April 27, 2020 4:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – White House strategists are planning to shift President Donald Trump’s public focus from the coronavirus to the burgeoning efforts aimed at easing the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. That will put him in the position of looking forward to more promising times, Aides intend to put him in more controlled settings than his daily briefings, where his ability to grab headlines with freewheeling performances has become a liability. And plans are being drawn up for a limited schedule of travel within the next few weeks. Meantime, Republican polling shows that his path to reelection depends on how the public assesses the pace of the economic rebound.
April 27, 2020 3:58 am
PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh released more details to students about its historic virtual graduation ceremony, scheduled for Sunday April 26. University officials said it will be the first online gathering of its kind in school history. Nearly 4,800 undergraduate students, their friends and family had expected to crowd the Peterson Events Center for graduation, but then the COVID-19 outbreak happened. Still, the university said it is determined to not let this milestone for the class of 2020 go unmarked. On April 26 at 11:30 a.m., nearly 8,000 undergraduate, master’s, professional and doctoral candidates will celebrate their graduation online. Pitt will host the virtual celebration on commencement.pitt.edu. The 30-minute event will include what you’d see in a traditional graduation ceremony, plus remarks from Chancellor Gallagher, Provost Ann E. Cudd, greetings from deans and alumni and remarks from four graduating seniors.
April 27, 2020 3:51 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WPXI) – The Wolf administration announced a second round of funding for Pennsylvania businesses. The administration says 160 companies in 43 counties will get more than $13 million. The funds are going to restaurants, wellness centers, wineries and breweries. “These loans will help businesses in the commonwealth quickly access capital to address their critical needs while we continue to follow the governor and health secretary’s orders,” said Sec. Davin. “Small businesses are the fabric of our commonwealth, and the Wolf Administration is committed to supporting them to the fullest extent during this unprecedented time.” Two Washington County businesses are among the latest to receive $100,000 grants. The law firm of Peacock Keller LLP in Washington and Model Uniform of Charleroi. Six other county businesses received similar grants in the initial round.
April 26, 2020 7:51 am
ATLANTA (AP) — As the global death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 200,000 on Saturday, countries took cautious steps toward easing lockdowns imposed amid the pandemic, but fears of a surge in infections made even some outbreak-wounded businesses reluctant to reopen. The states of Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska started loosening restrictions on businesses despite warnings from experts that such steps might be premature. Shawn Gingrich, CEO and founder of Lion’s Den Fitness, decided after the Georgia governor’s announcement that his Atlanta gym would remain closed for now. “We’ve sacrificed so much already,” Gingrich said. “I feel like if we do this too soon, we’ll see a spike in cases and we’re back to square one.” Others were eager to get back to business, with precautions. Russ Anderson, who owns four tattoo studios in south Georgia, said he “couldn’t get up out of my chair quick enough” when restrictions were lifted. His main shop served 50 or 60 customers Friday when it reopened, with customers and tattoo artists wearing masks, he said. The worldwide death toll was over 202,000, according to a count by John Hopkins University from government figures. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher.
April 26, 2020 7:48 am
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Shrieks of joy rang out Sunday in the streets of Spain as children were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in six weeks, while residents of Italy and France were eager to hear their leaders’ plans on easing some of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdown. The sound of children shouting and the rattle of bikes on the pavement after the 44-day seclusion of Spain’s youngest citizens offered the first taste of a gradual return to normal life in the country that has the second-highest number of confirmed infections behind the United States. “This is wonderful! I can’t believe it has been six weeks,” Susana Sabaté, a mother of 3-year-old twin boys, said in Barcelona. “My boys are very active. Today when they saw the front door and we gave them their scooters, they were thrilled.”
April 26, 2020 7:46 am
DETROIT (AP) — Cindy Parkhurst could have stayed home collecting most of her pay while the Ford plant where she normally works remains closed due to coronavirus fears. Instead, she along with hundreds of workers at Ford, General Motors, Toyota and other companies has gone back to work to make face shields, surgical masks and ventilators in a wartime-like effort to stem shortages of protective gear and equipment. All over the country, blue-collar and salaried workers have raised their hands to make medical equipment as companies repurpose factories to answer calls for help from beleaguered nurses, doctors and paramedics who are treating patients with the highly contagious virus. Workers also are making soap and hand sanitizer, which early in the crisis were in short supply.
April 26, 2020 7:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — They long for what’s being lost: the ability to publicly question officials at committee hearings, to chat across the aisle, to speak from the House and Senate floor for all of America, and history, to hear. Congress wants its voice back. With no real plan to reopen Capitol Hill any time soon, the coronavirus shutdown poses an existential crisis that’s pushing Congress ever so reluctantly toward the 21st-century option of remote legislating from home. Divisions are fierce, but so too is the sense of what is being lost. Every day lawmakers shelter at home, their public role is being visibly diminished. While they are approving record sums of virus aid, they are ceding authority to oversee the effort and tackle next steps.
April 26, 2020 7:43 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A train likely belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been parked at his compound on the country’s east coast since last week, satellite imagery showed, amid speculation about his health that has been caused, in part, by a long period out of the public eye. The satellite photos released by 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies, don’t say anything about Kim’s potential health problems, and they echo South Korean government intelligence that Kim is staying outside of the capital, Pyongyang. Seoul has also repeatedly indicated that there have been no unusual signs that could indicate health problems for Kim. That hasn’t stopped growing unconfirmed rumors and media reports about Kim’s health that have emerged since he missed an April 15 commemoration of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Un is the third generation of his family to rule North Korea, and he hadn’t missed the April 15 event, one of the year’s most important for the North, since assuming power after his father Kim Jong Il’s death in late 2011. Kim’s health is of crucial importance because of worries that the serious illness or death of a leader venerated with near godlike passion by millions of North Koreans could cause instability in the impoverished, nuclear-armed country. Many experts in South Korea downplayed speculation that Kim is seriously ill. They also said North Korea won’t likely face a serious immediate turmoil even if Kim is incapacitated or dies because someone else like his influential sister Kim Yo Jong will quickly step in, though the prospect for the North’s long-term political future would be unclear.
April 26, 2020 7:38 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania woman awaiting sentencing on felony convictions of helping her cousin evade capture following a police officer’s slaying has been released from custody to ensure the safety of her unborn child amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Tribune-Review reports that 33-year-old Lisa Harrington appeared via video at a hearing Friday and a judge ruled that she will be allowed to live with her husband and three children until six weeks after she undergoes a C-section in June. Judge Rita Hathaway said she would consider jail a safe environment but for the defendant’s “high-risk pregnancy.” Defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky said that since his client’s incarceration last month, she has been diagnosed with the flu, has been hospitalized with pneumonia and has gestational diabetes. Harrington had been held without bond following her conviction last month on charges of hindering apprehension, evidence-tampering and a firearms offense. Her sentencing hearing will be scheduled six weeks after the birth of her child. Prosecutors said she drove 31-year-old Rahmael Holt out of town after the November 2017 slaying of New Kensington officer Brian Shaw and then disposed of the suspected murder weapon. Harrington denied the accusations at trial. Prosecutors have said Holt was an armed drug dealer who had planned to rob the driver of a sport utility vehicle that Shaw attempted to stop in Old Kensington. Holt said he wasn’t the person who fired. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in February.
April 26, 2020 4:28 am
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Inc. filed a request with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission for a rate hike. The revised rates would go to upgrades and replacement of the company’s underground pipelines. The company is asking for an increase of $100.4 million annually. Residential customers could see an increase of 17.84 percent. If the rate increase is approved, it will not go into effect until 2021. Columbia Gas says this is the first request for a rate increase in over two years.
