits demanding tuition refunds from their schools after finding that the online classes they’re being offered don’t match up to the classroom experience. The class-action lawsuits have been filed against prestigious private schools and large public universities alike. The suits reflect students’ growing frustration with online classes that schools scrambled to create as the coronavirus forced campuses across the nation to close last month. Colleges, though, reject the idea that refunds are in order. They insist that, after being forced to close by their states, they are still offering students a quality education.
May 4, 2020 3:54 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Police are investigating the possible connection between the shooting deaths of two men found dead not far from each other in the Pittsburgh area. Police in Allegheny County say one man was found inside his home Saturday in a Ross Township apartment complex. The medical examiner identified him as 37-year-old Bing Liu of Pittsburgh. Police say a second man was found about 100 yards away in a car. He has not yet been identified. Township police say both men died of apparent gunshot wounds. Detective Sgt. Brian Kohlhepp said the two appear to be connected beyond their proximity to each other.
May 4, 2020 3:52 am
WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — Flight resumed Sunday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Westmoreland County, but extra precautions will continue to keep passengers and employees safe. Spirit Airlines is back up and running after suspending all flights about a month ago. The sole commercial carrier at the airport stopped service after bookings dropped dramatically, causing the airport to lay off 60 of its employees. Executive Director Gabe Monzo said extra safety measures will be taken to prevent the spread of the virus, starting with increasing the frequency of cleaning routines. Spirit is expected to resume mid-day flight from Latrobe to Orlando, Florida, on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. The airport is anticipating more flights to return eventually.
May 4, 2020 2:12 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Giant Eagle is temporarily limiting the purchase of ground beef and on-sale meat items to two of each per transaction. Giant Eagle spokesman Dick Roberts says the supermarket chain had limited some meat purchases early in the COVID-19 pandemic in March, but now the demand for meat is skyrocketing — causing this latest announcement. Meat won’t disappear from supermarket shelves, but added to the mix is the impact of outbreaks of COVID-19 among U.S. slaughterhouse workers. Consumers could see a smaller selection of meat and higher prices. Roberts said Giant Eagle is working with several suppliers in each of its product categories. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed recently that consumer buying patterns change quickly and some products face supply-chain disruptions. But the USDA said it planned a $3 billion purchase of fresh produce, dairy and meat to help stabilize prices.
May 3, 2020 8:28 am
ROME (AP) — From the United States to Europe to Asia, the easing of some coronavirus lockdowns brought millions out of their homes to enjoy the outdoors and warm spring temperatures. Yet the global pandemic is still slicing through the defenses of other nations, causing infections and deaths to march relentlessly higher. India on Sunday reported more than 2,600 infections, its biggest single-day jump, and new coronavirus cases in Russia exceed 10,000 for the first time. The confirmed virus death toll in Britain was creeping up near that of Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s outbreak, even though the U.K. population is younger than Italy’s and Britain had more time than Italy to prepare before the pandemic hit. There was also worrying news from Afghanistan, where nearly a third tested positive in a random test of 500 people in Kabul, the capital city. China, which reported two only new cases, is seeing a surge in visitors to newly reopened tourist spots after domestic travel restrictions were relaxed ahead of a five-day holiday that runs through Tuesday. Nearly 1.7 million people visited Beijing parks on the first two days of the holiday, and Shanghai’s main tourist spots welcomed more than 1 million visitors, according to Chinese media. Many spots limited daily visitors to 30% of capacity or less to keep some social distancing in place.
May 3, 2020 8:26 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Weighing the risks, the Senate will reopen on Monday as the coronavirus crisis rages and the House stays shuttered, an approach that leaves Congress as divided as the nation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to convene 100 senators at the Capitol during a pandemic gives President Donald Trump the imagery he wants of America getting back to work, despite health worries and a lack of testing. Yet, the Washington region remains under stay-at-home orders as a virus hot spot. Gathering senators for the first time since March risks lawmakers as well the cooks, cleaners, police officers and other workers who keep the lights on at the Capitol complex. Trump himself offered Congress access to the instant virus test system used to screen visitors to the White House. But in an extraordinary rebuff, McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Saturday that they would “respectfully decline” the offer and instead direct resources to the front lines “where they can do the most good.”
May 3, 2020 8:22 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korean troops exchanged fire along their tense border on Sunday, the South’s military said, the first such incident since the rivals took unprecedented steps to lower front-line animosities in late 2018. Violent confrontations have occasionally occurred along the border, the world’s most heavily fortified. While Sunday’s incident is a reminder of persistent tensions, it didn’t cause any known casualties on either side and is unlikely to escalate, observers said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said in a statement that North Korean troops fired several bullets at a South Korean guard post inside the border zone. South Korea responded with a total of 20 rounds of warning shots on two occasions before issuing a warning broadcast, it said. South Korea suffered no casualties, the military said. Defense officials said it’s also unlikely that North Korea had any casualties, since the South Korean warning shots were fired at uninhibited North Korean territory. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, did not immediately report about the incident.
May 3, 2020 8:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Six months from Election Day, President Donald Trump’s prospects for winning a second term have been jolted by a historic pandemic and a cratering economy, rattling some of his Republican allies and upending the playbook his campaign had hoped to be using by now against Democrat Joe Biden. Trump’s standing has slumped as the nation’s focus on him has intensified during the coronavirus outbreak, revealing an erratic and often self-absorbed approach to the crisis. The result: He’s losing ground in some battleground states with key constituencies, including senior citizens and college-educated men — all without his Democratic challenger having devoted much energy or money to denting the president. For some Republicans, the prospect of an election that is almost wholly a referendum on Trump is unnerving. Though the president’s base remains loyal, a significant portion of GOP voters view him skeptically on a range of personal qualities. He pulled many of those voters to his side in the 2016 election by drawing an aggressive contrast with Democrat Hillary Clinton. He planned to do the same in 2020 with Biden, with the added tailwind of a surging American economy. Now, that economy is crumbling around Trump. A staggering 30 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past six weeks as businesses have shuttered due to stay-at-home restrictions aimed at containing the pandemic. One of the president’s own economic advisers predicted nationwide unemployment could reach 20% by June.
May 3, 2020 8:17 am
ATLANTA (AP) — As more states begin to relax their coronavirus lockdowns, most are falling short of the minimum levels of testing suggested by the federal government and recommended by a variety of public health researchers, an Associated Press analysis has found. Three months into an unprecedented public health emergency, the White House has largely resisted calls for a coordinated plan to conduct the millions of tests experts say are needed to contain the virus. What federal officials outlined recently isn’t even an official benchmark, and AP’s analysis found that a majority of states are not yet meeting it. With no specific guidelines, states are left to figure out what a successful testing program should be while they simultaneously try to reopen their shattered economies. If states don’t have robust testing, public health experts say they will be unable to detect outbreaks quickly enough to contain them, which could lead to more shutdowns.
