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.
April 29, 2020 4:00 am
CINCINNATI (AP) – A Democratic U.S. House incumbent faces a spirited challenge in central Ohio and two Democrats are competing to take on a potentially vulnerable Republican congressman in the Cincinnati area as Ohio’s extended primary voting came to an end. A late surge of votes arriving by mail or cast by people allowed to vote in-person left the outcomes of those races in doubt late Tuesday as large counties tabulated them. Ohio voting has been mostly by mail since state officials called off in-person voting for March 17.
April 29, 2020 3:58 am
(WPXI) – Pennsylvania restaurants, struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic, would be able to serve to-go cocktails under a new bill. The legislation, passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Tuesday, would allow restaurants and stores with r-licenses who have lost 25% or more of their business during the COVID-19 outbreak, to sell the to-go cocktails. According to the bill, the drinks must be in a container with a lid and cannot exceed 64 ounces. Customers have to keep the drinks in their trunk or another place in their car without the driver and passengers. The bill moves onto the Senate for a vote.
April 29, 2020 2:27 am
Washington County officials say there are businesses in that area that are ready to safely re-open, but they are following Gov. Tom Wolf’s orders — which seem to be ever-changing. “It has been a challenge to try to know which course of actions to take in Washington County next because the info continues to change,” said Diana Irey Vaughan, chairman of the board of Commissioners. On Tuesday, Wolf backed off the regional concept to re-open parts of the state. “We had put out a map in terms of our health care regions, but the governor has said that we are not going to be beholden to any specific map or any specific scheme,” said Dr. Rachel Levine, Pa. secretary of health. Wolf said he will consider reopening individual counties. Washington County is hoping to be a part of that plan. There are 109 COVID-19 cases and two deaths here. Wolf said he will be as objective as possible in evaluating the data and consider areas where hospitals have not been overwhelmed. There are some counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania with extremely low COVID-19 numbers and no deaths.
