December 24, 2020 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A late-term maneuver by President Donald Trump to use lower drug prices paid overseas to limit some of Medicare’s costs suffered has a legal setback that appears likely to keep the policy from taking effect before the president leaves office. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake in Baltimore issued a nationwide injunction that prevents the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, from carrying out the so-called “most favored nations” rule as scheduled on Jan. 1. The policy would have applied to drugs administered in a doctor’s office, including many cancer medications.
December 24, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s new demand of $2,000 aid checks to Americans is threatening to tank a big year-end COVID relief bill. It’s also posing an uncomfortable test of allegiance for Republicans who reject such spending. On Thursday, House Democrats will all but dare Republicans to break with Trump, calling up his proposal for a Christmas Eve vote. GOP lawmakers are poised to object, offering their own proposal to cut foreign aid. Trump assailed the bipartisan $900 billion package, and suggested he may not sign it. His objection also threatens a government shutdown. House Democrats are considering stopgap funds to keep government running.
December 24, 2020 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump pardoned more than two dozen people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law. It’s the latest wave of clemency by Trump that benefits longtime associates and supporters. The actions announced Wednesday night bring to nearly 50 the number of people whom the president has granted clemency in the last week. Benefiting are multiple people convicted in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, plus some of the president’s legally troubled allies from Congress and other felons whose causes have been championed by friends.
December 24, 2020 4:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s governor wants to use $145 million in a worker’s compensation fund to help businesses cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal would require a vote from the Republican-majority Legislature to appropriate the money, and there has been no deal struck to accomplish that. Wolf is seeking to give the money in grants to businesses that have the greatest need for help. The money is a surplus in the Insurance Department’s Worker’s Compensation Security Fund.
December 24, 2020 4:05 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Republican state senators in Pennsylvania were invited to a White House lunch as President Donald Trump baselessly maintains Democrats stole the battleground state from him. A spokesperson for the caucus said every Republican senator received the invitation this week for the Wednesday lunch. It was unclear who decided to go, and the invitation included no agenda.
December 23, 2020 4:10 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has vetoed the annual defense policy bill, following through on threats to veto a measure that has broad bipartisan support in Congress and potentially setting up the first override vote of his presidency. The bill affirms 3% pay raises for U.S. troops and authorizes more than $740 billion in military programs and construction. Trump has offered a series of rationales for vetoing the bill. He has called for lawmakers to include limits on social media companies he claimed are biased against him.
December 23, 2020 4:40 am
The Greater Washington County Food Bank wants residents to know that they are not closing their doors and will continue their mission of the past 35 years to feed those in need. The organization, Tuesday, released a detailed response to the recent move by Washington County Commissioners to remove $280,000 of federal and state food aid and re-allocate it with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to oversee administration and distribution of food products. Commissioner’s Chairman Diana Irey-Vaughn and fellow Republican Nick Sherman voted in favor of the move. Democrat Larry Maggi voted against. Irey-Vaughn and Sherman say they were responding to recent complaints and the consolidation of numerous food pantries within the Greater Washington COunty Food Bank. They call the commissioner’s move another ‘obstacle’ in a year that has seen them distribute three times as much food as normal. A transition meeting with the Pittsburgh Food Bank is to occur in the coming weeks.
December 23, 2020 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The coordinator of the White House coronavirus response says she plans to retire. But first, Dr. Deborah Birx says, she’s willing to help President-elect Joe Biden’s team with its coronavirus response if needed. Birx in an interview with the news site Newsy did not give a specific timetable on her plans. Her comments come just days after The Associated Press reported that she traveled out of state for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was urging Americans to forgo holiday travel. She says the scrutiny she’s come under in her job has been a “bit overwhelming.”
December 23, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. government is close to a deal with Pfizer to acquire tens of millions of additional vaccine doses in exchange for helping the pharmaceutical giant gain better access to manufacturing supplies. A person with knowledge of the negotiations tells The Associated Press that the deal is under discussion but has not been finalized. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to describe ongoing deliberations. Pfizer’s vaccine was the first to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration, and initial shipments went to states last week. It has since been joined by another vaccine, from Moderna.
December 23, 2020 4:08 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – California’s health care system is buckling under the strain of the nation’s largest coronavirus outbreak and authorities say it may fracture in weeks if people ignore holiday social distancing. Top executives from the state’s largest hospital systems said Tuesday that increasingly exhausted staff are now attending to COVID-19 patients stacked up in hallways and conference rooms. California is closing in on 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state on Tuesday reported nearly 32,700 newly confirmed cases. Nearly 700 more patients were admitted to hospitals – one of the biggest one-day hospitalization jumps. Authorities blame the surge on people ignoring social distancing rules for Thanksgiving and they’re begging people to be safe for Christmas.
