February 3, 2021 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has met with hard-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Their session on Tuesday night came as Republicans wrestled over how to handle a bipartisan outcry over her embrace of outlandish conspiracy theories like suggestions that mass shootings at the nation’s schools were staged. Aides to McCarthy and Greene offered no immediate comment after the two spent around 90 minutes together in his Capitol office. The GOP is facing unrest from opposing ends of the Republican spectrum over Greene and congresswoman Liz Cheney, who voted to impeach President Donald Trump. Both situations underscore GOP fissures as the party seeks its pathway without Trump.
February 3, 2021 4:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on Wednesday, proposed a sweeping new plan to dramatically boost funding for public schools to be supported by an increase in the state’s personal income tax. The Democratic governor, in a taped message, asked the Republican-controlled Legislature for what could approach $2 billion for public schools. The personal income tax increase would take the rate to 4.49% from 3.07%, but increase the exemption for the lowest earners. Republicans say the governor’s plan would raise about $7 billion over a full year, or 50% more. Wolf’s office said it would raise $4 billion, or about 25% more.
February 3, 2021 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s elections chief isn’t saying whether Gov. Tom Wolf asked for her resignation, but she says the buck stops with her. Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar is leaving this week after it surfaced that her agency failed to properly handle an advertising requirement for a proposed constitutional amendment. That mistake means a delay of two years for victims of childhood sexual abuse who want to file otherwise outdated civil lawsuits. Boockvar spent the past year helping counties implement a new law that let anyone vote by mail, along with other changes. She also certified the election results that helped Joe Biden defeat Donald Trump in the presidential contest.
February 3, 2021 2:19 am
Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire and explosion at a truck cleaning facility in Dallas Pike, West Virginia that injured two people. According to reports, an explosion was reported around eight o’clock Monday night and when emergency responders arrived, the facility was engulfed in flames. Officials say two employees suffered burns and were taken to a local hospital. There’s been no word on the severity of their injuries. Authorities say the workers were in the process of cleaning one of the tanker trucks when the the explosion occurred. The driver of the truck was outside the facility and was not hurt.
February 2, 2021 1:59 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration will begin providing COVID-19 vaccines to U.S. pharmacies, part of its plan to ramp up vaccinations as new and potentially more serious virus strains are starting to appear. White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said Tuesday the government will initially ship about 1 million doses to some 6,500 pharmacies around the country, starting next week. That’s expected to accelerate as drugmakers increase production. Drug stores have become a mainstay for flu shots and shingles vaccines, and the industry is capable of vaccinating tens of millions of people monthly.
February 2, 2021 7:40 am
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) – Punxsutawney Phil has emerged from his burrow to forecast there will be six more weeks of winter. The spectacle that is Groundhog Day at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, still went on this year despite a winter storm and the coronavirus pandemic. The prognosticator of prognosticators emerged at dawn on Tuesday. Members of his inner circle revealed he had seen his shadow, indicating six more weeks of winter. Phil this year, like many years in the past, gave his forecast during a major snowstorm that hit the entire Northeast.
February 2, 2021 4:26 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden panned a Republican alternative to his $1.9 trillion COVID rescue plan as insufficient. Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Senate Democrats on a private call Tuesday to take bold action to address the pandemic and economic crisis. Senate Democrats marshaled their slim majority to vote, 50-49, on a first step toward approving Biden’s plan with or without Republican votes. The procedural vote launches a lengthy budget process toward passage by March. Biden told Republican senators late Monday he’s unwilling to settle on too small a coronavirus aid package after meeting for two hours over their slimmed-down $618 billion proposal.
February 2, 2021 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has approved Pete Buttigieg to be transportation secretary, which makes him the first openly gay person confirmed to a Cabinet post. Buttigieg is tasked with advancing President Joe Biden’s wide-ranging agenda of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and fighting climate change. He easily passed a vote on Tuesday. The 39-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has pledged to promote safety and restore consumer trust in America’s transportation sector, which has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic. He takes over a Transportation Department with 55,000 employees and a budget of tens of billions dollars.
February 2, 2021 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats say the Senate should convict former President Donald Trump and bar him from office because he endangered the lives of all members of Congress when he aimed a mob of supporters “like a loaded cannon” at the U.S. Capitol last month. Trump’s lawyers deny that he incited rioters and call the upcoming Senate trial unconstitutional. Both sides filed their legal briefs Tuesday in advance of next week’s trial. The Democrats forcefully linked Trump’s baseless efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election to the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying he bears “unmistakable” blame. Trump’s lawyers rejected those charges and said the Senate can’t put him on trial now that he has left the White House.
February 2, 2021 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is blasting newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, calling the far-right Georgia Republican’s embrace of conspiracy theories and “loony lies” a “cancer for the Republican Party.” The statement Monday comes as House Democrats are mounting an effort to formally rebuke Greene, who has a history of making racist remarks, promoting conspiracy theories and endorsing violence directed at Democrats. Democrats have said they will strip Greene of her committee assignments if House Republican leadership refuses to. Greene says Democrats will regret the move if Republicans regain the majority after the 2022 elections.
