September 28, 2020 4:30 am
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Florida police and campaign officials say President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale has been hospitalized after he threatened to harm himself. Police officers say they talked Parscale out of his Fort Lauderdale home Sunday after his wife called police to say that he had multiple firearms and was threatening to hurt himself. He was hospitalized under the state’s Baker Act, which allows anyone deemed to be a threat to themselves or others to be detained for 72 hours for psychiatric evaluation. Parscale was demoted from the campaign manager’s post in July but remained part of the campaign, helping run its digital operation.
September 28, 2020 4:29 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A federal judge on Sunday postponed a Trump administration order that would have banned the popular video sharing app TikTok from U.S. smartphone app stores around midnight. A more comprehensive ban remains scheduled for November, about a week after the presidential election. The judge, Carl Nichols of the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia, did not postpone that later ban. The ruling followed an emergency hearing Sunday morning in which lawyers for TikTok argued that the administration’s app-store ban would infringe on First Amendment rights and do irreparable harm to the business.
September 28, 2020 4:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is pushing for quick confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett while his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, is imploring the Senate to delay voting on her nomination until after the Nov. 3 election to “let the people decide.” Trump’s announcement of Barrett for the seat held by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is launching a high-stakes, fast-track election season fight over confirmation of a conservative judge who is expected to shift the court rightward as it reviews health care, abortion access and other hot-button issues. Biden urged his former colleagues in the Senate to “take a step back from the brink.”
September 28, 2020 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The bombshell revelations that President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for office and paid no income taxes at all in many others threaten to undercut a pillar of his appeal among blue-collar voters. It also provided a new opening for his Democratic rival just two days before the first presidential debate. Trump has worked for decades to build an image of himself as a hugely successful business mogul. But The New York Times on Sunday revealed that he paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and paid no income taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years.
September 28, 2020 4:26 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania Game Commission has approved the use of night vision and infrared (thermal) optics in the hunting of furbearers, animals traditionally trapped or hunted for their pelts. Commissioners gave final approval during a brief meeting Saturday to the change, which will go into effect in six to eight weeks after the regulation is reviewed and published. State lawmakers earlier this year authorized the commission to regulate such devices, use of which was previously prohibited by state law. Furbearing species that can be hunted in Pennsylvania are raccoons, foxes, coyotes, opossums, striped skunks, weasels, bobcats and porcupines.
September 28, 2020 4:23 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. — (WPXI) – The Pennsylvania National Guard arrived at a Westmoreland County nursing home Sunday morning to help control an outbreak of COVID-19. There are 47 confirmed cases among patients at Westmoreland Manor. As of Sept. 27, 21 employees have also tested positive. The guard will take over COVID-19 testing so the employees who aren’t quarantined can get back to caring for patients. “They’ll be coming in to assist with 24-hour testing at this time. They’ll do further determinations to see what else needs to be done as we move forward,” said Sean Kertes, a county commissioner. The facility hadn’t had a single resident test positive for the coronavirus in the six months since the pandemic started, but that changed once routine testing of staff became required. Those who have tested positive are being confined to three of the nine units at the nursing home, which officials are referring to as “red zones.” Officials said six members of the National Guard arrived around 6 a.m. Sunday. There’s no timetable for how long guardsmen will be there.
September 28, 2020 2:38 am
The fire that heavily damaged a Canonsburg apartment complex on Sunday was likely not suspicious. Canonsburg Fire Chief Tim Solobay told WJPA News that the State Police Fire Marshal was called in to investigate, and although they are still waiting on word regarding two factors that are currently under evaluation and until those results are back, they can’t say for sure exactly what started the blaze. Solobay, however, says at this point in time though, all indications are that the fire was just a bad accident. The fire, which started around one o’clock, has left twenty-eight people homeless. Solobay says it took crews longer than expected to get the fire under control due to the construction of the building. He says it was built many years ago without fire breaks between each unit, making it difficult to work swiftly. No one was injured. The Red Cross is helping the residents who were impacted by the fire.
September 27, 2020 7:46 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law on Saturday requiring California to house transgender inmates in prisons based on their gender identity — but only if the state does not have “management or security concerns.” The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation houses men and women in separate facilities. Transgender inmates are often housed based on their sex assigned at birth. Advocates say this is dangerous, particularly for transgender women housed in facilities for men. The law Newsom signed Saturday says officers must ask inmates privately during the intake process if they identify as transgender, nonbinary or intersex. Those inmates can then request to be placed in a facility that houses either men or women.
September 27, 2020 7:45 am
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s campaign committee and the Republican National Committee sued Saturday to block North Carolina election officials from enforcing rule changes that could boost the number of ballots counted in the presidential battleground state. The Republicans’ lawsuit claims a new system adopted by the State Board of Elections will allow for absentee ballots to be cast late and without proper witness verification, “which invites fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting.” The elections board on Tuesday issued new guidance allowing mail-in absentee ballots with deficient information to be fixed without forcing the voter to fill out a new blank ballot for November’s general election. The change means absentee voters who don’t provide complete information on their envelope about a witness who saw them fill out the ballot won’t have to complete a new ballot and locate another witness. A voter will just have to turn in an affidavit confirming they filled out the original ballot.
September 27, 2020 7:42 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea accused South Korea of sending ships across the disputed sea boundary to find the body of a South Korean official recently killed by North Korean troops, warning Sunday the intrusion could escalate tensions. South Korea denied the accusation. Along with its denial, South Korea proposed a joint investigation to resolve discrepancies in each country’s account of the South Korean official’s death last week. Officials in Seoul have said the 47-year-old was likely attempting to defect before North Korean troops aboard a boat fatally shot him and burned his body. According to Seoul, North Korea on Friday sent a message including a rare apology by leader Kim Jong Un for the shooting death of the official, who was found floating on an object in its waters.
