November 16, 2021 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping are agreeing they need to tread carefully as their nations find themselves in an increasingly fraught competition. The two leaders talked for more than three hours Monday by video amid mounting tensions in the U.S.-China relationship. Facing domestic pressures at home, both Biden and Xi seemed determined to lower the temperature in what is their most significant – and frequently turbulent – relationship on the global stage. Biden said they have a responsibility to ensure that competition between their countries doesn’t veer into conflict. Xi also was cordial, saying China and the U.S. need to increase communication and cooperation.
November 16, 2021 4:08 am
The Washington County Coroner’s office has identified the woman killed in a one-vehicle crash late Monday night in South Franklin Township. 35 year old Abbey Rhoades of Washington was pronounced dead in the emergency room of Washington Hospital. The coroner’s office says she was traveling north along Moore Road around 10:30 p.m. when she lost control of the vehicle. It struck a tree and then caught fire. A cause and manner of death are pending investigation. State Police are handling the investigation.
November 16, 2021 1:45 am
COVID-19 is hitting the Washington City Police Department hard. Washington’s Finance Director, Joe Manning, has confirmed to WJPA News that five additional police officers have contracted COVID – in addition to six officers who tested positive last week. This brings to eleven, out of thirty officers in the department who are out with the coronavirus. Manning says they are still okay as far as public safety goes, because officers are continuing to work overtime in order to maintain minimum staffing. Manning says most of the officers who have tested positive are okay and are not dealing with serious issues. He says they are still not sure how they contracted the virus, but, since the first case was detected they have been sanitizing their work areas and most of the staff at the police station are getting tested out of an abundance of caution. Chief Robert Wilson had said earlier that some of the officers who tested positive were vaccinated and some were not. For the foreseeable future, Manning says officers will continue to run one-man cars, wearing masks inside the police station and when dealing with the public and maintaining social distancing with one another.
November 15, 2021 1:50 pm
(AP) – There’s no supply-chain shortage when it comes to holiday movies and TV specials. That includes the movie “Candy Coated Christmas,” featuring Ree Drummond of THE Food Network’s “The Pioneer Woman” series. The movie will debut on discovery+. Old favorites such as 1965’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” may require a bit of strategy to watch. The Peanuts special will air Dec. 19 on PBS and be available for free on Apple TV+ during a three-day window, Dec. 11-13. Another classic, the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” will air Dec. 4 and 24 on NBC. On the musical side, Michael Buble and Kelly Clarkson are hosting holiday specials.
November 15, 2021 9:55 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon has appeared before a judge to face federal contempt charges for defying a subpoena from a House committee investigating January’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Bannon appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge in Washington on Monday, hours after he surrendered to FBI agents. The 67-year-old was indicted on Friday on two counts of criminal contempt. One of the counts charges him with refusing to appear for a congressional deposition and the other is for refusing to provide documents in response to the committee’s subpoena. The indictment came as a second expected witness, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, defied a separate subpoena from the committee on Friday. Prosecutors did not seek to detain Bannon before trial. Under conditions approved by the judge, Bannon agreed to weekly check-ins, to surrender his passport, provide notice of any travel outside the district and seek court approval for travel outside the continental United States. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. He will be arraigned on Thursday.
November 15, 2021 4:27 am
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – Closing arguments have begun at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial in the shootings of three men during street unrest in Kenosha. Each side gets 2 1/2 hours Monday to make their case to jurors before deliberations begin. Prosecutors have sought to portray Rittenhouse as the aggressor and have underscored his youth and inexperience. Rittenhouse has argued self-defense, saying he feared for his safety when he shot and killed two men and wounded a third with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle. The 18-year-old from Antioch, Illinois, faces charges ranging from intentional homicide – punishable by life in prison – to an underage weapons charge that could mean a few months in jail if convicted.
November 15, 2021 4:26 am
DALLAS (AP) – Dallas police say a woman has been arrested after punching a Southwest Airlines employee in the head during boarding for a flight out of a Dallas airport. Police say 32-year-old Arielle Jean Jackson was arrested Saturday afternoon at Love Field. Police said Jackson has been charged with aggravated assault. A Southwest Airlines spokesman says the incident happened during the boarding process for a flight from Dallas to New York’s La Guardia Airport. The airline spokesman says the employee who was hit was taken to a hospital and then released Saturday night.
November 15, 2021 4:24 am
HOUSTON (AP) – A 9-year-old Dallas has become the youngest person to die from injuries sustained during a crowd surge at the Astroworld music festival in Houston. Ezra Blount of Dallas died Sunday at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, family attorney Ben Crump said. He was placed in a medically induced coma after he suffered serious injuries in the Nov. 5 crush of fans during a performance by rapper Travis Scott. He is the 10th festival attendee to die. A lawsuit filed by his family says the child incurred severe damage to his brain, kidney, and liver after being “kicked, stepped on, and trampled, and nearly crushed to death.”
November 15, 2021 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has signed his $1 trillion infrastructure deal into law on the White House lawn, with a smattering of Republican lawmakers on hand for what could be one of the last shows of bipartisanship ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The president hopes to use the law to build back his popularity, which has taken a hit amid rising inflation and the inability to fully shake off the public health and economic risks from COVID-19. Biden says, “My message to the American people is: America is moving again.” He also is promising people that “your life is going to change for the better.” (Photo: AP)
November 15, 2021 4:17 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania judge is getting conflicting descriptions of the state’s education funding. A trial began Friday in a lawsuit designed to compel lawmakers to funnel more money to schools in lower income areas. The case’s central issue is a pattern of wide disparities in spending among the state’s 500 districts and the comparatively low percentage of K-12 education that is paid for by the state government. The trial is expected to last until January. The plaintiffs include six districts and the state conference of the NAACP. Defendants are the governor, top-ranking Republican leaders in the state House and Senate and others.
