August 21, 2020 4:16 am
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) – Wildfires that have claimed at least five lives and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes continue to blaze around California. Three major collections of fires are threatening tens of thousands of homes in the San Francisco Bay Area and central California. More evacuations are expected as hot and gusty weather continues into Friday. State fire officials say at least four civilians have died in the fire areas, possibly including a Pacific Gas & Electric worker. And a helicopter pilot on a water-dropping mission died in a crash Wednesday.
August 21, 2020 4:15 am
OLD FORGE, Pa. (AP) – President Donald Trump has taken the fight for Pennsylvania to Joe Biden’s old backyard, insisting his Democratic rival would be the state’s “worst nightmare” if elected president. In a particularly in-your-face bit of campaign trolling, Trump staged a small rally just outside the former vice president’s birthplace in Scranton mere hours before Biden was to formally accept the Democratic presidential nomination. Trump insists Biden is “no friend of Pennsylvania.”
August 21, 2020 4:14 am
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – Joe Biden has accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, vowing to take on national crises and declaring that “we will overcome this season of darkness.” Biden’s nomination marks the pinnacle – so far -of a political career that has spanned almost a half century. The former vice president, who at 77 years old would be the oldest president ever elected, was saluted by former Democratic foes as he became the party’s official standard bearer for the campaign against President Donald Trump in November. He focused on uniting the deeply divided nation as Americans grapple with a months-long health crisis, related economic devastation and a national awakening on racial justice.
August 21, 2020 4:09 am
WEST HOMESTEAD, Pa (AP) – After five months of being closed due to the coronavirus, the major movie theaters chains in the U.S. are starting to reopen. AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr visited the AMC Waterfront 22 in West Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, on its opening day Thursday. It is one of 113 AMC locations to open nationwide, touting retro movies and retro pricing and strict sanitary policies to entice audiences back to theaters. Many were eager to get back to the theaters, although for most the 15 cent tickets were the main draw. After opening day, back catalog films will cost $5 a ticket.
August 21, 2020 3:49 am
Nearly a year after his DUI arrest in the City of Washington, City Councilman Matt Staniszewski entered a guilty plea and was sentenced. Staniszewski was found unconscious in a parked car on E. Wheeling Street in August of 2019. It was the fourth DUI arrest for Staniszewski. Staniszewski entered into an open plea and his case was considered as a first time DUI offender because it has been more than 10 years since his last offense. Staniszewski’s attorney Sean Logue presented Senior Judge Anthony Bardaro with evidence of Staniszewski’s in-patient treatment for substance abuse and his community activism combating substance abuse as evidence for a favorable sentence. Ultimately, Bardaro reviewed all of the evidence and sentenced Staniszewski to six months probation and a $300 fine. After the hearing Staniszewski commented, saying he took responsibility for his actions and is working to support individuals by helping them find better coping mechanisms than indulgence of substance abuse.
August 20, 2020 1:43 pm
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) – U.S. government coronavirus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has undergone surgery to remove a growth from his vocal cord that was causing his notably hoarse voice. A spokesperson at the National Institutes of Health says Fauci underwent outpatient surgery for the polyp Thursday and was home and resting. Fauci is a member of the White House coronavirus task force. He has become the nation’s leading scientific voice on the pandemic, giving regular public advice via media interviews and webcasts, as recently as Wednesday. Fauci has said the bump on his vocal cord never got a chance to heal because he couldn’t rest his voice during the crisis.
August 20, 2020 9:37 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of laid-off workers seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose to 1.1 million last week after two weeks of declines, evidence that employers are still cutting large numbers of jobs as the coronavirus bedevils the U.S. economy. The latest figures suggest that more than five months after the viral outbreak erupted the economy is still weak, despite recent gains as some businesses reopen and some sectors like housing and manufacturing have rebounded. A rising number of people who have lost jobs say they consider their loss to be permanent.
August 20, 2020 5:43 am
MOSCOW (AP) – Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is in a coma in a hospital in Siberia after falling ill from a suspected poisoning. His spokeswoman said Navalny felt unwell on a flight to Moscow and the plane made an emergency landing. Kira Yarmysh said Navalny lost consciousness and must have consumed poison in tea he drank before boarding his flight. Russia’s state news agency Tass reported the politician is in grave condition. He is the most prominent member of Russia’s opposition and has set up a network of campaign offices across Russia to put forward opposition candidates in regional elections, challenging members of Russia’s ruling party.
August 20, 2020 4:26 am
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree says at least 4,800 chicks shipped to Maine farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived dead in the recent weeks since rapid cuts hit the federal mail carrier’s operations. The Portland Press Herald reported Wednesday that Pingree is raising the issue of the dead chicks in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and U.S. Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sonny Perdue. DeJoy, a Republican donor, took control of the agency in June and has since swiftly engineered cuts and operational changes that are disrupting mail delivery operations. He announced Tuesday he would halt some changes to mail delivery that critics blamed for widespread delays and warned could disrupt the November election.
August 20, 2020 4:24 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Former White House adviser Steve Bannon has been arrested on charges that he and three others ripped off donors to an online fundraising scheme “We Build The Wall.” The charges were contained in an indictment unsealed Thursday in Manhattan federal court. Federal prosecutors alleged that Bannon and three others “orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors” in connection with an online crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $25 million to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. The indictment said Bannon received over $1 million himself, using some to pay a co-defendant and hundreds of thousands more to cover Bannon’s personal expenses. A phone at the law office of Bannon’s lawyer went unanswered Thursday. (Photo: CNN)
