December 27, 2020 7:54 am
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet lapsed overnight as President Donald Trump refused to signed an end-of-year COVID relief and spending bill that had been considered a done deal before his sudden objections. The fate of the bipartisan package remained in limbo Sunday as Trump continued to demand larger COVID relief checks and complained about “pork” spending. Without the widespread funding provided by the massive measure, a government shutdown would occur when money runs out at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. “It’s a chess game and we are pawns,” said Lanetris Haines, a self-employed single mother of three in South Bend, Indiana, who stood to lose her $129 weekly jobless benefit unless Trump signed the package into law or succeeded in his improbable quest for changes. Washington has been reeling since Trump turned on the deal after it had won sweeping approval in both houses of Congress and after the White House had assured Republican leaders that Trump would support it. Instead, he assailed the bill’s plan to provide $600 COVID relief checks to most Americans — insisting it should be $2,000. House Republicans swiftly rejected that idea during a rare Christmas Eve session. But Trump has not been swayed in spite of the nation being in the grip of a pandemic.
December 27, 2020 7:50 am
MCKEESPORT, Pa. (WPXI) — Four people face criminal charges after they were accused of helping the man wanted for shooting a McKeesport police officer. Daniel Neal, Gesiah Grigsby, Justine Kenyatta and Jasmyn Henderson-Bracey each face hindering apprehension or prosecution charges after investigators said they were all seen on security camera footage helping suspect Koby Francis. In court documents, officers noted Francis could be seen with handcuffs still on his wrists as the group of people were around him. Investigators searched a home on Freemont Street in McKeesport after they learned Francis may have been there. Grigsby and Henderson-Bracey were found at the home. The next day, officers searched another address connected to Francis in Crawford Village and again found Henderson-Bracey there. She told detectives she talked with Francis occasionally on Facebook, but had stopped after learning of the shooting. Later, Neal told detectives Francis asked him for a ride to North Versailles but after a time, Neal said he didn’t feel comfortable driving him and let him out of the vehicle. Documents said on Sunday, a Jefferson Hills police officer came upon a vehicle with a flat tire on Payne Hill Road and stopped to help. The vehicle matched the description of the vehicle Neal was driving. Kenyatta was behind the wheel and a man who did not identify himself was in the front passenger seat. Documents don’t say why the officer did not detain the pair. After investigators reviewed the dash camera footage, the man’s clothing and physical characteristics matched those of Francis. The suspect has not yet been caught. $15,000 in reward money is being offered for information leading to his arrest.
December 26, 2020 4:26 am
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – President Donald Trump is spending his Christmas golfing in Florida as a government shutdown looms and COVID relief hangs in the balance. Trump had no events on his public schedule Friday after throwing the future of a massive COVID relief and government funding bill into question. Failure to sign the bill, which arrived in Florida on Thursday night, could deny relief checks to millions of Americans on the brink and force a government shutdown in the midst of the pandemic. Trump is at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach for the holidays. The White House says he’s doing meetings and calls but gave no details.
December 26, 2020 4:25 am
ROME (AP) – The coronavirus upended Christmas traditions, but determination and imagination kept the day special for many. Intimate gatherings that didn’t require travel replaced large family reunions. Churches moved services online to avoid big crowds. With economies reeling around the world, it wasn’t a year for lavish gifts. In his Christmas Day message, Pope Francis appealed to world leaders to make sure the most vulnerable and needy are first in line to get coronavirus vaccines. Border closures and bottlenecks foiled plans for some.
December 26, 2020 4:22 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – Authorities say four people have been arrested in connection with the 2018 crash of a helicopter that killed a central Mexican governor and her husband – who had preceded her as governor. The Agusta 109 helicopter crashed in flames 10 minutes after takeoff on Dec. 24 that year while carrying newly installed Puebla Gov. Martha Erika Alonso and former Gov. Rafael Moreno Valle, as well as three other people. The Puebla state prosecutor’s office said Friday the suspects worked for a company “related to the functioning of the aircraft,” It said the suspects were accused of culpable homicide, damage to another’s property and false testimony.
December 26, 2020 4:21 am
BEIJING (AP) – Beijing has urged residents not to leave the city during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays, implementing fresh restrictions after several coronavirus infections last week. Two domestic cases were reported on Friday, a convenience store worker and a Hewlett Packard Enterprise employee. Another two asymptomatic cases were discovered earlier. Beijing is conducting testing on a limited scale in the neighborhoods and workplaces where the cases were found. It canceled big gatherings such as sports events and temple fairs. Venues such as cinemas, libraries and museums have to operate at 75% capacity. Officials in the northeastern port city of Dalian say they’ve tested over 4.75 million people after 24 confirmed infections this month. South Korea has reported another 1,132 cases.
December 26, 2020 4:20 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, causing widespread communications outages that took down police emergency systems and grounded flights at the city’s airport. Police believe the blast was intentional but don’t yet know a motive or target. Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake noted that officials had not received any threats before the explosion. The chief said investigators have found tissue at the scene that they believe could be remains. Mayor John Cooper ásaid three people taken to area hospitals for treatment were in stable condition Friday evening.
December 26, 2020 4:17 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A federal judge in Pennsylvania has rejected a bid to block one of Gov. Tom Wolf’s latest orders to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Wolf has gone to court to sue 22 restaurants defying a three-week shutdown of indoor dining at restaurants through Jan. 4. The court action came Wednesday as Wolf asks state lawmakers to approve $145 million for hard-hit businesses. A growing number of restaurants are defying Wolf’s shutdown order and are being cited for it. The daily totals of new reported infections in Pennsylvania have leveled off in the past couple weeks. But hospitalizations continue to climb.
December 26, 2020 4:05 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) — Crews continue to treat the interstates, routes, highways and other roads in western Pa. following the snowstorm and icy conditions on Christmas. PennDOT crews have been working for nearly 24 hours already, and that work is expected to continue through the early hours Saturday to make sure roadways are safe for drivers this weekend. According to PennDOT officials, this storm was a tough scenario right from the start. Rain switched to freezing rain Thursday evening, and then when wind chills plummeted even more, the snow started to fall — creating very slick conditions outside. The biggest challenge for crews has been the nonstop snowfall. Pittsburgh set a record Friday for the most snow recorded on Christmas Day with about four inches, but the White Christmas made things difficult for plows and salt trucks. All PennDOT trucks have been out treating and plowing roads, but the drifting snow and icy spots created some dangerous conditions.
December 25, 2020 7:10 am
PARIS (AP) — Wearing hard hats and protective suits, members of the choir of Notre Dame Cathedral sang inside the medieval Paris landmark for the first time since last year’s devastating fire for a special Christmas Eve concert. Accompanied by an acclaimed cellist and a rented organ, the singers performed beneath the cathedral’s stained-glass windows amid the darkened church, which is transitioning from being a precarious hazardous clean-up operation to becoming a massive reconstruction site. The choir initially planned to bring in 20 singers but for safety reasons they were limited to eight. The choir members stood socially distanced to be able to take off their masks — which is required indoors in France to stem the spread of the virus — and sing. The concert — including “Silent Night” in English and French, “The Hymn of the Angels,” and even “Jingle Bells” — was recorded earlier this month and broadcast just before midnight Thursday. The public was not allowed and isn’t expected to see the insides of Notre Dame until at least 2024.
