May 20, 2022 4:13 am
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australians will go to the polls Saturday following a six-week election campaign that has focused on pandemic-fueled inflation, climate change and fears of a Chinese military outpost being established less than 1,200 miles off Australia’s shore. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition is seeking a rare fourth three-year term. Recent opinion polls have put the center-left Labor Party narrowly ahead of the coalition. But pollsters’ credibility has yet to recover since their spectacular failure in the 2019 election. The split of votes between the government and Labor in 2019 was 51.5% to 48.5% – the mirror opposite of the result that Australia’s five most prominent polls had predicted.
May 20, 2022 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has whisked a $40 billion package of military, economic and food aid for Ukraine and U.S. allies to final congressional approval. Thursday’s 86-11 vote puts a bipartisan stamp on America’s biggest commitment yet to turning Russia’s invasion into a painful quagmire for Moscow. The legislation was backed by every voting Democrat and most Republicans. At a time of widespread bipartisan gridlock, the lopsided vote signaled unity about sending Ukraine the materiel it needs to fend off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s more numerous forces. Democrats criticized the 11 Republican opponents, saying they’re following former President Donald Trump’s damaging isolationist impulses.
May 20, 2022 4:11 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – U.S. President Joe Biden will meet South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol this week as the allies face a growing threat from North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program. The North may highlight the threat with a major weapons demonstration, even as it grapples with a COVID-19 outbreak that is ripping through its unvaccinated populace. Both U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials say it’s possible that North Korea will conducts a ballistic or nuclear test around Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan. While North Korea is expected to be at the top of the agenda when Biden and Yoon meet in Seoul on Saturday, it’s unclear whether the meeting will produce a meaningful new approach in handling the nuclear threat.
May 20, 2022 4:09 am
Washington County Commissioners recognized the hard work that county hospitals have put in during the Covid-19 pandemic during their meeting on Thursday. Brook Ward, President and CEO of Washington Health System and Lou Panza, President Penn Highlands Mon Valley Hospital were awarded money from the county that was made available from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Washington Health System was awarded $4,088,556 and Penn Highlands Mon Valley received $1,990,117. Both Ward and Panza thanked the commissioners for the funds indicating that the monies will be well used to make up for losses accrued during the Covid-19 pandemic. Commissioner Chairwoman Diana Irey-Vaughn stated that the commissioners recognize the vital role that the health systems play in the county and were pleased that the ARPA funds were a method for the county to help.
May 20, 2022 4:05 am
The Trinity Area School District approved a preliminary budget for the 2022-2023 school year. The spending plan approved at the district’s planning meeting on May 5 is $67,099,354 and calls for a tax increase of .58 mills. Taylor Hott, Director of Physical Services indicates that the tax increase was taken to the limit allowed by law and was needed for several reasons. The biggest reason is the $60 million bond issue that was taken on to build the new middle school. Other drivers for the tax increase include rising health care and pension costs, maintaining a police department and rising fuel and energy costs. Hott indicates that the tax increase will cost each taxpayer an additional $53 per year for every $100,000 of property assessment. The budget will be voted on in June.
May 19, 2022 4:58 pm
RIVERVIEW, Fla. (AP) – Officials say a 64-year-old Florida man whose wife and stepdaughter were terminally ill fatally shot the women and then called 911 before killing himself. The Hillsborough County sheriff said Thomas Schultz told a dispatcher Wednesday morning that the family was “in an impossible situation with no way out.” A neighbor said Schultz told him that caring for both women had become overwhelming. Sheriff Chad Chronister said Schultz asked the dispatcher to send someone to “secure the residence” and then said he had to go because he was “fixing to shoot.” He said deputies found him dead on the back porch. The bodies of his wife and stepdaughter were in their bedrooms.
May 19, 2022 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A $40 billion infusion of military and economic aid for Ukraine and its allies has cleared the Senate and will head to President Joe Biden for his signature. All Democrats and most Republicans rallied behind the latest, and possibly not last, U.S. financial salvo against Russia’s invasion. Approval comes three weeks after Biden requested a smaller $33 billion version. Though the margins in both chambers were overwhelming, many of the “no” votes in the House and Senate came from supporters of former President Donald Trump’s isolationist agenda. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before Thursday’s vote that it was “beyond troubling” that some Republicans were adopting Trump’s “soft-on-Putin playbook.”
May 19, 2022 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal government is warning law enforcement agencies around the nation of the increased potential for extremist violence after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion striking down the constitutional right to abortion. A memo from the Department of Homeland Security says violence could come from either side of the abortion issue or from other types of extremists seeking to exploit tensions. Separately, the Justice Department announced Wednesday that the U.S. Marshals Service has the justices of the Supreme Court under 24-hour security.
May 19, 2022 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and has authorized flights to import supply from overseas. He is facing mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant. The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers. Biden is also authorizing the Defense Department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the U.S., in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula.”
May 19, 2022 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has passed legislation that would devote more federal resources to preventing domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The vote Wednesday night was along party lines, 222-203, with one Republican, Illinois’ Adam Kinzinger, in favor. The House passed a similar measure in 2020 only to have it languish in the Senate. But Democrats are pushing for a broader federal focus on domestic terrorism as they lack support in the Senate to move ahead with gun-control legislation. Numerous Republican lawmakers opposed bolstering the Justice Department’s domestic surveillance efforts.
