September 18, 2020 4:12 am
MOOSIC, Pa. (AP) – Joe Biden is deriding President Donald Trump for his handling of COVID-19, calling his downplaying of the pandemic “criminal” and his administration “totally irresponsible.” Speaking Thursday about Trump’s admission that he publicly played down the impact of the virus while aware of its severity, Biden declared: “He knew it and did nothing. It’s close to criminal.” The pandemic is responsible for the unusual format of the event. It’s a drive-in of 35 cars parked outside PNC Field, and audience members are watching Biden onstage as they listen from outside their cars or from radios inside their cars.
September 18, 2020 4:09 am
SEATTLE (AP) – A U.S. judge blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election. Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said Thursday he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service. The states challenged the Postal Service’s so-called “leave mail behind” policy, where trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time regardless of whether there is more mail to load. They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as first class mail.
September 18, 2020 4:08 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court says the Green Party’s candidate for president didn’t strictly follow procedures for getting on the state ballot in November’s election and cannot appear on it. Thursday’s decision is a win for Democrats as Joe Biden tries to recapture the critical battleground state’s electoral votes from President Donald Trump. The court in a 5-2 Democratic majority reversed the ruling by a Republican judge on the candidacy of Howie Hawkins. In this case, Democrats targeted what they said were disqualifying irregularities in how the Green Party candidate filed affidavits that accompany paperwork to get on the ballot.
September 18, 2020 2:54 am
A positive coronavirus test has been reported in the Washington School District. The District’s Pandemic Team announced on Thursday that they have notified parents and staff that there is one confirmed case of COVID-19 at the Washington Park School. They say that they have consulted the State Department of Health, and classes will continue as usual. District officials say the only students or staff who may have been exposed to the individual are hybrid students in group B, and staff who were at the school on September 10th or 11th. They say no student or staff from grades seven through tweleve or students in group A had any exposure to the indivudal at school. Students in the Washington School District went back to class on September 8th, under a hybrid learning plan.
September 18, 2020 2:52 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio has released guidelines for Halloween that discourage traditional trick-or-treating. The guidelines provided by the Ohio Department of Health on Friday also strongly recommend that haunted houses and hayrides be canceled. The guidelines recommend trick-or-treating alternatives such as drive-through events with children in cars collecting treats from individuals spaced at least six feet apart. The guidelines also suggest leaving treats in mailboxes or decorating houses and hiding treats outside. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said that decisions to allow trick-or-treating will be up to local communities. The Health Department also says large in-person parties shouldn’t be held.
September 18, 2020 2:38 am
Gov. Tom Wolf and Pa. Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine made good on their promise to loosen restrictions on indoor dining, as they announced capacity limits will increase to 50% starting Sept. 21st. The new order, which takes effect Monday, allows restaurants to increase capacity to 50% and be a part of the state’s new “Open & Certified” searchable online database. On-site alcohol serving is still required to end at 11 p.m., while customers will be able to drink until midnight starting Sept. 21. There is no change to the requirements for to-go sales and alcohol take-out sales. This order does not affect the gathering limits in Pennsylvania, both indoors and outdoors. That is still limited to 50 people and 250 people, respectively.
September 17, 2020 4:48 pm
SEATTLE (AP) – A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide. The judge called them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election. Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Washington, said he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction as sought by 14 states that sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service. The states challenged the Postal Service’s so-called “leave mail behind” policy, by which trucks have been leaving postal facilities on time whether or not there is more mail to load. They also sought to force the Postal Service to treat election mail as First Class mail.
September 17, 2020 2:59 pm
HARRISBURG (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court on Thursday handed victories to the Democratic Party in an election-related lawsuit that sought favorable fixes to glitches and gray areas in the battleground state’s fledgling mail-in voting law. The state Supreme Court, which has a 5-2 Democratic majority, granted the Democratic Party’s request to order an extension of Pennsylvania’s Election Day-deadline to count mailed-in ballots for three days after Election Day. It also authorized the use of satellite election offices and drop boxes — which Philadelphia and its heavily populated suburbs are planning to use help relieve the pressure from an avalanche of mailed-in ballots expected in the Nov. 3 presidential election. The court’s ruling comes as Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled Legislature are at a stalemate over some of the issues, less than seven weeks before the election.
September 17, 2020 12:36 pm
The West Greene School District in Greene County has confirmed that two students have tested positive for the coronavirus and as a result, the district has moved students to a full schedule of remote learning. The district returned to in-person classes on September 3rd. District officials say the COVID-19 cases were discovered in one elementary and one secondary student but were “unrelated to in-school transmission.” The confirmed virus cases though, has led to the postponement of Friday night’s football game between West Greene and California. West Greene’s Athletic Director, Bill Simms, says the game cancellation was a precautionary measure and has nothing to do with the athletic teams. The game has not been rescheduled.
September 17, 2020 8:50 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak. Before the pandemic hit the economy, the number signing up for jobless aid had never exceeded 700,000 in a week, even in the depths of the 2007-2009 Great Recession. The Labor Department also said Thursday that 12.6 million are collecting traditional unemployment benefits, up from 1.7 million a year ago.
