October 6, 2021 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden says Democrats are considering a change to the Senate’s filibuster rules in order to quickly approve lifting the nation’s debt limit. Biden told reporters late Tuesday at the White House, “It’s a real possibility.” The president off-the-cuff remarks interject a new urgency to an increasingly uncertain situation. Days before an Oct. 18 deadline to act, the Senate is tangled in an dangerous partisan standoff over a vote that’s needed to allow the federal government to continue borrowing or risk defaulting on its already accrued debt load. Republicans are putting up hurdles to the vote.
October 6, 2021 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden’s and congressional Democrats’ push for a 10-year, $3.5 trillion package of social and environmental initiatives has reached a turning point. Biden has been repeatedly conceding that the measure will be much smaller. Democrats say he’s recently discussed a $1.9 trillion to $2.3 trillion price tag. That represents an effort by Biden to push his party beyond months of stalemate and refocus bargainers on nailing down the policy and fiscal decisions that will be needed to succeed. There’s been no agreement on a final figure and plenty of other unanswered questions remain, along with the possibility of failure.
October 6, 2021 4:10 am
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) – Federal investigators say a ship’s anchor may have hooked, dragged and torn a massive underwater pipeline that spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the water off Southern California. They also say the pipeline owner didn’t quickly shut down operations after a safety system alerted to a possible spill. The weekend spill sent up to 126,000 gallons of heavy crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach and will close beaches and stop local fishing for weeks. Questions remain about the timeline of the spill. The Coast Guard says a commercial ship reported a possible spill Friday night and later reports followed but the agency waited until sunrise Saturday to investigate.
October 6, 2021 4:03 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania Senate hearing designed to gather input from the Department of State about potential changes to election law didn’t last very long because the Wolf administration decided not to participate in person. The topic of Tuesday’s State Government Committee hearing in Harrisburg was a bill introduced last month by the Republican chair and ranking Democrat on the State Government Committee. It’s a proposal that would address ballot tabulation deadlines, the use of ballot drop boxes and clearing dead voters from the rolls. The Department of State provided written comments and offered to respond to any written questions from the committee.
October 6, 2021 4:01 am
Pennsylvania’s attorney general has filed criminal charges against the developer of a pipeline that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia. Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the charges Tuesday at a news conference at Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown. That’s where Sunoco Pipeline LP spilled thousands of gallons of drilling fluid last year. The spill occurred during construction of the troubled Mariner East 2 pipeline. Prosecutors say the multibillion-dollar pipeline project fouled waterways and residential water supplies across hundreds of miles. Texas-based Energy Transfer owns Sunoco and says “it intends to vigorously defend itself.”
October 6, 2021 2:29 am
Two teenagers will stand trial as adults for their roles in a drive by shooting in the East End of Canonsburg back in September. Ethan Perkins, 17 of Canonsburg and Mark Jones, 15 of Washington had their preliminary hearing on Tuesday in front of District Justice James Saieva. The District Attorney called 18 year old Devyn Sedora as the primary witness. She was the driver involved in a plan to have Perkins engage in a fight with another Canonsburg teen, Maurice Williams. Perkins had Sedora pick up Jones in Washington and another Canonsburg teen before meeting Williams on Duquesne Avenue in Canonsburg. When Williams was seen Perkins gave the order to shoot and Jones fired two shots from Sedora’s vehicle. Testimony from Canonsburg Police Officer Dennis Cole indicated that Jones, in a written statement admitted to firing the gun. Despite requests from both defense attorneys to have all charges dismissed, Saieva held all charges for court. Jones is charged with felony criminal attempt murder of the third degree and aggravated assault. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of a firearm by a minor. Perkins will stand trial on charges of criminal conspiracy engaging murder of the third degree, conspiracy aggravated assault and misdemeanor tampering with evidence. Both will be formally arraigned on November 29.
October 5, 2021 4:11 pm
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Work has halted at all of the Kellogg Company’s U.S. cereal plants as roughly 1,400 workers went on strike. It wasn’t immediately clear how much the supply of Frosted Flakes or other iconic brands would be disrupted. The strike includes plants in Omaha, Nebraska; Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee. The union and company have been at an impasse for more than a year. Daniel Osborn, president of the local union in Omaha said the dispute is over the loss of several key benefits, and the company has threatened to move work to Mexico. The company insists its offer is fair and would increase wages. (Photo: AP)
October 5, 2021 9:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Johnson & Johnson has asked U.S. regulators to allow booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward shoring up protection in more vaccinated Americans. J&J said Tuesday it filed data with the Food and Drug Administration on giving a booster dose between two to six months after vaccination. The U.S. government last month authorized booster doses of Pfizer’s vaccine in vulnerable groups. A panel of FDA advisers meets next week to consider boosters for both J&J and Moderna vaccines. It’s part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to boost protection amid the delta variant and potential waning of vaccine strength.
October 5, 2021 4:04 am
DALLAS (AP) – Southwest Airlines has become the latest U.S. airline to say that it will require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Dallas-based company said its workers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 in order to continue working at the airline. Employees can seek approval to skip the shots due to medical or religious reasons. Southwest said it has to mandate vaccines because of new rules from the Biden administration that companies with federal contracts must have a vaccinated staff. Southwest’s work for the government includes flying the military in emergencies and carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Southwest has 54,000 employees.
October 5, 2021 4:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is reversing a ban on abortion referrals by federally funded family planning clinics. Monday’s action by the Department of Health and Human Services lifts a Trump-era restriction as political and legal battles over abortion grow sharper from Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court. Groups representing the clinics say they hope the rule reversal leads to the return of some 1,300 service providers that left the program to protest the Trump administration’s policy. HHS has estimated that the upheaval led to as many as 180,000 unintended pregnancies. The clinics provide birth control and basic health care mainly to low-income women.
