November 15, 2020 7:41 am
Republican leaders in four critical states won by President-elect Joe Biden say they won’t participate in a legally dubious scheme to flip their state’s electors to vote for President Donald Trump. Their comments effectively shut down a half-baked plot some Republicans floated as a last chance to keep Trump in the White House. State GOP lawmakers in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have all said they would not intervene in the selection of electors, who ultimately cast the votes that secure a candidate’s victory. Such a move would violate state law and a vote of the people, several noted. The idea loosely involves GOP-controlled legislatures dismissing Biden’s popular vote wins in their states and opting to select Trump electors. While the endgame was unclear, it appeared to hinge on the expectation that a conservative-leaning Supreme Court would settle any dispute over the move. Still, it has been promoted by Trump allies, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and is an example of misleading information and false claims fueling skepticism among Trump supporters about the integrity of the vote. The theory is rooted in the fact that the U.S. Constitution grants state legislatures the power to decide how electors are chosen. Each state already has passed laws that delegate this power to voters and appoint electors for whichever candidate wins the state on Election Day. The only opportunity for a state legislature to then get involved with electors is a provision in federal law allowing it if the actual election “fails.”
November 14, 2020 9:40 am
SOUTH STRABANE – A man from North Strabane Township faces multiple charges after police say he rammed two police cruisers while driving a tractor during a slow-speed police chase. According to police, 47-year-old Steven Magdich refused to pull over his John Deere tractor along Routes 519 and 136 earlier this week after police tried to stop him. When police approached, they noticed he was drinking beer and he began to yell obscenities at them. He then hit a cruiser with the front end loader on his tractor and struck another cruiser with the blade attached to the back. He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, fleeing from police, and DUI. He’s lodged in the Washington County Jail on $75,000 bond.
November 14, 2020 8:58 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The FBI says a man who was serving a life sentence for murder when he escaped custody while attending his grandmother’s funeral nearly 50 years ago has been captured in Michigan. Leonard Rayne Moses was 16 when he was convicted in the 1968 killing of Mary Amplo during civil unrest in Pittsburgh over the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Moses escaped custody in 1971. The FBI says he’d been living under an assumed name in Michigan. Moses was charged with stealing pills from a pharmacy earlier this year and the FBI said Friday the fingerprints from that arrest came back a match.
November 14, 2020 8:49 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden’s advisers are already signaling that a nationwide lockdown is not under consideration for combating the coronavirus pandemic. This week, two members of his coronavirus task force publicly said they were not looking at a widespread lockdown. Their comments came after a third member, Dr. Michael Osterholm, suggested a four- to six-week lockdown with financial aid for Americans was a strategy worth considering. Osterholm later walked back his comments, telling ABC News he hasn’t brought up the proposition with the task force. But the scramble over the issue underscores the political and practical challenges Biden will face in seeking to turn the tide of the pandemic.
November 14, 2020 5:15 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Republicans suffered setbacks to court challenges over the presidential election in three battleground states on Friday as a national law firm that came under fire for its work for President Trump’s campaign withdrew from a major Pennsylvania case. The legal blows began when a federal appeals court rejected an effort to block about 9,300 mail ballots that arrived after Election Day in Pennsylvania. The judges noted the “unprecedented challenges” facing the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, a Michigan judge found no evidence of fraud in refusing to stop the certification of Detroit-area election results. And in Arizona, a judge dismissed a Trump campaign’s lawsuit seeking the inspection of ballots in metro Phoenix
November 14, 2020 5:00 am
(AP) – Researchers say a cheap, daily pill combining four cholesterol and blood pressure medicines taken with low-dose aspirin can cut the risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart-related deaths by nearly one third. The results announced Friday are from a large international study that tested this approach, called a polypill, in people at moderate risk for heart problems because of high blood pressure, diabetes or other conditions. At least half a dozen companies sell polypills outside the United States, but they’re not widely used. Doctors think that will change with the results of this study. Heart disease is the top killer worldwide.
November 14, 2020 5:00 am
UNDATED (AP) – Dr. Anthony Fauci is recommending masks at Thanksgiving gatherings if the coronavirus status of people is unknown. The nation’s top infectious disease expert told “CBS This Morning” that “even if it’s a very small group, to the extent possible, keep the mask on.” Fauci says if families have either quarantined or been tested for the coronavirus, it’s not as necessary. But he says it’s wise to take precautions because people without symptoms don’t know they are infected. The U.S. set a single-day record of more than 160,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday. Fauci says if people wear masks and stay socially distant, the numbers will start to come down. He says when a vaccine becomes available, it will help turn things around.
November 14, 2020 5:00 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Country singer Doug Supernaw, who had hits in the early ’90s with “I Don’t Call Him Daddy,” and “Reno,” has died. He was 60. A representative from his management team said Supernaw died in Texas on Friday. The Houston-raised singer announced in February 2019 that he had lung and bladder cancer and he entered hospice care in October after the cancer spread. After working on oil rigs and as a concert promoter in Texas, Supernaw moved to Nashville in the late ’80s to work as a staff writer for a music publishing company, but moved back to Texas where he could perform more. He began opening for national acts that came through Tyler, Texas and gained a wider following, eventually attracting the interest of Nashville label BNA Entertainment. His debut album, “Red and Rio Grande,” was released in 1993 and was certified gold. The music video for “I Don’t Call Him Daddy,” a No. 1 hit about a divorced father and his son, featured Supernaw and his real son.
November 14, 2020 5:00 am
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Tropical Storm Iota has formed in the Caribbean and is expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches Central America. It could wreak havoc in a region where people are still grappling with more than 120 deaths and many more missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta. The U.S. National Hurricane Center on Friday said Iota could bring dangerous wind, storm surge and rainfall to Nicaragua and Honduras by Sunday night. There were no coastal warnings or watches in effect as of Friday afternoon. Iota is the 30th named storm of this year’s record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season.
November 14, 2020 5:00 am
(WPXI) – With the holiday season already starting, you will probably start seeing social media posts about the “Secret Sister” gift exchange. The “Secret Sister” posts became popular in 2015, the Better Business Bureau said. It’s when you send one gift and expect to receive up to 36 in return. Every year the post has slight changes, for example, bottles of wine or $10 gifts, the BBB said, but no matter the cost or the presents, the exchange is technically a pyramid scheme and is illegal. The BBB said the gift exchange says to provide your name and address as well as the same information for a couple of friends and to add it to a list that was started by someone you may not know. Then you start buying and shipping gifts to people on the list, most likely complete strangers, all in the hope of getting gifts in return, which doesn’t always happen. In the end, you may be left empty-handed, with no gifts after spending money to buy and send your allotment. The U.S. Postal Inspection Services consider the gift exchange a form of gambling, and if you participate, you could face jail time, fines or a lawsuit for mail fraud, the BBB said.
