March 27, 2020 4:02 am
MIAMI (AP) – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is warning Washington that he is ready to fight by whatever means necessary now that the U.S. has indicted the socialist leader and offered $15 million for his arrest. The U.S. Justice Department is accusing Maduro and several of his aides of conspiring with Colombian rebels “to flood the United States with cocaine.” The sweeping action made public Thursday is bound to heighten tensions between Washington and Caracas as the spread of the coronavirus threatens to collapse Venezuela’s health system. Its oil-dependent economy has already been driven deep into the ground by years of corruption and U.S. sanctions.
March 27, 2020 4:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump wants to determine which parts of the country are the safest. He says federal officials are developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread. Trump wants to begin easing nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter Thursday to the nation’s governors, Trump says the new guidelines are meant to enable state and local leaders to make “decisions about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other measures they have put in place.” States would still have authority to set restrictions. Trump says he will visit Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday to see off the USNS Comfort, the 1,000-bed hospital ship heading to New York.
March 27, 2020 3:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is threatening legal action against local TV stations in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin if they don’t pull a Democratic anti-Trump commercial the campaign says is false. Priorities USA Action Fund responded by soliciting financial contributions to keep the 30-second ad on the airwaves. The campaign says the commercial includes the “false assertion” that Trump called the coronavirus a “hoax.” The ad strings together audio of comments by Trump, including of him saying, “This is their new hoax.” The states where the ad is airing are among those where Trump is spending heavily to win reelection.
March 27, 2020 3:54 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — (WPXI) – As hospitals across the county are preparing for an influx of patients due to the coronavirus, many hospitals are also experiencing a decrease in revenue as elective procedures have now come to a complete stop. Washington Health System confirmed to our news partners at Channel 11 that it is doing voluntary and mandatory layoffs. WHS administrators said they’ve seen a drastic decrease in patients, including in the emergency department and outpatient services. They’re also preparing for what may be a rapid increase in patients with COVID-10. These are the changes WHS said will begin March 25:
Staff in the departments that are closed until April 11 will be offered voluntary and/or mandatory lay-offs. These employees will continue to be covered by all of the WHS provided benefits that they currently have during the period of time that they are off work. Direct care providers and support staff in departments that are experiencing a decline in volume are going to be asked to cross-train to other units. This will be done according to skill set and licensure. This is to ensure that sufficient staff is ready and able to care for what may be a sudden increased volume of patients as the virus continues to impact the community. Administrators said all of the workers who are laid off will continues to receive health benefits and they are hoping to get back to full staffing as soon as possible.
March 26, 2020 5:23 pm
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) – No more Peeps are being hatched for at least a couple of weeks – but it shouldn’t affect Easter baskets. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based Just Born confections company said its production facilities there and in Philadelphia closed Wednesday through April 7. But the company says it had already produced and shipped the Easter supply of its signature marshmallow confection to outlets. Just Born says the popular Peeps & Company retail store in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, is also closed for now. The store is billed as a Peeps “experience” and features light displays, historical videos and merchandise.
March 26, 2020 4:37 pm
(AP) – Fred “Curly” Neal, the dribbling wizard who entertained millions with the Harlem Globetrotters for parts of three decades, has died. He was 77. The Globetrotters say Neal died in his home outside of Houston, but did not provide any other details. Neal played for the Globetrotters from 1963 to 1985, appearing in more than 6,000 games in 97 countries for the exhibition team known for its combination of comedy and athleticism. He became one of five Globetrotters to have his jersey retired when his No. 22 was lifted to the rafters during a ceremony at Madison Square Garden in 2008.
March 26, 2020 3:53 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says that federal officials are developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread. Trump wants to begin easing nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter Thursday to the nation’s governors, Trump says the new guidelines are meant to enable state and local leaders to make “decisions about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other measures they have put in place.” Trump has been seeking for days to determine how to contain the economic fallout of the guidelines issued by his administration as well as local leaders to slow the tide of infections. States would still have authority to set restrictions.
March 26, 2020 12:44 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks are rising more than 4% Thursday, putting the market on track for its first three-day rally in six weeks, even as the astonishing scale of the downturn slamming the economy because of the coronavirus becomes more apparent. Nearly 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, shattering the prior record set in 1982. The outbreak has happened so suddenly that the report is one of the first to show how much economic pain it’s creating. The S&P 500 has rallied 16% since Monday on expectations Congress would pass an unprecedented rescue package for the economy. The bill cleared the Senate late Wednesday.
March 26, 2020 10:31 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – The Mylan NV-Upjohn merger is being pushed back into the second half of 2020 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Mylan NV (Nasdaq: MYL) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), which owns Upjohn, announced Thursday that COVID-19 is moving the expected merger date from the first half of the year and Mylan’s meeting of shareholders to approve it is being moved from April 27 to June 30.
March 26, 2020 8:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A record-high number of people applied for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs engulfed the United States in the face of a near-total economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus. The surge in weekly applications for benefits far exceeded the previous record set in 1982. Layoffs are sure to accelerate as the U.S. economy sinks into what most economists expect to be deep and painful recession. Revenue has collapsed at restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, gyms and airlines. Auto sales are plummeting, and car makers have close factories. Most such employers face loan payments and other fixed costs, so they’re forced to cut jobs to save money.
