February 5, 2020 4:14 am
BEIJING (AP) – Deaths from a new virus rose to 490 in mainland China while new cases on a Japanese cruise ship, in Hong Kong and elsewhere showed the increasing spread of the outbreak and renewed attention toward containing it. Ten people from the cruise ship tested positive and were taken to hospitals, while all 3,700 crew and passengers on the ship will be quarantined on board for up to 14 days. In Hong Kong, hospitals workers are striking to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely to ward off the virus, but four new cases without known travel to the mainland indicate the illness is spreading locally in the territory.
February 5, 2020 4:13 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Macy’s says it is closing 125 of its least productive stores and cutting 2,000 corporate jobs as the struggling department store tries to reinvent itself in the age of online shopping. The store closures represent about one fifth of Macy’s current total. It didn’t specify how many jobs would be lost at the shuttered stores. The corporate jobs will be shed as Macy’s closes its offices in Cincinnati and San Francisco, leaving New York as its sole corporate headquarters. The moves announced Tuesday come ahead of Macy’s annual investor meeting where CEO Jeff Gennette is expected to unveil a three-year reinvention plan.
February 5, 2020 4:12 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Democratic Party has released additional results of its kickoff presidential caucus after a long day of delay. The early results show former Midwestern Mayor Pete Buttigieg with a slight lead over progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the opening contest in the party’s 2020 primary season. The results late Tuesday followed 24 hours of chaos as technical issues marred the contest, forcing state officials to apologize and raising questions about Iowa’s traditional place atop the presidential primary calendar. It’s still too early to call a winner, but the results so far are not good news for former Vice President Joe Biden, who’s shown in fourth place behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
February 5, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. Senate has acquitted President Donald Trump of impeachment, ending only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country and tested civic norms. The proceedings also are feeding the tumultuous 2020 run for the White House. A majority of senators expressed unease with Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment. But there was nowhere near the two-thirds vote necessary in the Republican-held Senate to remove the president from office. He was found not guilty of both articles of impeachment. Trump is eager to use the tally as vindication, a political anthem in his reelection bid.
February 5, 2020 4:05 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania Legislature’s budget reserve for its own operations is continuing to rise, reaching $172 million for the year that ended last June. The Legislative Audit Advisory Commission voted Tuesday to approve what’s an annual spending report for state lawmakers and their staff. The report says the legislative branch spent $362 million over that year, up slightly from $355 million in the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The largest type of expense, by far, is payroll and benefits, which cost slightly over $299 million. Other spending categories include $4 million for transportation, $2.4 million for travel, and $2.5 million for postage. Lawmakers’ budgetary reserve peaked at $215 million in 2006.
February 5, 2020 2:30 am
ELLWOOD CITY, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a school van driver was killed in a collision with a tractor-trailer on a western Pennsylvania road. Officials in Lawrence County said the crash occurred shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday on Route 488 in Perry Township near Ellwood City. Coroner Rich Johnson said the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. His name wasn’t immediately released pending notification of his family. An autopsy was planned to determine the exact cause of death. Johnson said information at the scene indicated that the van driver had just dropped off an adult student at a school in the area and he and the van aide were the only ones in the vehicle. The aide and the truck driver were uninjured. (Photo: WPXI)
February 4, 2020 5:42 am
One person was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital after a car went out of control and crashed into a garage in Charleroi Monday night. Officials say it happened around 8:30 p.m. in the 900 block of Lincoln Avenue. According to reports, three people fled the vehicle on foot after the crash. An unidentified man reportedly suffered a compound leg fracture and was flown to Pittsburgh. There is no word on his condition. Police are now reviewing security cameras in the area to try and determine who was driving the vehicle. The other two individuals involved were also not identified. Police continue to investigate.
February 4, 2020 4:22 am
MOORE, Okla. (AP) – A school official says a second suburban Oklahoma City high school student has died after a group of cross-country runners was struck by a pickup. Authorities say the truck was driven by a man whose son was killed in a weekend traffic crash. Moore Public Schools safety and security director Dustin Horstkoetter said Tuesday that sophomore Yuridia Martinezáhad been hospitalized since the Monday crash, but has since died. Senior Rachel Freeman was killed Monday as the students ran outside the school. Police believe the students were running on a sidewalk. They arrested 57-year-old Max Leroy Townsend. He’s facing charges of manslaughter and failure to stop and render aid.
February 4, 2020 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate is so far cleaving neatly along party lines in advance of Wednesday’s virtually certain votes to acquit President Donald Trump on two impeachment charges, Just two or three undecided senators are even considering breaking with their party. áThe chamber’s top Republican, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, again slammed the impeachment drive of House Democrats as “the most rushed, least fair and least thorough” in history and confirmed that he will vote to acquit Trump. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of sweeping Trump’s misconduct under the rug. The trial is cruising to impeachment tallies that will fall short of even a majority of the GOP-held Senate, much less the two-thirds required to remove Trump from office.
February 4, 2020 4:18 am
BEIJING (AP) – China says the number of infections from a new virus has surpassed 20,000 as medical workers and patients arrived at a new hospital and President Xi Jinping said “we have launched a people’s war of prevention of the epidemic.” Xi presided over a special meeting of the top Communist Party body, saying the country must race against time to curb the spread of the virus. Hong Kong reported its first death from the illness and shut almost all of its land and sea border crossings with the mainland after medical workers began a strike demanding the border be closed completely. Their union has threatened a bigger walkout Tuesday.
