August 19, 2021 4:08 am
The Ringgold School Board did what many of the other school districts in western Pennsylvania are doing on Wednesday night. School Directors updated their health and safety plan for the 2021-2022 school year. Superintendent Randall Skrinjorich outlined the modifications that were made to the earlier plan from July. Those changes are that masks in the Ringgold School District will remain optional, however if any governmental guidance mandates masks to be worn, then they will be worn. Also at issue was Covid-19 testing and vaccinations. The plan specifically states that any testing must be approved by the parent. Skrinjorich went further to state that Ringgold will not administer tests or vaccinations at all. Skrinjorich did make clear that there is one place that masks must be worn and that is on school buses. He stated that that is a federal mandate and Ringgold must comply with that rule. During discussion before the vote, director Larry Mauro voiced his dissent for the policy saying it did not go far enough to protect students. Director Carol Flament countered Mauro saying that if parents want to send the kids with masks that is fine, but those parents that do not want to use masks should be allowed to do so. The vote was a roll call vote. It went down 7-2 accepting the amendments. The first day of school for students is August 23.
August 19, 2021 4:04 am
California Area School District amended optional mask wearing to their Return to School Plan at Wednesday evening’s Board of Directors meeting. The decision follows feedback from the board’s July “Universal Masking” survey, sent through their online student information system. 238 district parents responded, with a 73.9% majority preferring non-mandated masking. The survey results, which were finalized last week, were reviewed by Superintendent Dr. Laura B. Jacob at the meeting. The Board motioned to amend optional masking afterwards, however Jacob says other COVID-19 policies will take place. “We’ve a 50 page health and safety Return to School Plan, so there’s a very significant amount of items that we’ve listed that we’re doing as far as mitigation for COVID-19,” says Jacob. Although students may choose to wear masks in schools, mask wearing is mandatory on all buses. Vaccinations are not mandatory for staff members, however Jacob says they will have to wear masks regardless. Still, Jacob says staff worked “tremendously well” last year and that she’s “looking forward to a more positive school year here”. The first school day for California Area School District is on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021.
August 18, 2021 4:22 pm
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A judge has ruled that a statue of Christopher Columbus can remain in south Philadelphia, reversing a decision by city officials to have it removed. The explorer became a focus of protesters after the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick said last year’s decision to remove the now-boarded-up statue from Marconi Plaza was unsupported by law and based on insufficient evidence. A city representative expressed disappointment and officials were exploring all options “including a possible appeal.” Attorney George Bochetto said the plaintiffs were “ecstatic” and vowed to seek removal of a wooden box covering the 144-year-old statue.
August 18, 2021 3:52 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration will require that nursing home staff are vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. Biden will announce the move Wednesday afternoon in a White House address as the administration continues to look for ways to use mandates to encourage vaccine holdouts to get shots. The new mandate, in the form of a regulation to be issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, could take effect as soon as next month. A senior administration official confirmed the announcement on the condition of anonymity to preview the news before Biden’s remarks.
August 18, 2021 1:31 pm
(AP) – The names, Social Security numbers and information from driver’s licenses or other identification of just over 40 million people who applied for T-Mobile credit were exposed in a recent data breach, the company said Wednesday. The same data for about 7.8 million current T-Mobile customers who pay for phone service in monthly bills also appears to be compromised. No phone numbers, account numbers, PINs, passwords or financial information from the nearly 50 million records and accounts were compromised, it said. It’s just the latest data breach to hit T-Mobile in recent years but experts say the sheer numbers far exceed the previous breaches.
August 18, 2021 4:15 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has tested positive for COVID-19. His office said Tuesday that Abbot is in good health and experiencing no symptoms. Spokesman Mark Miner says Abbott is isolating in the governor’s mansion in Austin and receiving monoclonal antibody treatment. Abbott was vaccinated earlier this year. The governor’s positive test came as cases of the virus soar because of the highly contagious delta variant and hospitals statewide are stretched thin. It also comes a day after Abbott tweeted a picture of himself not wearing a mask while speaking indoors to GOP supporters. Abbott has staunchly opposed mask mandates for public schools and this week saw defiant districts in some of the state’s largest cities – which are run by Democrats – require face coverings anyway.
August 18, 2021 4:13 am
GRIZZLY FLATS, Calif. (AP) – Pacific Gas & Electric says it has begun shutting off power to about 51,000 customers in 18 Northern California counties to prevent wildfires. The utility announced Tuesday evening that it has begun enacting the shutoffs as a precaution to prevent gusting winds from damaging power lines and sparking blazes in a tinder-dry region that already is struggling with a series of wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes. In the Sierra Nevada, the Caldor Fire has exploded to nearly 50 square miles (129 square kilometers), injured two people and devastated the town of Grizzly Flats. The nearby Dixie Fire has burned more than 600 homes.
August 18, 2021 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Top Democrats are planning House votes next week on a budget resolution that would clear a path for future passage of the party’s ambitious plans for social and environment programs. And that suggests a showdown ahead with rebellious party moderates. Nine centrist Democrats have said they’ll vote against their own party’s budget blueprint. That’s enough to defeat it in the closely divided House. They want the chamber to first approve a separate $1 trillion infrastructure bill. But Democratic leaders want to wait on the infrastructure vote until a separate $3.5 trillion social and environment bill is ready. Moderates will have to decide what they’ll do.
August 18, 2021 4:10 am
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. health officials have announced plans to dispense COVID-19 booster shots to all Americans to shore up their protection amid the surging delta variant and evidence that the vaccines’ effectiveness is falling. The plan, as outlined by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other top health authorities, calls for booster doses eight months after people get their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The booster doses could begin the week of Sept. 20.
August 18, 2021 4:09 am
PHOENIX (AP) – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is upping the pressure on the growing number of public school districts defying a state ban on mask mandates as they try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The Republican governor announced Tuesday that schools won’t get any cash from a $163 million pot of federal virus relief funds he controls if they don’t drop mask rules within 10 days. Schools also will lose out on the $1,800 per student if they have to close because of COVID-10 outbreaks. At least 16 districts teaching nearly a third of the state’s public school students now have mask rules.
