August 3, 2020 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Slow, grinding negotiations on a huge COVID-19 relief bill are set to resume, but the path forward promises to be challenging. Both the Trump administration negotiating team and top Capitol Hill Democrats reported progress over the weekend even as they highlighted their differences. Ahead of Monday’s talks, all sides predict a long slog ahead despite the lapse of a $600-per-week supplemental COVID jobless benefit, the beginning of school season, and the call of lawmakers’ cherished August recess. Several more days of talks are expected, if not more.
August 3, 2020 4:14 am
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has again extended an order closing all bars in Monongalia County for an additional 10 days due to the coronavirus pandemic. The latest order is effective until Aug. 13. The county includes West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus. Monongalia County has reported at least 900 confirmed virus cases, by far the most in the state. More than half of the county’s active cases are in the 20 to 29 age group. Statewide, there have been at least 6,850 confirmed virus cases and 117 deaths.
August 3, 2020 4:13 am
HARLEIGH, Pa. (AP) – State police are searching for a vehicle that fled the scene after striking and killing a construction workers on Interstate 81 in northeastern Pennsylvania over the weekend. Police in Luzerne County say the sedan was heading north on the interstate in the right lane, which was closed due to active nighttime construction. Police said the vehicle struck 30-year-old Kevin Dendulk shortly before 1:30 a.m. Saturday in Hazle Township and didn’t stop, continuing to travel in the closed right lane of I-81 north. Police said a deputy county coroner pronounced the Royersford resident dead at the scene less than an hour later.
August 3, 2020 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Officials believe contaminated onions are the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people in recent weeks in the U.S. and Canada. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a Salmonella outbreak linked to onions from Thomson International in Bakersfield, California. They were sold at Pittsburgh-area Giant Eagle and Market District locations. Shoppers who bought the onions between early June and now have been notified through a phone call. Giant Eagle said the recall includes both bulk and bagged Spanish, white and red onions. Prepared foods and deli products that were made with onions are also recalled. So far, 400 people have become sick across the country and 60 of them have been hospitalized.
August 2, 2020 8:08 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — India reported nearly 55,000 new coronavirus cases Sunday and the Philippines recorded another daily high to surpass 100,000 total infections. A curfew was imposed on Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, following a spike in infections. Countries including the United States, India and South Africa are struggling to rein in their first wave of infections while South Korea and others where the disease abated try to avert a second wave as curbs on travel and trade ease.
August 2, 2020 8:06 am
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Early bands of heavy rain from Isaias lashed Florida’s east coast before dawn Sunday as authorities warily eyed the approaching storm, which threatened to snarl efforts to quell surging cases of the coronavirus across the region. Isaias weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm late Saturday afternoon, but was still expected to bring heavy rain and flooding as it barrels toward Florida. Authorities closed beaches, parks and virus testing sites, lashing signs to palm trees so they wouldn’t blow away. The governor said the state is anticipating power outages and asked residents to have a week’s supply of water, food and medicine on hand. Officials wrestled with how to prepare shelters where people can seek refuge from the storm if necessary, while safely social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
August 2, 2020 8:05 am
The Portland Police Bureau declared an unlawful assembly Saturday night when people gathered outside a police precinct in Oregon’s largest city and threw bottles towards officers, police said. Until that point, federal, state and local law enforcement had been seemingly absent from the protests Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The demonstrations — that for weeks ended with tear gas, fireworks shot towards buildings, federal agents on the street and injuries to protesters and officers — have recently ended with chanting and conversations. Activists and Oregon officials urged people at Saturday night’s protest in Portland to re-center the focus on Black Lives Matter, three days after the Trump administration agreed to reduce the presence of federal agents.
August 2, 2020 8:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the press present, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention said, citing the coronavirus. While Trump called off the public components of the convention in Florida last month, citing spiking cases of the virus across the country, 336 delegates are scheduled to gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Aug. 24 to formally vote to make Trump the GOP standard-bearer once more. Nominating conventions are traditionally meant to be media bonanzas, as political parties seek to leverage the attention the events draw to spread their message to as many voters as possible. If the GOP decision stands, it will be the first party nominating convention in modern history to be closed to reporters.
August 2, 2020 8:02 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wilford Brimley, who worked his way up from movie stunt rider to an indelible character actor who brought gruff charm, and sometimes menace, to a range of films that included “Cocoon,” “The Natural” and “The Firm,” has died. He was 85. Brimley’s manager Lynda Bensky said the actor died Saturday morning in a Utah hospital. He was on dialysis and had several medical ailments, she said. The mustached Brimley was a familiar face for a number of roles, often playing characters like his grizzled baseball manager in “The Natural” opposite Robert Redford’s bad-luck phenomenon. He also worked with Redford in “Brubaker” and “The Electric Horseman.” Brimley’s best-known work was in “Cocoon,” in which he was part of a group of seniors who discover an alien pod that rejuvenates them. The 1985 Ron Howard film won two Oscars, including a supporting actor honor for Don Ameche. For years he was pitchman for Quaker Oats. In recent years, Brimley’s pitchwork for Liberty Mutual had turned him into an internet sensation for his drawn out pronunciation of diabetes as “diabeetus.” He owned the pronunciation in a tweet that drew hundreds of thousands of likes earlier this year. Brimley is survived by his wife Beverly and three sons.
August 2, 2020 7:57 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Rescue crews have found the body of a man who fell into the Allegheny River late Friday night. Pittsburgh police said the young man either jumped or fell into the river while the boat he was on prepared to dock. He did not resurface. Police said the man was located under the water and was pulled onto the dock just after midnight. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency responders said the search started around 9:45 p.m. Friday near Washington’s Landing Marina. Rescue crews were searching in the area of the 31st Street Bridge, which was where the man was last seen. Several police and rescue crews were at the scene, and dive teams were in the river looking for the victim. Police said visibility was a major concern for divers in the water, and the man has not been identified.
