December 16, 2020 4:11 am
BELLE VERNON, Pa. — (WPXI)- The Superintendent of Belle Vernon Area School District said all instruction stopped at 11 a.m. Wednesday so students and families could “let go of the stress and worry of school and make some special memories.” In a letter sent to parents in the district, Dr. Michele Dowell encouraged people to “Go outside and make snow angels or go sledding.” Dowell said families could even make cookies or play cards indoors and suggested making a fort in the living room. The letter says, in part; Beginning at 11:00 am on Wednesday, we will stop all instruction. I know that it is an asynchronous day, but I am asking that all families stop doing any type of academic activity from 11 am through the rest of the day, regardless of whether you finished your assignments for the day or not. Teachers will be flexible in giving additional time for the assignments posted. Enjoy the wonders of this season and forget, even if for a very short period of time, about all the stress that we have been under for so long. We will return to our routine again on Thursday. Take care and stay safe.”
December 15, 2020 4:38 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg to head the Transportation Department. That’s according to three people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday to avoid preempting the president-elect’s announcement. The 38-year-old Buttigieg was one of Biden’s rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was a breakout star of the primaries, sharing victory in the nation’s first caucus with Bernie Sanders. He suspended his campaign before Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden. The Transportation Department helps oversee the nation’s highway system, planes, trains and mass transit and is poised to play a key role early in the incoming administration.
December 15, 2020 4:26 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – A home test for COVID-19 will soon be on U.S. store shelves. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday cleared the first kit that consumers can buy without a prescription to test themselves entirely at home. Regulators granted use for a similar home test last month, but it requires a doctor’s prescription. The test kit from an Australian company allows users to swab themselves and get the results at home in about 20 minutes. The test connects to a digital app to help users interpret the results. The company says it will have 3 million tests available next month.
December 15, 2020 8:57 am
Crews from Pennsylvania American Water were called out Tuesday afternoon to repair a 12” pipe on Racetrack Road near Route 19 in South Strabane Township following a water line break earlier in the day. Officials with the water company say approximately 10 customers (businesses) in the immediate vicinity experienced low or no water pressure. The southbound lane of Racetrack Road was closed throughout the day, from the Primanti’s entrance to Route 19. Flaggers directed traffic and salt trucks were on hand to ensure the road stayed clear of ice while crews repaired the break. (Photo: Facebook)
December 15, 2020 6:29 am
A Bulger man was killed early Tuesday morning in an accident near Mcdonald. The Washington County Coroner’s Office says 33-year-old Thomas Hammond was the driver of a vehicle that was traveling north on Route 980 around five-thirty, when he lost control of the vehicle in the 2000 block and plowed into a garbage truck. Authorities say he was not wearing a seatbelt. Robinson Highway was closed between Beagle Club Road and Route 22 while crews worked at the scene. The accident remains under investigation by the McDonald Police Department.
December 15, 2020 3:18 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Lawyers for the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein are urging a judge to free her to await trial under a $28.5 million bail package that would include armed guards to keep her in a New York City residence. The bail arguments on behalf of Ghislaine Maxwell were filed late Monday in Manhattan federal court. Maxwell is scheduled to face a July trial on charges that she recruited three teenage girls for Epstein to abuse in the mid-1990s. Her first attempt at bail shortly after her July arrest was rejected. Her lawyers say she wants nothing more than to remain in the United States and fight the charges. They say the case depends on uncorroborated testimony of a handful of witnesses about events over 25 years ago.
December 15, 2020 3:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A crush of sign-ups is expected Tuesday on the last day of open enrollment for HealthCare.gov. That could help solidify the standing of “Obamacare” as an improbable survivor in the Donald Trump years. In 36 states that use HealthCare.gov, Dec. 15 is deadline day for coverage that starts Jan. 1. Another 14 states and Washington, D.C., have later dates. Analysts and advocates who follow sign-up season say interest has gotten stronger with the coronavirus pandemic. Also, the legal cloud hanging over the Affordable Care Act seemed to start lifting last month when Supreme Court justices gave a skeptical reception to the latest challenge from the Trump administration.
December 15, 2020 3:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General William Barr, one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, is departing amid lingering tension over the president’s baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son. Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general submitted his letter of resignation. Trump has publicly expressed his anger about Barr’s statement to The Associated Press earlier this month that the Justice Department had found no widespread fraud that would change the outcome of the election. Trump says Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will become Acting Attorney General.
December 15, 2020 3:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Top Washington negotiators continue to reach for a long-delayed agreement on COVID-19 relief, but rank-and-file Democrats appear increasingly resigned to having to drop a demand for fiscal relief for states and local governments whose budgets have been thrown out of balance by the pandemic. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin by phone Monday evening and continues to press for help for struggling states and localities. But top Democratic allies of President-elect Joe Biden came out in support of a $748 billion plan offered by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and hinted they won’t insist on state and local aid now.
December 15, 2020 3:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Electoral College has formally confirmed that Joe Biden will be the nation’s next president, giving him a solid electoral majority of 306 votes to affirm his victory in last month’s election. The state-by-state voting Monday took on added importance this year because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost. Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met under various threats. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress. For all the defeated Republican president’s objections, there was little suspense and no change as all the electoral votes allocated to Biden and Trump in last month’s popular vote went to each man.
