April 22, 2020 4:20 am
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Tyson Foods is suspending operations indefinitely at a large Iowa pork processing plant that was blamed for fueling a coronavirus outbreak in the community. The company warned today that its closing of the plant in Waterloo would be a blow to hog farmers and potentially disrupt the nation’s pork supply. Tyson kept the plant open in recent days over the objections of the mayor and other local officials. The plant employs 2,800 workers and can process about 19,500 hogs per day, almost 4% of the nation’s pork processing capacity. Several other meatpacking plants have temporarily closed due to coronavirus outbreaks.
April 22, 2020 4:18 am
(AP) – Coyotes, pumas and goats are wandering around cities, while air across the world is becoming less polluted. Scientists are noticing changes to Earth’s environment as millions of people stay home because of the new coronavirus. The planet is becoming wilder and cleaner. Air pollution is down 30% in the northeastern U.S. and 49% in Rome. Sea turtles are nesting better without human interference. Scientists think of this as a grand but unintended experiment that shows how much of a footprint humanity has on the planet.
April 22, 2020 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress is sprinting to approve a $483 billion coronavirus aid package. The deal backed by the White House would replenish a small-business payroll fund and pump more money into hospitals and testing programs. President Donald Trump is urging swift passage this week. The bill is Washington’s fourth in response to the crisis, but it’s not expected to be the last. Lawmakers are taking unprecedented steps to confront the virus and prop up communities nationwide during the health crisis. The Senate approved the package Tuesday. The House is asking lawmakers to return for a Thursday vote.
April 22, 2020 4:14 am
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard says it has launched a military satellite into orbit amid wider tensions with the U.S. The Guard made the announcement on Wednesday morning on its official website. It said the two-stage satellite launch took off from Iran’s Central Desert, without elaborating. It called the launch “a great achievement.” The launch comes amid tensions between Tehran and Washington over its collapsing nuclear deal and after a U.S. drone strike killed Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January. Iran has suffered several failed satellite launches in recent months.
April 22, 2020 4:12 am
PITTSBURGH — UPMC officials say they will begin testing all patients who enter for elective procedures and will test all employees who are showing coronavirus symptoms. The system has the capacity to test 600 patients a day and often has results back in less than six hours. Officials said there is enough PPE to keep employees and patients safe. UPMC doctors said during the event that their data is showing a slowed rate of infection and that the area is on the opposite side of what was supposed to be the worst period of the pandemic. Officials said coronavirus patients are currently using eight percent of ICU beds and about seven percent of their available ventilators. There are no pediatric coronavirus patients in the UPMC system. UPMC officials said the hospital system includes 5,500 beds among 40 different hospitals and COVID-19 patients make up just 2 percent of their capacity.
April 22, 2020 4:01 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – A woman is suing the federal government over the 2018 death of her husband from a wrongful insulin injection at a West Virginia veterans hospital. Norma Shaw’s lawsuit is the second one filed against Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie in the past month involving the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg. Both suits allege a widespread system of failures at the hospital. Shaw filed the federal lawsuit Monday in the death of her husband, George Nelson Shaw Sr., an 81-year-old retired member of the Air Force. Federal prosecutors have said they’re probing the deaths of up to 11 patients at the hospital.
April 21, 2020 10:36 am
This year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee has been canceled after organizers concluded there was “no clear path to safely set a new date in 2020” because of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision means kids who are in eighth grade this year will miss their final opportunity to compete in the national finals. Scripps will not change eligibility requirements for next year’s bee, which is scheduled for June 1-3, 2021. The bee has always been open to kids through the eighth grade. The bee had only previously been canceled between 1943-45 because of World War II. The first Scripps bee was held in 1925.
April 21, 2020 9:37 am
DETROIT (AP) – Subaru is recalling just over 200,000 cars and SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because fuel pumps can fail and cause engines to stall. The recall covers certain 2019 Impreza, Outback, Legacy, and Ascent vehicles. Subaru says in government documents that the low pressure fuel pump can stop working properly. Engines could lose power while the vehicles are being driven. The engines also might not start or they could run rough. The documents say Subaru has no reports of crashes or injuries. Dealers will replace the low pressure fuel pump at no cost to owners starting June 5.
April 21, 2020 9:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has approved a nearly $500 billion coronavirus aid bill after Congress reached an agreement with President Donald Trump. The measure would replenish a small business rescue program, provide hospitals with another $75 billion, and implement a nationwide virus testing program to facilitate reopening the economy. Trump has announced his support, saying he’ll sign the bill if it passes both chambers. The package now goes to the House. Most of the funding, more than $300 billion, would go to boost a small-business payroll loan program that ran out of money last week.
April 21, 2020 8:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says he’ll sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus. National security adviser Robert O’Brien says the move is about protecting Americans’ health and livelihood. O’Brien on Tuesday cast a temporary immigration ban as similar to the restrictions on travel to the U.S. from China that Trump put in place in January. O’Brien says the administration believes those restrictions saved lives. Almost all visa processing by the State Department, including immigrant visas, has already been suspended due to the pandemic. Trump offered no details late Monday about which immigration programs might be affected by the executive order.
