October 9, 2024 2:40 am
North Franklin Township Supervisors acted on strengthening their version of the International Property Maintenance Code. Staff and Code Enforcement officers combed through the ordinance and adopted measures that will give code enforcement more power to investigate issues and properly write and enforce citations for violations. The adoption of the ordinance was unanimous. As of the last couple of years, properties, both commercial and residential have been allowed to decay due to lack of ability to address certain safety issues. The measures passed will now allow broader investigation of safety concerns and give enforcement officers the power to cite those property owners.
October 9, 2024 2:24 am
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — President Joe Biden is making a rare jump into the 2024 battleground political fray since ending his reelection bid. He’ll campaign on Tuesday in Pennsylvania for a close ally and visit Wisconsin to spotlight a signature legislative achievement. But as Biden makes a quick swing through the key states, two Democratic senators locked in competitive reelection battles are taking markedly different approaches to the outgoing president. Biden was fully embraced by Sen. Bob Casey when he participated in an evening campaign fundraiser in Philadelphia with Pennsylvania’s senior senator. But in Milwaukee, where Biden spotlighted his administration’s efforts to replace the nation’s toxic lead pipes, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin was conspicuously absent.
October 8, 2024 5:45 pm
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Orlando’s tourism machine began grinding to a halt Tuesday with at least three major theme parks and the main airport announcing closures ahead of Hurricane Milton ’s expected hit as a major storm in Florida. Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World will close their theme parks and respective entertainment facilities on Wednesday, with the latter two also closed on Thursday and Disney likely to remain closed. Universal also canceled Halloween Horror Nights scheduled for both days. The theme parks join Orlando International Airport, which said it would cease operations Wednesday morning. The airport is the nation’s seventh busiest and Florida’s most trafficked. (Photo: AP)
October 8, 2024 5:22 pm
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two pioneers of artificial intelligence have won the Nobel Prize in physics. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton were awarded the prize Tuesday for discoveries and inventions that formed the building blocks of machine learning. Hinton said he was flabbergasted at being honored. He said AI is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats to humanity. Hopfield, who signed early petitions by researchers calling for strong control of the technology, compared the risks and benefits to work on viruses and nuclear energy, capable of helping and harming society. Both laureates urged vigilance in how the new technology is used.
October 8, 2024 5:19 pm
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida communities near Tampa Bay were devastated when Hurricane Helene made landfall two weeks ago about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the north. Now Milton is forecast to make a direct hit on the low-lying region that has a population of more than 3.3 million people. That means as bad as Helene was, Milton could be much deadlier and destructive. Storm surge causes more deaths than high winds and can remain powerful even if winds weaken, potentially leveling homes and businesses like a battering ram. Officials say the only way people living near the coast can assure their safety is to move to higher ground. To that end, thousands of people are streaming out of the Tampa Bay region ahead of what could be a once-in-a-century direct hit. Crews are working furiously to prevent furniture, appliances and other waterlogged wreckage from Florida’s last big storm from becoming deadly projectiles in this one. The preparations marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metro area to prepare for killer storm surges, ferocious winds and possible tornadoes in a place that has narrowly avoided a head-on blow from a major storm for generations.
October 8, 2024 4:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to uphold a Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the difficult-to-trace weapons found at crime scenes in increasing numbers. Key conservative justices seemed open to the government’s argument that kits for quickly making nearly untraceable guns at home can be regulated like other firearms, with background checks and serial numbers. The court previously allowed the rule to go into effect, and ghost gun numbers have since dropped in several cities. But manufacturers and gun rights groups argue the Biden administration overstepped by trying to regulate gun parts that had long been legal with hobbyists.
October 8, 2024 4:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is calling former President Donald Trump “incredibly irresponsible” for spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction. Harris on Monday offered especially sharp words as a new storm bears down on Florida with just weeks until Election Day. She said, “There’s a lot of mis- and disinformation being pushed out there by the former president.” Trump has made false claims since Helene, including saying the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. He also falsely claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for immigrants in the country illegally.
October 8, 2024 2:56 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to step in and immediately decide issues related to mail-in ballots in the commonwealth with early voting already under way in the few weeks before the November 5th election. The commonwealth’s highest court on Saturday night rejected a request by voting rights and left-leaning groups to stop counties from throwing out mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date or have an incorrect date on the return envelope, citing earlier rulings pointing to the risk of confusing voters so close to the election.“This Court will neither impose nor countenance substantial alterations to existing laws and procedures during the pendency of an ongoing election,” the unsigned order said Chief Justice Debra Todd dissented, saying voters, election officials and courts needed clarity on the issue before Election Day. The lawsuit’s plaintiffs contend that multiple courts have found that a voter-written date is meaningless in determining whether the ballot arrived on time or whether the voter is eligible, so rejecting a ballot on that basis should be considered a violation of the state constitution. The parties won their case on the same claim in a statewide court earlier this year but it was thrown out by the state Supreme Court on a technicality before justices considered the merits.
October 8, 2024 2:16 am
Cecil Township Supervisors enacted an ordinance that officially established the Cecil Township Department of Fire and Emergency Services. It was a first step to reorganize and combine the township’s three independent volunteer fire departments under one set of operational guidelines. A committee consisting of members from all three departments have been working together for several months to achieve the cooperation goal. Fire Chief Ted Wolford said that the cooperation of the departments will be a precise process and will not be rushed. His first goal is to enhance the training of all firefighters in the township. Supervisor Chairman Tom Casciola pointed to the ability of firefighters to access equipment in all three stations at any time and the elimination of territorialism that had existed in past years between the departments as benefits to township residents. Wolford said that October has been busy with Fire Prevention Month. They have been to several daycares in the township teaching fire safety. They also have been working with North Strabane Township and Canonsburg Fire Departments in teaching fire prevention and running fire drills in the Canon-McMillan School District.
October 7, 2024 8:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — No one is likely to be happy with the projected higher deficits laid out in a new analysis of Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s economic plans. The analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests a Harris presidency could increase the national debt over 10 years by $3.5 trillion. That’s even though the vice president’s campaign insists her proposed investments in the middle class and housing would be offset by higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. The same analysis says former President Trump’s ideas could heap another $7.5 trillion onto the debt and possibly as much as $15.2 trillion.
