July 18, 2020 3:35 am
ATLANTA (AP) – John Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, has died. He was 80. Lewis was the last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was best known for leading 600 protesters in the 1965 Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis was knocked to the ground and beaten by state troopers. Televised images forced the country’s attention on racial oppression. A Democrat from Atlanta, he won his U.S. House seat in 1986.
July 17, 2020 2:37 pm
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Tom Flickinger, Treasurer of Washington County is notifying county taxpayers that due to software conversion issues the Web page will be suspended beginning July 20th until August 1st 2020. Real Estate tax payments will not be available to be paid online. Also, taxpayers due tax refunds from the county will be delayed until after the software conversion. Mr. Flickinger reminds taxpayers that penalties and fees have been suspended on current 2020 real estate taxes until December 31st 2020. Prior year taxes due will carry the normal penalty and fee assessments. Mr. Flickinger wishes to thank county taxpayers for their understanding. Any questions please contact Mr. Flickinger directly.
July 17, 2020 2:29 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s unemployment slid a bit down in June after hitting a pandemic peak in April, but it was well above the national rate even as payrolls rebounded by more 230,000. The state Department of Labor and Industry reported Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 13% in June, down four-tenths of a percentage point from May’s adjusted rate. The state’s rate went over 16% in April, the highest rate in over four decades of record-keeping. A survey of employers showed seasonally adjusted nonfarm payrolls grew by more than 230,000 in June to surpass 5.4 million. That was about 1 in 5 jobs lost during the pandemic.
July 17, 2020 2:23 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court. The 87-year-old Ginsburg said her treatment so far has succeeded in reducing lesions on her liver and that she will continue chemotherapy sessions every two weeks “to keep my cancer at bay.” She spent time in the hospital this week for a possible infection, but Ginsburg said it was unrelated to the cancer. Her departure from the court before the election could give President Donald Trump the chance to shift the court more to the right.
July 17, 2020 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. officials say defense leaders are weighing a new policy that would bar the display of the Confederate flag at department facilities without actually mentioning its name. For weeks, those leaders have been tied in knots over the incendiary issue of banning the Confederate flag. No final decisions have been made, but officials say the new plan presents a creative way to ban the Confederate flag in a manner that may not raise the ire of President Donald Trump. Trump has defended people’s rights to display it. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing internal deliberations.
July 17, 2020 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal ban on cruise ships operating in U.S. territory is being extended through September. The ban was due to expire next week, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the extension on Thursday. The move comes as coronavirus cases are rising in 40 states. Florida, where many cruises start, just had a single-day record of deaths from COVID-19. Major cruise lines that belong to an industry trade group had already canceled sailings until Sept. 15 because of ongoing discussions with federal officials over how to restart operations safely. The companies are trying to save cash and borrow more money to survive the pandemic.
July 17, 2020 4:08 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Fire officials say Pacific Gas & Electric transmission lines sparked a wildfire last year in Northern California that destroyed hundreds of homes and led to the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection issued the finding Thursday. Cal Fire says investigators determined that power lines near the town of Geyserville ignited the fire that ripped through Sonoma County last October. The agency didn’t release details of the investigation but said it sent the report to the district attorney’s office for possible criminal charges. PG&E recently emerged from bankruptcy caused by its role in several devastating wildfires.
July 17, 2020 4:07 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – A fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard at a San Diego naval base has been extinguished after a four-day battle against one of the worst infernos to rip through a U.S. warship outside of combat in recent years. Now the attention is turning to the fate of the 840-foot (255-meter) amphibious assault ship that has a collapsed forward mast. Once it’s safe, officials plan to go compartment by compartment to examine its charred bowels and determine if it is salvageable. Teams were checking the vessel to make sure no fire remained. An official investigation will begin into the cause of the blaze that started Sunday.
July 17, 2020 4:06 am
ATLANTA (AP) – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is suing Atlanta to block the city from enforcing its mandate to wear a mask in public and other rules related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, in a state court suit filed late Thursday, argued that Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has overstepped her authority and must obey Kemp’s executive orders under state law. The suit comes a day after Kemp clarified his executive orders to expressly block Atlanta and at least 14 other local governments from requiring people to wear face coverings. Kemp’s order was met with defiance Thursday by Bottoms and other mayors, who said they would continue enforcing their mandates and were prepared to go to court.
July 17, 2020 4:04 am
BEIJING (AP) – China has moved a rocket into position to launch a rover to Mars next week in one of three upcoming missions to the red planet. The Long March-5 carrier rocket has been launched experimentally three times, but never with a payload. China’s first mission to Mars aims to land a rover to gather scientific data. The rocket is due to blast off on or around July 23. An orbiter from the United Arab Emirates is scheduled to be launched from Japan on Monday. And the U.S. is sending a rover named Perseverance to collect rock samples in upcoming weeks.
