June 27, 2020 4:13 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Minneapolis City Council has unanimously advanced a plan that could one day do away with the city’s police department, following unrest over the killing of George Floyd. The council voted Friday in favor of amending the city charter to replace the current department with a “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” that would prioritize a “holistic” and “public-health oriented” approach. Several obstacles remain for the proposal to make it onto the November ballot. Critics of the plan, including Mayor Jacob Frey and the officers’ union, say it’s short on specifics for what would replace the police department.
June 27, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald has signed an executive order to protect monuments, memorials and statues. Trump had promised the order earlier this week after police thwarted an attempt by protesters to pull down a statue of Andrew Jackson in a park across from the White House. The order calls on the attorney general to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any person or group that destroys or vandalizes a monument, memorial or statue. Federal law calls for punishment of up to 10 years in prison. Earlier Friday, Trump called for the arrest of protesters involved in the attempt to pull down the statue of Jackson.
June 27, 2020 4:11 am
ALLEGHENY CO., Pa. (WPXI) — There is a petition circulating that wants to change the name of a local park because some claim it is offensive. Squaw Valley Park sits along Fox Chapel Road in O’Hara Township. The term “squaw” is considered an ethnic slur. Activists say it is very offensive to Native American women, and they don’t want it used anymore in the Fox Chapel area. “It’s 2020 and at the time this park was named it was appropriate, but now in this day of age it’s not,” said activist Kayla Portis. The petition seeks to rename the park, nearby Squaw Run Road and other local landmarks — citing the word “squaw” is an ethnic and sexual slur aimed at objectifying Native American women. Portis and another woman who are both part-Native American are spearheading the movement. So far, Portis says there are hundreds of signatures. But not everyone agrees with the change. It’s the latest racial issue that has been brought up in the Fox Chapel area. Now, this movement wants to change the name of the park, roads and waterways in the community. The Fox Chapel borough manager says they always consider requests from their residents. As for O’Hara Township, where the park is located, officials said this issue will be discussed at the next council meeting.
June 27, 2020 4:06 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — More than 100 people gathered in East Liberty Friday afternoon for a protest supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Protesters were standing and chanting at the corner of Penn Avenue and Centre Avenue — outside the Target store where violence broke out on June 1 following another protest. After about 30 minutes, the crowd moved into the intersection, forming a circle and blocking the roadway to traffic. The crowd started marching down Centre Avenue around 4:30 p.m., with police in front and behind blocking traffic as they moved. Protesters marched to the intersection of Centre Avenue and South Negley Avenue and stopped for a while, which was another spot where police and protesters had a standoff on June 1. It was that location where police admitted gas was used to disperse people from that intersection. At 7 p.m., the crowd marched back to the starting point at the intersection of Centre Avenue and Penn Avenue. The protest has remained peaceful. The group dispersed shortly after. Police said there were no incidents or arrests, and all surrounding roads have been reopened.
June 27, 2020 4:01 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania health officials are taking a deep dive into areas where COVID-19 cases are ticking up and threatening to undo months of progress against the disease. The state’s health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, said Friday the increases may be due to reopening as well as increased testing. The state will allow Lebanon County, the 67th and final county, to move from the yellow phase to the less-restrictive green phase in a week. The Health Department says there are 600 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state, the highest total since June 13. Statewide, new case counts grew by 30%, compared with the previous seven-day period.
June 26, 2020 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, with millions never knowing they had it. Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times the 2.3 million cases that have been confirmed in the U.S. The news comes as the Trump administration works to tamp down nationwide concern about the COVID-19 pandemic at a time when about a dozen states are seeing worrisome increases in cases. Twenty million infections means that only about 6% of the nation’s 331 million people have had the virus, leaving the vast majority of the population still susceptible.
June 26, 2020 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A government watchdog says nearly 1.1 million relief payments totaling some $1.4 billion went to dead people in the government’s coronavirus aid program. About 160 million so-called economic impact payments were sent to taxpayers as part of the $2.4 trillion coronavirus relief package enacted in March. The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ auditing arm, cites the number of erroneous payments to deceased taxpayers in a new report on the government programs. The IRS asked in May for the money back from the deceased taxpayers’ survivors. Some legal experts have said the government may not have the legal authority to require that it be returned.
June 26, 2020 4:15 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is halting elective surgeries in its biggest counties and says the state would “pause” its aggressive reopening as it deals with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. The move Thursday comes as the number of patients admitted with COVID-19 has more than doubled in just two weeks. Texas has emerged as one of the nation’s biggest coronavirus hotspots, reporting more than 17,000 new cases in the past three days alone. The Republican governor this week has taken a newly urgent tone about the worsening trends and is now telling the public they should stay home. The surgery ban applies to Dallas, Harris, Travis and Bexar counties.
June 26, 2020 4:13 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The company behind Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Dove soap and a host of other consumer products says it will stop advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the U.S. through at least the end of the year because of the amount of hate speech online. Unilever said that the polarized atmosphere in the United States ahead of November’s presidential election placed responsibility on brands to act. The company, which is based in the Netherlands and Britain, joins a raft of other companies halting advertising on online platforms. Facebook in particular has been the target of an escalating movement to siphon away advertising.
June 26, 2020 4:12 am
CARROLLTON, Texas (AP) – A surprise birthday party that resulted in 18 people testing positive for the coronavirus has left a North Texas man horrified as his father continues to fight for his life in the hospital. Ron Barbosa, who refused to attend the May 30 party for his daughter-in-law due to safety concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, says those hospitalized included his parents, both in their 80’s, and his sister, who is also battling breast cancer.áBarbosa says his nephew, unknowingly infected with the virus, hosted the gathering of 25 people. He says seven of the relatives in attendance subsequently contracted and spread the virus to 10 other family members, including two young children.
