May 13, 2020 9:40 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been released from federal prison to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement over concerns from the coronavirus. Manafort’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, says his client was released Wednesday morning from FCI Loretto, a low-security prison in Pennsylvania. Manafort had been serving more than seven years in prison after being convicted as part of the special counsel’s Russia investigation. His attorneys had asked the Bureau of Prisons to release him to home confinement, arguing that he was at high risk for coronavirus because of his age and pre-existing medical conditions.
May 13, 2020 9:39 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the threat of a prolonged recession remains and urged Congress and the White House to act further to prevent long-term economic damage from the viral outbreak. Both the Fed and Congress have taken dramatic steps to counter the economic downturn resulting from the widespread shutdown of the U.S. economy, Powell said Wednesday. But there still could be widespread bankruptcies among small business and extended unemployment for many.
May 13, 2020 4:21 am
North Franklin Township Supervisors spent a good deal of time discussing roads during their Tuesday night meeting. The biggest news came in the form of anticipated legal action due to the flooding on West Chestnut Street. Attorneys for the Guttman Oil Corporation filed an emergency injunction with Washington County Court to try and advance repairs that would cure flooding on West Chestnut Street. A hearing on that injunction will be held Thursday in front of Judge Michael Lucas. Supervisors updated progress on road repairs on McElree Road. They indicate the piping and storm drain repairs should be done by week’s end and the road will be scheduled for paving in 2021. Supervisors are also moving forward with the demolition of 3 dilapidated structures by accepting bid estimates for those demolitions. Advertisement for bids for the projects are pending. Finally, supervisors forwarded an ordinance to the planning commission to regulate poultry in the township. The purpose of the ordinance is to formally address the existence of chickens and ducks in the township and to make certain roosters and geese and any other poultry fowl is prohibited. In anticipation of moving into Pennsylvania’s Yellow Phase of economic reopening, supervisors voted to lift the State of Emergency declared earlier this year, effective May 18. The township building will reopen on May 18, visitors will need to be masked, adhere to social distancing practices and abide by any other practices suggested by the Department of Health.
May 13, 2020 4:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has finished hearing arguments in two cases involving President Donald Trump’s bid to keep his tax, bank and other financial records private. Though the justices’ discussion was lengthy, it was unclear whether they would uphold lower court decisions that found subpoenas to Trump’s accountant and banks by Manhattan prosecutors and Congress should be enforced. The arguments were conducted by telephone because of the coronavirus.
May 13, 2020 4:03 am
Democrats are making new moves toward a virtual presidential nominating convention this August. The Democratic National Committee’s influential Rules & Bylaws Committee voted Tuesday to grant convention organizers in Milwaukee the authority to design an event that won’t require delegates to attend in person amid the coronavirus pandemic. Party chairman Tom Perez says the move gives organizers “the tools necessary to adapt and plan” for a gathering and “ensure that every delegate is able to accomplish their official business without putting their own health at risk.” The convention committee will be able to determine the convention’s final dates, along with its “format, voting mechanisms, structure and other logistical aspects.”
May 13, 2020 4:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge is making clear he will not immediately rule on the Justice Department’s decision to dismiss its criminal case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan says he will instead let outside individuals and groups weigh in with their opinions. Flynn pleaded guilty, as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, to lying to the FBI about conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the presidential transition period. But the Justice Department said last week that the FBI had no basis to question Flynn in the first place.
May 13, 2020 4:01 am
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska’s primary voters mostly steered clear of polling sites Tuesday while shattering the state record for absentee voting with nearly 400,000 mail-in ballots in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Republican President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic challenger Joe Biden sailed to easy victories in the election, the first in-person primary since a heavily criticized election in Wisconsin five weeks ago in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. So did Republican U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, who faced a GOP primary challenge because of his previous criticism of Trump. Sasse will face Democrat Chris Janicek, the winner of a nine-way primary.
May 13, 2020 4:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is defending the $3 trillion price tag on Democrats’ pandemic relief package as what’s needed to confront the “villainous virus” and economic collapse. Pelosi told The Associated Press in a Wednesday interview that “the American people are worth it.” The White House has called the Democratic proposal “unserious.” Trump said it’s “D.O.A.” It is headed for a House vote Friday, but the Senate says it won’t consider more aid until June. Pelosi had just one message for President Donald Trump: “Tell the truth.” She said this is the “biggest disaster” the country has ever faced.
May 13, 2020 3:59 am
A 9-year-old boy in an upstate New York region with relatively few cases of coronavirus is recovering from a rare inflammatory syndrome thought to be related to the virus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that the state is now investigating about 100 cases of the Kawasaki disease-like syndrome. Three children have died. Cuomo is advising all hospitals to prioritize COVID-19 testing for children presenting with symptoms of the syndrome that affects blood vessels and organs.
May 13, 2020 3:57 am
(AP) – A Westmoreland County man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly saying he and his friends “have a bullet waiting” for Gov. Tom Wolf if the governor doesn’t reopen businesses closed due to the coronavirus. According to The York Dispatch, Rocco Anthony Naples, 28, is being charged with third-degree felony of threats and other improper influence in official and political matters, plus the misdemeanors of making terroristic threats and harassment. Naples was upset because Wolf has closed down businesses around the state but kept his own business — all under the umbrella of Wolf Home Products — up and running, according to police documents, The York Dispatch reported. Police said Naples called the company’s customer service line on Friday and threatened Wolf. According to The York Dispatch, the customer-service representative he spoke with sent an email to her supervisor that read, “Customer called in stating he was angry about Governor Wolf closing their companies but keeping his open, he said that him and a couple of his buddies have a bullet waiting for (Wolf) if he keeps them closed.”
