April 24, 2020 2:35 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The federal government is making it tougher for public companies to tap a small business relief program, and seeking refunds in some cases from companies that already did. Although the intent of the program is to help small businesses hit by the coronavirus outbreak, some publicly traded companies did secure loans, setting off a backlash. The government now says companies must certify that the loan is necessary and they don’t have other sources for the money, criteria public companies are unlikely to meet. The government also said public companies that already received them could refund the loans by May 7. Some have announced that they will.
April 24, 2020 2:35 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The maker of Lysol and another disinfectant says its products should not be used as an internal treatment for the coronavirus. The company issued a statement Friday to combat what it said was “recent speculation” after President Donald Trump raised the possibility of disinfectants being injected into people to combat the virus. The disinfectant manufacturer said that “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route).” Trump on Thursday also touted “emerging” research on the benefits of sunlight and humidity in diminishing the virus threat. Past studies have not shown good evidence of that.
April 24, 2020 2:33 am
TORONTO (AP) – A Canadian police official says the country’s worst mass shooting started as a domestic dispute between the gunman and his girlfriend, who survived the attack. The official confirmed to The Associated Press late Thursday that the weekend rampage erupted after an argument between the pair. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and said more details will be provided at a new conference Friday. The suspect was shot to death Sunday morning, about 13 hours after the attacks began. Police have said 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman acted alone.
April 24, 2020 2:32 am
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – Barber shops, salons and spas are reopening in Georgia and Oklahoma as their Republican governors ease shutdown orders despite warnings from health experts of a potential new surge of coronavirus infections. As some customers ventured back to these venues, the confirmed number of coronavirus deaths in the United States passed 50,000, That’s according to a tally compiled by John Hopkins University from government figures. The actual number is believed to be much higher.
April 24, 2020 2:31 am
NEW YORK (AP) – After two months and more than 11,000 deaths that have made the nation’s nursing homes some of the most terrifying places to be during the coronavirus crisis, most of them still don’t have access to enough tests to help control outbreaks among their frail, elderly residents. Neither the federal government nor the nation’s leader in nursing home deaths, New York, has mandated testing for all residents and staff. And a nursing home industry group says only about a third of U.S. nursing homes have easy access to test kits. Says one industry official: “We’ve been ignored.”
April 24, 2020 2:30 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress has delivered a nearly $500 billion infusion of coronavirus spending, almost unanimously rushing new relief to employers and hospitals buckling under the strain of a pandemic that has claimed almost 50,000 American lives and one in six U.S. jobs. President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign the bill during a White House ceremony Friday. House lawmakers gathered in Washington for the first time since March 27, adopting stricter social distancing rules while aiming to prove they can do their work despite the COVID-19 crisis. Easy passage of the measure belies a potentially bumpier path ahead.
April 24, 2020 2:25 am
NORTH STRABANE, Pa. (WPXI) — Police said a man set his girlfriend on fire inside their Washington County apartment and held her there for days. The police chief in North Strabane Township told Channel 11 the woman had signs of being tortured and was covered in old and new injuries. There is also evidence that her bed was set on fire while she was sleeping in it. The investigation started Tuesday night when North Strabane Police responded to their apartment for a report of a domestic violence assault in progress. Officers arrested Douglas Schrecengost, who already had a Protection From Abuse (PFA) for strangulation in Allegheny County, after the victim’s cellphone was found in his pocket.
According to court documents, the victim told police that Schrecengost:
- Kept against her will for days
- Beat her, broke her eyeglasses, bit her, broke a wooden door and struck her with the pieces
- Held her down, stepped on her chest until she was unable to breathe
But the most frightening allegation was caught on camera. She told police he poured rubbing alcohol on her and her bedding, lit it on fire. Investigators said Schrecengost also recorded the whole incident with his cell phone and later texted it to her. The victim told North Strabane police she was abused continuously for days. North Strabane police said they found the empty rubbing alcohol container, burn marks on the bedding and a broken door frame. Schrecengost is being held without bond.
April 24, 2020 2:18 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)– The administration of Gov. Tom Wolf is cautioning that a declining case count is just one factor that officials will consider in deciding whether a region of the state is ready to begin emerging from the pandemic. The state’s reopening plan says each geographic region must report a 14-day total of 50 or fewer new coronavirus infections per 100,000 residents in order to be considered for an easing of restrictions. But officials said Thursday they’ll also be looking at the availability of diagnostic testing, the ability to quickly contain flareups and other factors.
April 23, 2020 5:45 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Few Americans say they regularly look to or trust President Donald Trump as a source of information about the coronavirus pandemic. That’s according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just 28% of Americans say they regularly get information from Trump about coronavirus and only 22% say they have high levels of trust in what the president is telling the public. Confidence in Trump is higher among his supporters. Still, only about half of Republicans say they have a lot of trust in Trump’s information on the pandemic.
April 23, 2020 7:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – More than 4.4 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as job cuts escalated across an economy that remains all but shut down, the government said Thursday. Roughly 26 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the five weeks since the coronavirus outbreak began forcing millions of employers to close their doors. About one in six American workers have now lost their jobs since mid-March, by far the worst string of layoffs on record. Economists have forecast that the unemployment rate for April could go as high as 20%.
