October 15, 2020 9:50 am
UNDATED (AP) – Dr. Anthony Fauci is criticizing a declaration by a group of scientists that supports the concept of “herd immunity,” which the White House is using to bolster a push to reopen schools and businesses. Fauci says backing herd immunity – the idea that a disease will stop spreading once nearly everybody has contracted it – is “total nonsense.” The top U.S. infectious disease expert says it would mean many more infections of vulnerable people, which will lead to more hospitalizations and more deaths. The U.S. leads the world with 7.9 million coronavirus cases and nearly 217,000 confirmed deaths. Globally, there have been 38 million reported cases and 1.09 million confirmed deaths.
October 15, 2020 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Melania Trump says her and the president’s 14-year-old son, Barron, tested positive for the coronavirus not long after his parents. But he had no symptoms and has since tested negative. She made the revelation in a lengthy note chronicling her personal experience with COVID-19, the disease the virus causes. She said she was hit with a “roller coaster” of symptoms, including body aches and headaches, but treated them naturally with vitamins and healthy food. President Donald Trump says Barron “had it for such a short period of time, I don’t even think he knew that he had it.”
October 15, 2020 4:12 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Pacific Gas & Electric has begun turning off power to more than 50,000 Northern California customers as dry, windy conditions renew the threat of fire in a season already marked by deadly, devastating blazes. The utility announced Wednesday evening that it had begun cutting power to up to 33,000 customers, with about another 20,000 to follow in a few hours. The shutoffs will affect nearly two dozen counties, mostly in the Sierras and San Francisco Bay Area, and could last 48 hours. Preemptive electricity cuts are aimed at preventing fires from being started by power lines that have been damaged or knocked down amid high winds.
October 15, 2020 4:11 am
NEW YORK (AP) – NBC News says it’ll host President Donald Trump for a town hall-styled event on Thursday, after the president submitted to a coronavirus test administered by the National Institutes of Health. The network’s decision received a strong backlash on social media, where a call to boycott NBC trended on Twitter. Trump’s test results were reviewed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who concluded with a colleague that he was confident that the president was no longer “shedding infectious virus.” So now there will be dueling town halls with Democratic opponent Joe Biden on the night both men were supposed to be meeting in their second presidential debate. Biden will be appearing in a town hall sponsored by ABC News.
October 15, 2020 4:09 am
HONOLULU (AP) – Coronavirus weary residents and struggling business owners in Hawaii will be watching closely as tourists begin to return to the islands on Thursday without having to self-quarantine upon arrival. A new pre-travel testing program allows visitors who test negative for COVID-19 to come to Hawaii and avoid two weeks of mandatory quarantine. The state-run testing program is an effort to stem the devastating downturn the pandemic has had on Hawaii’s tourism-based economy. However, gaps in the program coupled with increasing cases of COVID-19 across the U.S. and the world have raised questions about whether Hawaii is ready to safely welcome back vacationers.
October 15, 2020 4:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate Judiciary Committee has set an Oct 22 vote on recommending approval of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination. Republicans are racing to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick and Democrats acknowledging there is little they can do stop them. Her confirmation would lock conservative majority on the court for years to come. Thursday’s session is without Barrett after she testified publicly for two days of questioning. It is a procedural formality setting the panel’s vote next week. In her Senate testimony, Barrett has stressed that she would be her own judge and sought to create distance between herself and past positions.
October 15, 2020 4:06 am
SOUTH STRABANE, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man is accused of more than 30 burglaries at Taco Bell locations in five states, including here in Washington County. Joshua Logue, 30, is in custody facing several charges including three counts of felony burglary in South Strabane Township. The recent revelation about Logue’s history came to light after police say he forced his way through the front door and stole cash in the early morning hours of Sept. 21. But after digging deeper, investigators said the 30-year-old from Columbus, Ohio robbed two other locations in Allegheny County that same morning. Then three days later, Logue was arrested in Decatur, Indiana almost immediately following the burglary of a Taco Bell in that state. And his record dates back to 2019, where he allegedly robbed other Taco Bell locations in Kentucky Ohio and West Virginia. South Strabane Township Police have now issued an arrest warrant for Logue.
October 15, 2020 2:50 am
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has taken to television and radio recently to encourage Pennsylvanians to vote early in the upcoming election. Here in Washington County, residents may vote early, but Melanie Ostrander, the county’s elections director, says those who choose to do so won’t find the traditional polling place set up. Ostrander says residents who wish to vote early may come into the elections office and request a mail-in ballot. They may then fill out that ballot in-person, in the office and return it the same day. Ostrander says there is no actual polling place set up for early voting. Ostrander says residents are taking advantage of the early voting option, with more than one-hundred people turning up in her office on Tuesday. As for mail-in ballots, Ostrander says they have sent out more than thirty-eight-thousand, with the ratio being three to one, Democrat. Ostrander says residents may vote in-person at their office until five p.m. on October 27th, the last day mail-in and absentee ballots will be accepted. Ostrander also addressed the issue of security at the polls. She says they’ve been in touch with the various municipalities and they are working on swearing in additional constables to ensure everyone’s safety.
October 15, 2020 2:28 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is “at the start of the fall resurgence” of COVID-19. That’s according to the state health secretary, who is urging residents once more to take steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Wednesday marked the ninth consecutive day that Pennsylvania’s daily case count surpassed 1,000. Though some of the increase caseload is due to expanded testing, hospitalization and test positivity rates are also rising. Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine says that indicates increased viral spread.
October 14, 2020 4:29 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Melania Trump says her 14-year-old son, Barron, has tested positive for the coronavirus but has no symptoms. The White House initially said he had tested negative, after both of his parents tested positive earlier this month. The first lady said Wednesday that subsequent testing showed Barron had also come down with COVID-19.
