April 19, 2020 8:15 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Paul O’Neill, a former Treasury secretary who broke with George W. Bush over tax policy and then produced a book critical of the administration, died Saturday. He was 84. O’Neill’s son, Paul O’Neill Jr. confirmed that his father died at his home in Pittsburgh after battling lung cancer for the last couple of years. After a few surgeries and chemotherapy, he decided against any further intervention four or five months ago, he said. A former head of aluminum giant Alcoa, O’Neill served as Treasury secretary from 2001 to late 2002. He was forced to resign after he objected to a second round of tax cuts because of their impact on deficits. While at Alcoa, O’Neill lifted the company out of the doldrums during his 12-year stint as the Pittsburgh company’s CEO. Shortly after he took the job in April 1987, he began emphasizing factory safety and employee dignity as a top priority. Before joining Alcoa, O’Neill had been president from 1985 to 1987 of International Paper Co. In June 2019, O’Neill received the Gerald R. Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service, according to a piece in his hometown paper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. O’Neill is survived by his wife, four children, 12 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.
April 19, 2020 8:06 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is starting curbside pickup at liquor stores around the state a month after Gov. Tom Wolf ordered them closed as part of a broader shutdown of businesses deemed nonessential. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced on its website Saturday that stores will begin taking orders by phone Monday, with each customer limited to no more than six bottles. Curbside pickup will be available at more than 175 of the state’s 600 stores. The closure of the state-owned liquor stores had been widely unpopular, especially with the state’s online ordering system largely unable to keep up with overwhelming consumer demand.
April 18, 2020 10:44 am
Pennsylvania’s new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance website for self employed, independent contractors, gig workers and others not normally eligible for regular unemployment compensation is now live. applications can be filed at the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation System website. questions about eligibility and documents needed can be found at that website as well. For help with filing a claim or to have questions answered, go to UCHelp@pa.gov.
April 18, 2020 4:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The debate over testing is still going strong, even as the United States tries to move past the shutdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The country is struggling to test enough people for the coronavirus so officials can track and control the spread of the disease. That’s a crucial first step to reopening parts of the economy, as President Donald Trump is pushing to do by May 1. Trump’s plan hinges on a downward trajectory of positive tests. It’s been more than a month since he said “anybody who wants a test, can get a test.” Today, the reality on the ground is much different
April 18, 2020 3:59 am
BEIJING (AP) – Governments around the world are wrestling with when and how to lift economically painful virus-control measures as unemployment rises and rent payments come due. Many places have instituted strict restrictions on movement to try to stop the spread of a new coronavirus that has infected more than 2.2 million people and for which there is no vaccine. The debate in the U.S. has taken on political tones. Republican President Donald Trump urged supporters to “LIBERATE” three states led by Democratic governors. He tweeted the kind of rhetoric some have used to demand an end to stay-at-home orders that have thrown millions out of work.
April 18, 2020 3:57 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Democratic lawmakers want police departments to be vigilant about any racially biased policing during the coronavirus pandemic, as people in communities of color express fears of being profiled while wearing masks or other face coverings in public. Sen. Kamala Harris of California and other Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter Friday to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray. In it they urge federal law enforcement agencies to provide anti-bias training and guidance to police officers. They say if people of color, especially African Americans, feel at risk of selective enforcement, they may not adopt the precautionary measures to avoid spreading the virus.
April 18, 2020 3:56 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – More than a dozen Iowa elected officials implored Tyson Fresh Meats to close their Waterloo pork processing plant, saying the coronavirus is spreading among workers and is endangering not only employees of the plant but the entire community. Mayors, county officials and state legislators signed the letter that was sent to Tyson on Thursday. The 19 officials said at a Friday news conference they had only received confirmation from the company that it had received the letter but no other action .The officials also accused Gov. Kim Reynolds of misleading Iowans on the seriousness of the outbreak and for failure to take action to close the plant.
April 18, 2020 3:46 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf says that Pennsylvania has managed to avoid the worst of the pandemic and it’s now time to start talking about a gradual reopening of the state’s battered economy. Wolf on Friday offered a set of guiding principles on how he plans to get legions of unemployed residents out of their homes and back to work. He says he’ll rely on an “evidence-based, regional approach” guided by health experts and economists that will help him decide when it’s safe. Wolf says more details will come next week. He adds, “There is no magic wand to wave to get us back to where we want to be.
April 17, 2020 5:20 pm
Greene County 9-1-1- dispatchers have confirmed that at least two people were injured in an accident Friday afternoon around one o’clock. Authorities say the crash, involving a tractor trailer and a box truck, was in the northbound lanes of Interstate 79 at mile marker 21 between the Ruff Creek and Marianna exits. At least two people were transported from the scene and one person was trapped in one of the vehicles. Hazmat crews were also called out to clean up a substance that was leaking from one of the trucks. There’s been no word on what caused the crash.
April 17, 2020 2:11 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania will gradually reopen its economy using a “regional, sector-based approach” and a modeling tool that will help public officials decide when it’s safe. That’s according to a plan obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its release by the governor’s office on Friday. The plan does not include a timetable or many details about the metrics that Gov. Tom Wolf and his administration will use to decide that Pennsylvania can begin emerging from the coronavirus pandemic after weeks of social distancing. Wolf plans to address the plan Friday afternoon. Wolf’s plan comes a day after President Donald Trump, pressing to restart the ravaged U.S. economy, gave governors a road map for economic recovery.
