April 19, 2020 9:02 am
AMMERSCHWIHR, France (AP) – A region in France’s far east, which has been struck particularly hard by coronavirus deaths, has ordered tests for all nursing home residents and staff. The elderly residents have been confined to their rooms since mid-March to protect against infection, and officials in the Haut-Rhin region are hoping that mass testing will allow them to recover a degree of freedom. In France, more than a third of France’s 17,000 coronavirus victims died in nursing homes. The elderly make up a disproportionate amount of global coronavirus victims, and nursing homes are one of the pandemic’s epicenters. Results from the Haut-Rhin are expected next week.
April 19, 2020 9:01 am
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A federal judge has blocked Kansas from limiting attendance at in-person religious worship services or activities to 10 or fewer congregation members to check the spread of the coronavirus. The decision Saturday from U.S. District Judge John Broomes in Wichita signaled that he believes there’s a good chance the policy violates religious freedom and free speech rights. Broomes’ ruling prevents the enforcement of an order issued by Gov. Laura Kelly on April 7. His decision will remain in effect until May 2. He has a hearing set for Thursday in a lawsuit filed against Kelly by two churches and their pastors.
April 19, 2020 9:00 am
SAN MARCOS, Texas (AP) – Authorities in Texas say one police officer is dead and two others were wounded after a gunman “ambushed” them with a rifle at an apartment complex. Saturday’s shooting happened in San Marcos, a fast-growing city between San Antonio and Austin. The city said in a statement that the suspect died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two wounded officers were transported to a hospital but their condition wasn’t immediately known. A news conference was scheduled for Sunday.
April 19, 2020 8:59 am
AUBURN, Calif. (AP) – The Sacramento Bee reports that the former mayor of a Northern California city who stepped down after he harshly criticized President Donald Trump and his supporters died Saturday in a plane crash. Officials told the Bee that Dr. Bill Kirby, who was the mayor of Auburn, died in the crash Saturday morning near the Auburn Municipal Airport. Kirby, a urologist, was the pilot of the plane that crashed shortly after 11 a.m. A passenger in the plane suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital. Kirby gained notoriety last week after social media posts criticizing Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and comparing the president’s supporters to KKK members.
April 19, 2020 8:58 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The wife of Tony Award-nominated actor Nick Cordero says her husband has had his right leg amputated after suffering complications from the coronavirus. Amanda Kloots on Instagram wrote late Saturday that Cordero “made it out of surgery alive and is headed to his room to rest and recover.” Cordero had been treated with blood thinners to help with clotting in his leg, but his doctors had to stop the treatment because it was causing internal bleeding. Cordero entered the intensive case unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on March 31 and has been on a ventilator and unconscious.
April 19, 2020 8:56 am
BANGKOK (AP) – South Korea has reported just eight more cases of the coronavirus, the first time a daily increase has dropped to single digits in about two months. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the additional figures on Sunday took the country’s total to 10,661 with 234 deaths. South Korea’s caseload has been waning in recent weeks since it recorded hundreds of new cases every day between late February and early March, mostly in the southeastern city of Daegu and nearby areas. Officials in Bangladesh are investigating how some 100,000 people were able to attend the funeral of a popular Islamic preacher on Saturday, as the country struggles to enforce a ban on large gatherings.
April 19, 2020 8:55 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Across an arc of vital swing states, the coronavirus has put politics on an uneasy pause. Political fights are raging among state leaders from Iowa to Pennsylvania over the handling of the pandemic’s impact. Protecting public health versus restarting the economy, along with arguments about the limits of executive authority, have taken the place of the national political debate that’s typical of presidential campaigns at this point. Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has built little campaign structure across the region. President Donald Trump is relying on state GOP headquarters for his operations, though they too have been largely empty.
April 19, 2020 8:53 am
NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump is bringing faith leaders into a discussion about a phased-in return to broader in-person worship after weeks of religious services largely shifting online in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump held a call with faith leaders one day after his White House included houses of worship among “large venues” that could be able to reopen while observing “strict physical distancing protocols” in the first stage of a three-part plan to reopen the U.S. economy, which has been frozen by the toll of the highly contagious virus.
April 19, 2020 8:52 am
JERUSALEM (AP) – Eastern Orthodox clergy have marked Easter in Jerusalem at a Church of the Holy Sepulcher devoid of worshipers due to the new coronavirus. Mass was performed at the site where many Christians believe Jesus was entombed and rose from the dead after his crucifixion. Ordinarily, the church would be filled with faithful and tourists. But travel restrictions imposed by Israel to prevent the spread of the virus have prevented the arrival of pilgrims to Jerusalem for the springtime holiday and limited the gathering of worshipers at the church. In Egypt, Coptic Christian leaders held mass at a remote desert monastery as restrictions prevented the assembly of worshipers at churches.
April 19, 2020 8:37 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — A Washington Man led police on a chase after a attempted break-in incident in Canton Township early Sunday morning. State Police say a 42-year-old female called authorities while her ex-boyfriend, identified as 54-year-old William Tyler, was attempting to gain entry to the woman’s home by hitting the front door at 619 Best Avenue. Before police arrived, Tyler fled the scene in a gold-colored 2003 Mercury. Troopers were able to find Tyler driving at a high rate of speed and did not stop when officials activated emergency lights and sirens. The suspect was unable to negotiate a turn and left the roadway on Jefferson Avenue at the intersection with Henderson Avenue. Tyler left the roadway, traveled onto and embankment and damaged a sign, railing as well as a parked vehicle according to police. Tyler reportedly fled the scene on foot after the crash, where he was later apprehended by the State Police, who say there was signs of impairment during the arrest. Tyler is currently being processed in the Washington County Jail.
