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%.
April 23, 2020 5:52 am
Police are investigating after a pair of break-ins at local convenience stores. Washington County 9-1-1 tells us that police responded after an alarm sounded at the Gabby Food Mart along Pike Street around 12:30 a.m. The store is right across the street from the Chartiers Township Municipal Building. About thirty minutes later, South Strabane Township police were called to the Get-Go store in Strabane Square for a report of a similar break-in. South Strabane Township Police Chief Drew Hilk says “unknown actors forced entry to the closed store and stole and undetermined amount of cash and merchandise”. According to Hilk, the investigation includes checking surveillance cameras from area businesses. No other information is being released at this time.
April 23, 2020 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House is reassembling to send President Donald Trump a fourth bipartisan bill to help businesses crippled by the coronavirus. Anchoring the nearly $500 billion measure is a request by the administration to replenish a fund to help small- and medium-size businesses with payroll, rent and other expenses. Supporters are already warning that more money will be needed almost immediately for the business-backed Paycheck Protection Program. But battle lines are forming over the next measure amid growing demands to help out state and local governments, the Postal Service and first responders.
April 23, 2020 4:15 am
MADILL, Okla. (AP) – One person has been killed as an apparent tornado tore through southern Oklahoma. The storm hit the area around Madill, Oklahoma, about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday clusters of severe weather roared through parts of Oklahoma and Texas. Marshall County Emergency Management Director Robert Chaney says the person’s body was found about a quarter-mile from a J&I Manufacturing trailer plant just outside Madill. Chaney said he had no other information about the person who was killed. Chaney said J&I Manufacturing took a direct hit from the storm. The storm also hit fence wire manufacturer Oklahoma Steel and Wire in Madill.
