July 3, 2024 4:59 am
(AP) – The U.S. government will pay the vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine. The vaccine could be used to treat bird flu in people as cases in dairy cows continue to mount across the country. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday it is funding the development of a vaccine based on the same mRNA technology that allowed the rapid development and rollout of vaccines to protect against COVID-19. The H5N1 bird flu virus was detected earlier this year in dairy cows and has spread to more than 135 herds in 12 states and has infected three people. Federal officials say the risk to the public remains low.
July 3, 2024 4:57 am
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada (AP) — Hurricane Beryl is roaring across the Caribbean Sea as a powerful Category 4 storm on a path toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. At least six people have died after Beryl slammed islands in the southeast Caribbean. A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and some of the Cayman islands, and a watch was posted for Haiti’s southern coast and the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Beryl was losing some of its intensity but was still forecast to be near major-hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica early Wednesday. It had 145-mph winds early Wednesday. People in flood-prone areas of Jamaica were warned to seek safe shelter to ride out the storm overnight and into Wednesday.
July 3, 2024 4:49 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) -Six tornadoes touched down throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania during last week’s storms, the National Weather Service confirmed. The NWS confirmed Tuesday that the sixth tornado, categorized as an EF-1, touched down near the Mellon Plan neighborhood of Monroeville. It swept through parts of Wall, Pitcairn and south Monroeville. A large number of trees snapped or uprooted due to the tornado, some of which fell on power lines and caused the poles to snap. There was also some fence damage, and siding removed from homes. The tornado briefly retreated north toward Kelvington Park before dissipating, the NWS said.
July 3, 2024 4:44 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A firefighter was hurt while battling a house fire in Fayette County on Tuesday evening. The fire broke out in a house along Yaugher Hollow Road in North Union Township around 6:30 p.m. The firefighter was taken to a local hospital with a hand or arm injury. No other injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
July 3, 2024 2:27 am
Washington County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman on Tuesday, spoke with WJPA News regarding a lawsuit filed this week against the county’s election board for their decision to not allow ballot-curing in the spring primary election. The suit was filed was filed on behalf of seven voters, the Center for Coalfield Justice and the Washington Branch of the NAACP. They were represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Public Interest Law Center and Dechert, LLP stating the decision made by the board of elections, that is made up of the three county commissioners, disenfranchised 259 county voters by not allowing the county elections department to contact voters who voted by mail and had correctable errors with their ballots. The decision to not allow curing is a reversal of previous protocol that allowed the department to contact voters about their mistakes and address the errors. The suit alleges that the county violated the voters’ procedural due process rights. Sherman, however, maintains that the elections board followed the strict letter of the law and will continue to do so. He says the lawsuit may actually hurt the surrounding counties that allowed ballot curing, because once the suit goes through the legal system, he’s sure state law will prevail. Sherman added that if people want to see change in the way mail-in ballots are handled, they should contact their legislators because that would need to be done on a state level.
July 3, 2024 1:58 am
An assistant district attorney in Washington County is awaiting a preliminary hearing after being arrested for drunk driving. North Strabane Township Police arrested 37-year-old Rachel Anne Wheeler Friday night around ten o’clock after she drove through a red light in the township. Wheeler, who lives in North Strabane, allegedly drove through the red light while traveling north on Route Nineteen at the intersection with Racetrack Road. After being stopped by an officer, Wheeler took a breathalyzer test at the scene and her blood-alcohol content was above the legal limit. She has been charged with misdemeanors for driving under the influence. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says he can not comment on the case because it is a personnel matter, however, he did confirm to WJPA that Wheeler submitted her resignation on Tuesday and her case will be prosecuted by the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office.
July 2, 2024 5:41 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders says he’s not confident President Joe Biden can win the election this fall in the wake of last week’s debate. But like most of the rest of the Democrats in Congress, he says he does not want Biden to step aside. The Vermont senator’s unyielding support for the embattled president highlights the divide between the Democratic Party’s leadership and the private conversations of many donors, strategists and party insiders who want to replace Biden to avoid what many see as certain defeat this November. There is a growing sense among concerned Democrats that the party is trapped by a primary process set up to protect Biden as elected officials remain unwilling to say out loud what some say in private. (Photo: AP)
July 2, 2024 4:11 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials have approved a new Alzheimer’s drug that can modestly slow the disease. It’s only the second drug that’s been convincingly shown to slow the memory-destroying condition. The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s medication Tuesday for patients with early or mild cases of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. Kisunla is not a cure and slows worsening memory and cognitive problems by about seven months. The FDA approved a similar drug, Leqembi, from a Japanese drugmaker last year. Lilly’s drug has several possible advantages to that medicine, including requiring only one infusion per month instead of two.
July 2, 2024 4:08 pm
(AP) – Former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed until at least Sept. 18. The judge agreed Tuesday to put it off while weighing the possible impact of a new Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. Trump had been scheduled to face sentencing July 11 on his New York conviction on felony charges of falsifying business records. He denies any wrongdoing. A Supreme Court ruling Monday granted broad immunity protections to presidents, while also restricting prosecutors from citing any official acts as evidence in trying to prove a president’s unofficial actions violated the law.
July 2, 2024 12:43 pm
According to a report in the Pittsburgh Business Times, Washington Crown Center Mall in North Franklin Township is for sale. The report says the owner, New York based Kohan Retail Investment Group, has put the property up for sale. Kohan Retail purchased the property, which totals more than 434-thousand square feet on eighty-four acres, in 2016 for twenty-million-dollars.
