May 10, 2020 8:12 am
U.S. regulators have approved a new type of coronavirus test that administration officials have promoted as a key to opening up the country. The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday announced emergency authorization for antigen tests developed by Quidel Corp. of San Diego. The test can rapidly detect fragments of virus proteins in samples collected from swabs swiped inside the nasal cavity, the FDA said in a statement. The antigen test is the third type of test to be authorized by the FDA. Currently, the only way to diagnose active COVID-19 is to test a patient’s nasal swab for the genetic material of the virus. While considered highly accurate, the tests can take hours and require expensive, specialized equipment mainly found at commercial labs, hospitals or universities. A second type looks in the blood for antibodies, the proteins produced by the body days or weeks after fighting an infection. Such tests are helpful for researchers to understand how far a disease has spread within a community, but they aren’t useful for diagnosing active infections. Antigen tests can diagnose active infections by detecting the earliest toxic traces of the virus rather than genetic code of the virus itself. The FDA said that it expects to authorize more antigen tests in the future.
May 10, 2020 8:10 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Little Richard, one of the chief architects of rock ‘n’ roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday after battling bone cancer. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. His son, Danny Jones Penniman, also confirmed his father’s death, which was first reported by Rolling Stone. Bill Sobel, Little Richard’s attorney for more than three decades, told the AP in an email that the musician died of bone cancer at a family home in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Born Richard Penniman, Little Richard was one of rock ‘n’ roll’s founding fathers who helped shatter the color line on the music charts, joining Chuck Berry and Fats Domino in bringing what was once called “race music” into the mainstream. Richard’s hyperkinetic piano playing, coupled with his howling vocals and hairdo, made him an implausible sensation — a gay, black man celebrated across America during the buttoned-down Eisenhower era.
May 10, 2020 8:08 am
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man, a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead. The Feb. 23 shooting in coastal Georgia is drawing comparisons to a much darker period of U.S. history — when extrajudicial killings of black people, almost exclusively at the hands of white male vigilantes, inflicted racial terror on African Americans. It frequently happened with law enforcement complicity or feigned ignorance. The footage of Arbery’s death was not the only thing that rattled the nation’s conscience. It took more than two months for his pursuers — who told police they suspected he was a burglar — to be arrested and taken into custody. That is fueling calls for the resignation of local authorities who initially investigated the case and reforms of Georgia’s criminal justice system.
May 10, 2020 8:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, placed themselves in quarantine after contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, another stark reminder that not even one of the nation’s most secure buildings is immune from the virus. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the task force, has become nationally known for his simple and direct explanations to the public about the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes. Also quarantining are Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn. Fauci’s institute said that he has tested negative for COVID-19 and will continue to be tested regularly. It added that he is considered at “relatively low risk” based on the degree of his exposure, and that he would be “taking appropriate precautions” to mitigate the risk to personal contacts while still carrying out his duties. While he will stay at home and telework, Fauci will go to the White House if called and take every precaution, the institute said.
May 10, 2020 8:03 am
LONDON (AP) — Taking a different tack than most other nations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to extend the bulk of the country’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions for three weeks or so when he speaks to the nation Sunday evening. Following a week of mixed messages that started with Johnson indicating that there will be changes to the lockdown beginning Monday, the government has sought to douse speculation that they will amount to much. That’s because the U.K., which has recorded the most coronavirus-related deaths in Europe at 31,662, is still seeing a relatively high number of infections. British police warned they are “fighting a losing battle” as Londoners headed out to parks, families descended on the pebble beaches of Brighton in southern England and many drivers set out on what are considered unessential journeys amid the lockdown.
May 10, 2020 7:59 am
ETNA (WPXI)— Multiple homes were damaged by a large fire in Etna Saturday afternoon. Channel 11 crews confirmed the blaze spread to three homes on Wilson Street before crews were able to contain the flames. According to reports, four firefighters were injured while battling the fire. The second-alarm fire started around 3:30 p.m. and quickly spread to the adjacent three-story home. The home that caught fire first was destroyed. The home is reportedly a total loss, but crews on scene said everyone made it out safely. However, 10 people who lived in the two homes that suffered the most damage were displaced because of the fire. Paramedics checked out a few residents at the scene, but no one was taken to the hospital. One firefighter was reportedly treated for a cut from a piece of glass, while another who has a pre-existing condition suffered a “medical event” brought on by the fire. Two other firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion. About 100 firefighters responded from a dozen companies, including several volunteer fire departments. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
May 9, 2020 4:18 am
HOUSTON (AP) – The U.S. government has awarded a $275 million border wall contract for construction that would begin in South Texas in January, at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term if he is re-elected. Caddell Construction Company, based in Montgomery, Alabama, won the contract to build 14 miles of barriers in and around Laredo, Texas, a city of 260,000 people on the Rio Grande, the river that runs between Texas and Mexico.
May 9, 2020 4:17 am
FLINT, Mich. (AP) – Michigan authorities say two men wanted in the fatal shooting of a security guard who demanded a woman wear a mask while shopping at a store are in custody.. Genesee County authorities say 23-year-old Ramonyea Bishop was taken into custody Friday at an apartment in Bay City. His alleged accomplice, 44-year-old Larry Teague, was arrested Thursday near a motel in Houston. The men and Sharmel Teague, the wife of Larry Teague, are charged with first degree murder in the May 1 shooting of Calvin Munerlyn at a Family Dollar store in Flint.
May 9, 2020 4:16 am
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A federal court has halted the Kentucky governor’s temporary ban on mass gathering from applying to in-person religious services. The temporary restraining order issued Friday enjoins Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration from enforcing the ban at any in-person religious service statewide, provided the places of worship practice social distancing and adhere to hygiene guidelines. Two other federal judges had previously ruled the ban was constitutional, but one of those judges ruled in a separate case Friday that another church could hold in-person services. Beshear had planned to allow places of worship to reopen May 20.
May 9, 2020 4:14 am
SEOUL (AP) — Seoul has shut down more than 2,100 nightclubs, hostess bars, and discos after dozens of infections were linked to clubgoers who went out last weekend as the country relaxed social distancing guidelines. The measures imposed by Mayor Park Won-soon on Saturday came after the national government urged entertainment venues around the nation to close or otherwise enforce anti-virus measures, including distancing, temperature checks, keeping customer lists and requiring employees to wear masks. Park said that the entry bans on the facilities will be maintained until the city concludes the infections risks as meaningfully lowered.
