May 20, 2020 4:03 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Real estate sales and related activity can resume across Pennsylvania if guidelines designed to limit infection are followed. Gov. Tom Wolf announced Tuesday new guidance that says people in the real estate industry can get back to work as long as they all wear masks or other facial coverings, and use separate vehicles to drive to visit properties. Business that’s conducted in person must be scheduled ahead of time and limited to no more than the real estate worker and two people inside a property at a time. Pennsylvania reported fewer than 1,000 new coronavirus infections for a ninth consecutive day Tuesday.
May 20, 2020 4:01 am
Months after a previous deal to save his company fell through, Robert Levin has reached a deal to buy back Levin Furniture out of bankruptcy. According to a release, Levin had previously reached an agreement with Art Van Furniture to buy back the company in March, but that deal fell apart when Art Van Furniture — citing the COVID-19 pandemic — closed its doors and terminated all employees across the entire company. The deal will allow selected store in Pennsylvania and Ohio to reopen in the coming months. “We have worked tirelessly over the past two months for an opportunity to buy back the Levin Furniture brand,” Levin said in the release. “My goals have always been to protect as many jobs as possible for Levin associates, and to continue to serve our loyal customers. Today’s agreement is the first step in accomplishing those goals.” A month after the initial deal fell through, Levin made good on his promise to not forget about the 1,200 employees who lost their jobs. In April, he set up a $2 million assistance fund to help out, with checks arriving in former employees’ mailboxes. Levin said the headquarters will continue to be Pittsburgh-based, while Matt Schultz and John Schultz will be co-CEOs of the new company — which will still be called “Levin Furniture.” According to the release, several locations will open this summer. Details on locations and timing will come later as the transaction is finalized.
May 20, 2020 3:55 am
Because of the anticipated revenue gaps that might be caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic, North Strabane Supervisors last month froze the road paving program until anticipated income from the Meadows Casino arrived. Those funds arrived this week and supervisors released $611,669 in funding to allow the 2020 road paving program to be completed. Township Manager Andrew Walz was pleased that the over $1,000,000 project will be completed this year and nothing will be delayed until 2021. Supervisors are looking into drafting an ordinance to allow the township to recoup costs from individuals that are deemed to be abusing the 9-1-1 Emergency System. Walz gave an illustration of someone calling 9-1-1 because of a health issue and when responders arrive, the caller really wanted to have their air conditioner turned on. Walz says that the ordinance will allow the township to bill that caller for an abuse to the system. If the bill is not paid, the township will sue at the magistrate to recoup their costs. Finally, supervisors fired their current project engineer Pennoni Engineering and replaced them with Gibson-Thomas Engineering. Township officials were displeased with delays for permits that Pennoni was responsible in acquiring. The NPDES permit that had been sent back 5 times for additional information, was finally delivered and Pennoni was replaced upon the arrival of that permit.
May 20, 2020 2:19 am
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger released a video this week, showing him throwing a ball with teammates and then receiving a trim from a barber that Roethlisberger said would have to wait until he could make legit NFL throws following right elbow surgery. That video, of the haircut, drew the ire of Governor Tom Wolf. Roethlisberger visited a barber shop in Allegheny County and those businesses have not been cleared to reopen in that region yet. “My concern is just a general concern,” Wolf said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Anybody who puts himself or herself into harm’s way is something that I think we ought to try to avoid. And when you go to something like a barbershop and you’re not protected, I don’t care who you are, the chances of that virus actually wreaking havoc on your life increases. I don’t personally think any Pennsylvanian ought to take that chance and I certainly don’t want to take that chance myself.” Wolf did not say if any action would be taken against the barber shop that Roethlisberger visited after throwing to JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner and Ryan Switzer. (Photo: TMZ)
May 19, 2020 10:46 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Annie Glenn, the widow of astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn and a communication disorders advocate, has died. She was 100. Hank Wilson, a spokesman for the Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, says Glenn died Tuesday of COVID-19 complications at a nursing home near St. Paul, Minnesota. After her husband became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962, Glenn shied away from the media spotlight because of a severe stutter. An intensive program helped her to control her speech and do public speaking. She served on the advisory boards of numerous child abuse and speech and hearing organizations.
May 19, 2020 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is scheduling a vote that would allow him to subpoena more than 50 current and former officials who were involved in the Justice Department’s investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. President Donald Trump and his allies have launched a broad, election-year attack on the investigation as a “deep state” conspiracy. The list of people Graham wants to subpoena includes former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.
May 19, 2020 4:19 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto urged the network’s viewers not to follow President Donald Trump’s example and take an anti-malaria drug as a protection against the coronavirus. Trump had revealed at a news conference that he had been taking the drug hydroxychloroquine to ward off the virus, despite the warnings of medical researchers that it has potentially fatal side effects. Cavuto, who has multiple sclerosis and other health issues, says people in vulnerable health should not follow the president’s example. Trump complained on Twitter Monday night that Fox News “is no longer the same.”
May 19, 2020 4:17 am
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) – A video released Monday shows police in Georgia attempting to search Ahmaud Arbery’s parked car in 2017 and when he refuses to let them and begins to walk back to the vehicle an officer tries to tase him. The video, first obtained by The Guardian, shows Arbery refusing Glynn County police when they ask to search his Toyota and as he walks toward his vehicle he is told “keep your hands out your pockets.” The officer then pulls the taser and attempts to use it but it malfunctions. Arbery was killed Feb. 23 after a pursuit by a white father and son who armed themselves and gave chase after seeing the 25-year-old black man running in their subdivision.
May 19, 2020 4:15 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Pier 1, the seller of wicker chairs and scented candles, said it will go out of business and permanently close all 540 of its stores. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company said Tuesday that it was unable to find a buyer for its business after filing for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. It will start going-out-of-business sales as soon as it can reopen stores that have been temporarily shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pier 1 has struggled to compete with online retailers like Wayfair and Amazon, which sell sofas and coffee tables at a lower price and are delivered to doorsteps quickly.
May 19, 2020 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House is scrambling to defend President Donald Trump’s decision to take a malaria drug he’s been touting as a treatment for the coronavirus. He’s making himself an example for use of the drug, and that’s drawing criticism from some health experts as well as Democratic leaders. Trump says he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine and a zinc supplement daily for a week and a half. However, the government says the drug should only be administered for COVID-19 in a hospital or research setting due to potentially fatal side effects. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells CNN she would rather Trump not be taking something that hasn’t been approved by scientists, citing his age and calling the president “morbidly obese.”
