September 14, 2020 4:25 am
(AP) – TikTok’s owner has chosen Oracle over Microsoft as the tech partner that could help keep the popular video-sharing app running in the U.S., according to a source familiar with the deal. The choice came a week before President Donald Trump’s deadline to ban it in the U.S. Microsoft said in a Sunday statement that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, “let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft.” The Trump administration has threatened to ban TikTok by mid-September and ordered ByteDance to sell its U.S. business, claiming national-security risks due to its Chinese ownership.
September 14, 2020 4:23 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) – President Donald Trump openly defied state regulations and his own administration’s pandemic guidelines as he gathered thousands of supporters inside a suburban Las Vegas warehouse Sunday night. Trump soaked up the raucous cheers from the largely mask-free crowd but made no mention of the nearly 200,000 U.S. deaths and ongoing infections from the novel coronavirus. Not since a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that was blamed for a surge of infections has Trump gathered so many indoors. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, said Trump was “taking reckless and selfish actions” that endangered lives. Those in the stands directly behind Trump and likely to be captured on TV were ordered to wear face coverings.
September 14, 2020 4:21 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – With the smell of California wildfires in the air, President Donald Trump on Monday ignored the scientific consensus that climate change is playing a central role in West Coast infernos. He reiterated his unfounded claim that poor forest management is to blame. The fires are threatening to become another front in Trump’s reelection bid, which is already facing hurdles because of the coronavirus pandemic, joblessness and social unrest. His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in his own speech on Monday said the destruction and mounting death toll across California, Oregon and Washington required stronger presidential leadership, and he labeled Trump a “climate arsonist.”
September 14, 2020 4:20 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Authorities were continuing the search for a gunman who shot and wounded two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in an apparent ambush in their squad car. The department announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Surveillance video shows a gunman with a pistol open fire on the deputies’ patrol car. A handful of protesters gathered outside the the hospital where the injured deputies were being treated. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva says the deputies, a male and a female who graduated from the academy 14 months ago, are expected to recover.
September 14, 2020 4:18 am
PITTSBURGH — In the latest sign of the chaos overshadowing the 2020 election, none of Pennsylvania’s counties will be able to send out ballots to voters Monday, the first day the critical battleground state allows counties to do so. Due to a slew of lawsuits and other issues, the commonwealth, which has drawn intense interest from Democrats and Republicans after June’s disastrous primary, has not finalized its ballot less than eight weeks before Election Day. The state’s Democratic Party remains in court battling to keep the Green Party off the ballot. The pending legal dispute has led to a delay in certification of the November ballot, and as a result, all Pennsylvania county election officials who this year could have started offering absentee or mail-in ballots, as well as in-person early absentee voting, starting September 14 are in a holding pattern. Pennsylvania, which President Donald Trump won by less than 1 point in 2016, is just one example of a critical swing state that has come under enhanced scrutiny for elections laws that could further confuse and delay results on Election Day “I’m concerned right now, only because once we do receive state certification, there are quite a few steps that you have to do,” Debbie Olivieri, Berks County Director of Elections, told CNN. The county, which includes Reading, remains a battleground. “You can’t just real quick turn it over and have everything ready. It’s going to take some time to do those other steps.”
September 14, 2020 4:15 am
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – Police in Pennsylvania have deployed tear gas on a crowd of people protesting early Monday after an officer shot and killed a man while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Hundreds of people protested outside the police station in Lancaster following the shooting death of 27-year-old Ricardo Munoz. Police say Munoz charged at an officer with a knife before the officer opened fire, killing him. The department has released body camera video of the shooting. News outlets report the officer is on administrative leave. Police say tear gas was used because protesters threw several items at officers and failed to disperse after they were given several warnings to leave.
September 14, 2020 4:13 am
ROSTRAVER, Pa. — (WPXI) – The Westmoreland County Coroner was called to the scene of a deadly head-on crash Sunday in Rostraver. According to the Rostraver Central Fire Department, emergency crews were called to the 1200 block of Rostraver Road on Sunday afternoon. Route 201 was closed for several hours between Callaway Lane and Indian Hill Road. An SUV and a car collided, according to the department. County 911 said one person was killed, and two other people declined to be taken to the hospital by paramedics. It’s not clear what caused the crash. (Photo: Rostraver Central Fire Department)
September 13, 2020 7:36 am
COMPTON, Calif. (AP) — The shooting of two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in an apparent ambush prompted a manhunt for the shooter, reaction from the president and protests outside the hospital where the wounded deputies were being treated Saturday night in California. The 31-year-old female deputy and 24-year-old male deputy both underwent surgery Saturday evening, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a late-night news conference. Both graduated from the academy 14 months ago, he said. The deputies were shot while sitting in their patrol car at a Metro rail station and were able to radio for help, the sheriff said. Villanueva, whose department has come under fire during recent protests over racial unrest, expressed frustration over anti-police sentiment as he urged people to pray for the officers.
September 13, 2020 7:36 am
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Coronavirus infections in the Dakotas are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic. The argument over masks raged this week in Brookings, South Dakota, as the city council considered requiring face coverings in businesses. The city was forced to move its meeting to a local arena to accommodate intense interest, with many citizens speaking against it, before the mask requirement ultimately passed. Amid the brute force of the pandemic, health experts warn that the infections must be contained before care systems are overwhelmed. North Dakota and South Dakota lead the country in new cases per capita over the last two weeks, ranking first and second respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
September 13, 2020 7:35 am
LONDON (AP) — Two former British prime ministers who played crucial roles in bringing peace to Northern Ireland joined forces Sunday to urge lawmakers to reject government plans to override the Brexit deal with the European Union, arguing that it imperils that peace and damages the U.K.’s reputation. In an article in The Sunday Times, John Major and Tony Blair slammed the current British government for “shaming” the country with legislation that, in places, goes against the very deal it signed to allow for the U.K.’s smooth departure from the EU earlier this year.
