November 17, 2023 12:34 pm
(WPXI) – There is a new warning issued for pet owners after a mystery respiratory illness was discovered. Officials say that it affects dogs and is spreading across the country. The illness is very contagious and can be deadly, veterinarians say. According reports, the most reported symptoms are similar to kennel cough, which includes coughing, sneezing, nasal and/or eye discharges, and lethargy. It was reported first in Oregon in August and Oregon’s Department of Agriculture received over a hundred reports from vets regarding the illness. Vets are recommending that pet owners avoid dog parks or letting their pets hang out with dogs they don’t know. They also suggest avoiding boarding your pets this holiday season if you can.
November 17, 2023 5:13 am
DETROIT (AP) — United Auto Workers union members have voted to approve a new contract with General Motors, making the company the first Detroit automaker to get a ratified deal that could end a contentious and lengthy labor dispute. A vote-tracking spreadsheet on the union’s website shows that with all local union offices reporting, the contract passed by just over 3,400 votes, with 54.7% in favor. A union spokesman on Thursday confirmed that the spreadsheet had the official totals. On Thursday the contract had a big lead in voting at Ford and Stellantis, with 66.7% in favor at Ford and 66.5% voting for it at Stellantis.
November 17, 2023 5:12 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York appeals court judge has paused a gag order that barred Donald Trump from commenting on court staffers in his civil fraud trial. The trial judge had imposed the gag order last month and later fined Trump $15,000 for violations after the former president made a disparaging social media post about a court clerk. In his decision Thursday, Judge David Friedman of the state’s intermediate appeals court cited constitutional concerns about restricting Trump’s free speech. He issued a stay of the gag order, allowing Trump to comment freely about court staff while a longer appeals process plays out.
November 17, 2023 5:07 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Republicans battling to be the alternative to former President Donald Trump are coming together for what an influential Christian organization in Iowa is billing as a friendly conversation on politics and their world views. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will appear at the roundtable “family discussion” in Des Moines Friday, Trump is not expected to make an appearance, though he was invited. The field around Trump is winnowing with less than two months before the Iowa caucuses kick off the GOP nominating calendar. In a sign of the urgency the field faces, many of his rivals are going after each other more frequently with jabs that have often turned personal.
November 17, 2023 5:05 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are two strong allies who don’t always get along personally. On Friday, they will meet to talk migration, fentanyl trafficking and Cuba relations. The two leaders are in San Francisco for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. where Biden has held a series of face-to-face meetings with other leaders, including China’s President Xi Jinping and the leaders of Japan and South Korea. He’s trying to reassure the region that the U.S. and China are competitors, not zero-sum rivals.
November 17, 2023 5:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs and singer Cassie say they have settled a lawsuit containing allegations of beatings and abuse by the powerful music producer. The settlement was announced on Friday in a statement from an attorney for Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura. It comes one day after the lawsuit was filed. The statement says Combs and Ventura have reached a deal to their “mutual satisfaction.” No terms of the agreement have been disclosed. Ventura and Combs both issued statements. The statement from Ventura’s lawyer says no further statements will be issued.
November 17, 2023 5:03 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden has ended the immediate threat of a government shutdown, signing a temporary spending bill a day before much of the government was to run out of money. The bill, which maintains existing funding levels, pushes a fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget into the new year, when GOP lawmakers in the House are vowing to exact stiff spending cuts. It splits the deadlines for passing full-year appropriations bills into two dates: Jan. 19 for some federal agencies and Feb. 2 for others. The measure does not include any wartime aid for Ukraine or Israel, nor does it offer humanitarian funding for Palestinians.
November 17, 2023 5:03 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Rescuers in Gaza don’t have the equipment to search properly for the living, let alone the dead. Every day, hundreds of people claw through tons of rubble with shovels and iron bars and their bare hands. They are looking for the bodies of loved ones killed in Israeli missile strikes. More than five weeks into Israel’s war against Hamas, some streets are now more like graveyards. U.N. humanitarian monitors say at least 2,700 people, including 1,500 children, are missing and believed buried under the rubble. More than 11,400 are dead.
November 17, 2023 2:50 am
Approximately 50 people attended a “Protect Patient Care Town Hall” meeting on Thursday night. The event was sponsored by the SEIU Healthcare PA union. The purpose of the event was to bring notice to the community at large to the negative effects hospital mergers have had on communities. The meeting was particularly important as the merger between Washington Health System and UPMC continues to make progress. Community members were concerned about wait times for care. One resident complained of sometimes 7-8 hour waits already in Washington Hospital and was concerned that wait could get longer. Staff pay, staff reductions and increases to the cost of care were also mentioned as community concerns. Statistics presented showed that private recovery room prices have remained flat over the last 10 years at Washington Hospital and at UPMC room rates haver nearly doubled. Prices for the 10 most common ailments treated by Medicare show that UPMC prices are often more that twice what is charged at Washington Hospital. The Town Hall was a community call to action to contact the Pennsylvania Attorney General to have them put a stop to the merger. Information on how to sign a petition to the Attorney General and to leave comments can be found at ProtectPatientCare.org.
November 17, 2023 2:43 am
Washington County Commissioners worked through an extremely lengthy agenda that satisfied contract needs and requests for bids. Chief among the 62 action items was a settlement with Peters Township and North Strabane Township along with individuals Michael McLaughlin, Jr and Mark Grimm. The commissioners approved a court order from October 26 that settled an injunction against the county over payment for portions of the 9-1-1 radio system, its oversight by an independent party to assure construction compliance and the dispatch of both townships that are cooperating on their own emergency radio system. Commissioners also approved advertising for proposals for engineering, installation, and maintenance of 9-1-1 Countywide communication equipment. Additionally, commissioners modified the contract with Verizon to provide broadband services in South Strabane Township. The contract will be reduced to 625 residential and commercial targets from the original 695.
