April 30, 2020 2:51 am
UNDATED (AP) – U.S. government officials say an experimental drug has proved effective against the new coronavirus in a major study. Gilead Sciences’s Remdesivir is the first treatment to pass such a strict test against the virus, which has killed more than 218,000 people since it emerged late last year. The study was led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and tested Remdesivir versus usual care in more than 1,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients around the world. Results released Wednesday showed the drug reduced the time to recovery by 31%, or four days on average, compared to usual care. It is given through an IV and interferes with the virus’s ability to copy its genetic material.
April 29, 2020 3:27 pm
UNDATED (AP) – Boeing says it will cut about 10% of its work force and slow production of planes as it deals with the ongoing grounding of its best-selling plane and the coronavirus pandemic. With air travel falling sharply because of the virus, airlines have delayed orders and deliveries of new planes, reducing Boeing’s revenue. The company announced the job cuts as it reported a loss of $641 million in the first quarter. It earned $2.15 billion in the same period last year. Revenue fell 26% to $16.91 billion. Boeing says jobs will be eliminated through a combination of voluntary exits and layoffs. They will be deepest in the division that makes airline jets, and less severe in the company’s defense and space unit.
April 29, 2020 3:24 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says the federal government’s coronavirus social distancing guidelines will be “fading out” when they expire on Thursday and states pivot to reopening. The administration says the guidance issued 45 days ago has been incorporated into recommendations given to states on how they can begin the process of gradually reopening their economies. The news comes on a day that brought hopeful signs on a new treatment along with grim economic numbers. The U.S. economy shrank at a 4.8% annual rate last quarter.
April 29, 2020 1:42 pm
Traffic is moving again after an accident Wednesday morning on Interstate 79 north near the Southpointe Exit. Authorities say both lanes of the interstate were closed after an accident involving a car and a truck. The truck landed on its side and crews were called in to remove the wreckage. There’s been no word on whether anyone was hurt.
April 29, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has ordered meat processing plants to remain open amid concerns over growing coronavirus cases and the impact on the nation’s food supply. An executive order signed Tuesday by the president uses the Defense Production Act to classify meat processing as critical infrastructure to keep plants open and prevent a shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on supermarket shelves. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union says 20 food-processing and meatpacking union workers in the U.S. have died of the virus. And they say the country can’t have a secure food supply unless workers are kept safe.
April 29, 2020 4:10 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Former Vice President Joe Biden has won Ohio’s presidential primary. Tuesday’s contest was less about the Democratic nomination and more about how states can conduct elections in the era of the coronavirus. The primary was originally scheduled for March 17, but Republican Gov. Mike DeWine cited a “health emergency” and recommended that in-person balloting not be held until June 2. Amid legal challenges, officials pushed balloting to this week while converting to a mail-in process since the state remains under a stay-at-home order. The result was never in doubt after Biden’s last rival, Bernie Sanders, dropped out of the race earlier this month.
April 29, 2020 4:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. economy began 2020 riding the crest of a record-long expansion with every expectation that its 11th year of growth would not be its last. Then the economy screeched to a sudden halt. And now it’s in free-fall. On Wednesday, the government will offer a glimpse of how dark the picture has grown and how much worse it could get as the coronavirus pandemic inflicts ruinous damage. The Commerce Department is expected to estimate that the gross domestic product sank at an annual rate of 5% or more in the January-March quarter. And yet forecasters say that will be only a precursor of a far grimmer GDP report to come on the current quarter.
April 29, 2020 4:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – With the U.S. economy gripped by its worst crisis since the 1930s, Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to offer sweeping assurances Wednesday that they will act as needed to help prevent the damage from growing even worse. Yet the Fed is unlikely to unveil any new emergency programs. Fed officials have already taken a range of extraordinary actions that have propelled them into new corners of the economy and elevated their bond-buying to new heights. Chairman Jerome Powell will hold his usual news conference – this time virtually, rather than on site – after the Fed issues its latest policy statement.
April 29, 2020 4:05 am
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Republican state leaders in Oklahoma and Utah are facing scrutiny over the spending of millions of dollars combined to purchase malaria drugs promoted by President Trump to treat COVID-19 patients that many other states obtained for free and that doctors warned shouldn’t be used without more testing. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt defended the state’s $2 million purchase Tuesday, saying the drug was showing some promise. Top officials in both states chalked up the decisions to “the fog of war.” Utah Gov. Gary Herbert at first defended the state’s $800,000 purchase but has since ordered an investigation of the contract and halted a plan to spend $8 million to buy more.
April 29, 2020 4:03 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says his coronavirus reopening plan is based on two things: science and math. But for a second consecutive day Tuesday, the Republican governor failed to show his work on the reason behind loosening testing benchmarks as the state barrels toward lifting its virus restrictions. The Justice administration plan to reopen hinges on having the state’s positive testing rate below 3% for three days, reversing a previous goal to have cases decline for two straight weeks. Virus czar Clay Marsh has endorsed Justice’s plan, saying the state has enough downward trends to move forward despite previous statements pushing for a two-week threshold along with the White House.
