November 2, 2021 4:12 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Voters in Minneapolis are deciding whether to replace the city’s police department with a new Department of Public Safety. The election comes more than a year after George Floyd’s death launched a movement to defund or abolish police across the country. Mayor Jacob Frey is also in a tough fight for a second term. He faces a bevy of opponents who attacked his leadership after Floyd’s death. Results from the ballot question are expected Tuesday night. But the mayoral race is a question mark because Minneapolis uses ranked choice voting. If no candidate reaches 50% in the first round of counting, the winner would be determined Wednesday.
November 2, 2021 4:11 am
UNDATED (AP) – An influential advisory panel is recommending Pfizer’s kid-size COVID-19 vaccine for all children ages 5 to 11. If the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees later Tuesday, the U.S. will embark on a major and long-awaited expansion of vaccinations. Pfizer already has begun shipping millions of doses to states, doctors’ offices and pharmacies. And pediatricians are getting ready to put shots into little arms as soon as they get the final OK. The special kid shots contain just a third of the dose given to teens and adults.
November 2, 2021 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is launching a wide-ranging plan to reduce methane emissions, targeting a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. Methane packs a stronger short-term climate punch than even carbon dioxide. The plan was being announced as President Joe Biden wraps up a two-day appearance at a United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. It would tighten methane regulations for the oil and gas sector and crack down on leaks from pipelines. A proposed rule would for the first time target emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focus only on new wells.
November 2, 2021 4:07 am
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Facebook said it will shut down its face-recognition system and delete faceprints of more than 1 billion people. The unexpected announcement, delivered with little fanfare in a blog post published Tuesday, represents an abrupt about-face for the social network, which first launched use of the technology more than a decade ago. On Thursday, the company renamed itself Meta to focus on new technologies for the “metaverse,” a possible next iteration of the internet. The company is also embroiled in a larger public relations crisis after leaked documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen showed that it has known about the harms its products cause, yet often did little to mitigate them
November 2, 2021 4:06 am
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) – A prosecutor says Kyle Rittenhouse instigated the confrontation that led him to shoot three people on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a turbulent protest against racial injustice. But Rittenhouse’s attorney says his client acted in self-defense after one of the men dove for his gun and others kicked him in the face and clubbed him in the head with a skateboard. The two accounts came during opening statements Tuesday at Rittenhouse’s murder trial. Rittenhouse, now 18, is charged with killing two men and wounding a third with an assault-style rifle during the summer of 2020. He could get life in prison if convicted.
November 2, 2021 4:04 am
It’s election day. Polls open at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 8 p.m. tonight. Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander says she is expecting higher-than-normal turnout. One reason could be the Government Study question that is on the ballot. There are also three County Row office seats up for grabs; Sheriff, Recorder of Deeds, and Controller. Ostrander says her office sent out more than 14-thousand mail-in and absentee ballots and had received more than 11-thousand back as of Monday afternoon. Don’t forget to tune to WJPA at 8 p.m. for complete election results.
November 2, 2021 2:25 am
(WPXI) – A veteran Pittsburgh police sergeant died Tuesday morning following complications from COVID-19, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police announced. Sgt. Timothy Werner, 49, was entering his 22nd year with the department. He worked for many years as an officer in Zones 4 and 5, but most recently as a supervisor in the property room at police headquarters. Werner died at Mercy Hospital with members of his Pittsburgh police family by his side, the department said. Funeral arrangements will be private. Two other Pittsburgh police officers, both from Zone 6 in the West End, have died from COVID-19.
November 2, 2021 2:20 am
(WPXI) – The city of Pittsburgh plans to implement a vaccine mandate for all city employees, including police, firefighters, and emergency medical services workers. The mandate will go into place on December 22. Statistics released by the city several weeks ago revealed that 40-percent of the police officers are not vaccinated. Two officers, both from Zone 6 in the West End, have died from Covid-19.
November 1, 2021 4:30 am
DALLAS (AP) – Flight cancellations are skyrocketing at American Airlines. The airline has canceled more than 900 flights on Sunday, or one-third of its schedule for the day. That brings American’s three-day total to more than 1,800 canceled flights. The airline is blaming staffing shortages and high winds that at times shut down its busiest airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International, late last week. It’s similar to a meltdown at Southwest Airlines three weeks ago. American says about 1,800 flight attendants are returning from leave soon, and it expects to hire at least 600 more by year end. American also says it’s hiring pilots and reservations agents to gear up for the holidays.
November 1, 2021 4:28 am
NEW YORK (AP) – About 9,000 New York City municipal workers were put on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that took effect Monday and thousands of city firefighters have called out sick in an apparent protest over the requirement. Mayor Bill de Blasio said about 9 in 10 city workers covered by the mandate have gotten vaccinated and there have been no disruptions to city services as a result of staffing shortages. New York has more than 300,000 city employees. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said firehouses remained open but 18 of the department’s 350 units were out of service and “many units are understaffed.”
