News category, Page 1246

The first covid-19 alert sent via the national Wireless Emergency Alert system landed on cellphones Wednesday, interrupting a live briefing by Allegheny County officials on the local rise in covid-19 cases. “In PA, covid-19 rates are rising and hospitals could soon be at capacity,” the alert read. “Stay home if...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As demonstrations against police brutality roiled the country earlier this year, Antoine Mickle began noticing the flags going up in his Jacksonville neighborhood declaring “Blue Lives Matter.” For months, those flags hung from his neighbors’ homes. But when Mickle decided to hang a flag of his own...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Wednesday, taking direct aim in the final days of his administration at a Russia investigation that he has long insisted was motivated by political bias. “It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn...

WILMINGTON, Del. — In a time of plague and raw division, President-elect Joe Biden appealed for unity Wednesday in a Thanksgiving-eve address to the nation asking Americans to “steel our spines” for a fight against the coronavirus that he predicted would continue for months. But even as he implored Americans...

A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday ordered a pause to any election certification proceedings still pending in the state as part of a lawsuit brought by a number of Republican candidates and legislators, including Rep. Mike Kelly and candidate Sean Parnell. The judge’s action does not affect the outcome of the...

NEW YORK — Cleaning wipes are harder to find on store shelves, and businesses are reassuring customers with stepped up sanitation measures. In New York, the subway system is shut down nightly for disinfecting. To avoid any traces of the coronavirus that might be lurking on surfaces, Americans have been...

SALT LAKE CITY — Andy Larsen is a sports writer, but with so many games scratched during the pandemic he has spent a lot of time digging into coronavirus data and its sobering implications. Then on Monday, while he was sorting his spare change — some from a childhood piggy...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Trump administration on Wednesday denied a permit for a controversial gold and copper mine near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in southwest Alaska. The Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement that the permit application to build the Pebble Mine was...

With 144 new covid-related deaths added Wednesday, Pennsylvania became the eighth state to reach 10,000 fatalities related to the coronavirus. The additions bring the death toll to 10,095, according to the Department of Health. Of the deaths reported Wednesday, 142 are from November and two are from October. Officials report...

BRUSSELS — Vaccinations against the coronavirus could start in the 27 European Union nations by Christmas and member countries must urgently prepare their logistical chains to cope with the rollout of hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccines, according to a top EU official. Hailing the likelihood that “there’s...

LONDON — The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that she had a miscarriage in July, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others. Meghan described the miscarriage in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Wednesday, writing that “I knew, as I clutched...

WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden is slated to deliver a Thanksgiving address to the nation seeking to unify Americans in the face of the coronavirus pandemic as experts warn of a possible spike in cases resulting from the holiday. Biden’s transition team said the president-elect will “discuss the shared...

WASHINGTON — Congress is bracing for President-elect Joe Biden to move beyond the Trump administration’s state-by-state approach to the COVID-19 crisis and build out a national strategy to fight the pandemic and distribute the eventual vaccine. The incoming administration’s approach reflects Democrats’ belief that a more comprehensive plan, some of...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A mine in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia near Yemen exploded and damaged an oil tanker Wednesday, authorities said, the latest incident targeting the kingdom amid its long war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The blast happened early Wednesday and struck the...

BERLIN — Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved legislation that would provide compensation to gay servicepeople who experienced discrimination in the military before a change of policy 20 years ago. The decision comes two months after Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer issued an apology for decades of discrimination. A study commissioned by...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump uttered one falsehood after another as he baselessly claimed that he won the 2020 election instead of President-elect Joe Biden as he phoned into an event organized by Pennsylvania Republicans in Gettysburg. Trump’s election lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, attended the event to continue his quixotic and...

NEW DELHI — Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in low-lying areas of southern India and moved to evacuation shelters on Wednesday to escape a cyclone that was barreling toward the region’s coast. Cyclone Nivar is expected to bring heavy downpours after slamming ashore near Mamallapuram and Karaikal...

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York may permanently expand voting by mail — something it tried on a wide scale for the first time this year — while also trying to reform its molasses-slow and opaque process for counting absentee ballots. A proposed constitutional amendment would do away with the rule...

PARIS — With domestic violence on the rise amid the coronavirus pandemic, activists are holding protests Wednesday from France to Turkey and world dignitaries are trying to find ways to protect millions of women killed or abused every year by their partners. The pope called for global action to mark...

Sunbeam Products has recalled almost 1 million Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cookers because an issue with the lid when used for pressure cooking can result in burns. “The recalled Crock-Pot multi-cooker can pressurize when the lid is not fully locked. This can cause the lid to suddenly detach while the...

WASHINGTON — As the ravages of the novel coronavirus forced millions of people out of work, shuttered businesses and shrank the value of retirement accounts, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to a three-year low. But for Sen. David Perdue, a Georgia Republican, the crisis last March signaled something else:...

BERLIN — A car crashed into the front gate of the building housing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s offices on Wednesday morning, causing minor damage, authorities said. The driver was detained. Police were investigating the 10 a.m. (4 a.m. Pittsburgh time) crash at the German chancellery in Berlin. The car, a...

Western Pennsylvania’s Republican congressmen, all ardent supporters of President Trump, are lying low in the wake of the administration’s decision to allow President-elect Joe Biden to formally begin the transition to power. U.S. Reps. Guy Reschenthaler of Peters Township, Mike Kelly of Butler, John Joyce of Blair County and Glenn...

WASHINGTON — Nostalgia was in and jokes were out Tuesday as President Donald Trump offered a reprieve to a pair of meaty turkeys at the traditional Thanksgiving turkey pardon ceremony at the White House. The National Turkey Federation presented the White House with two birds, Corn and Cob. Corn was...

The Pennsylvania Department of Health, in step with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will begin prioritizing covid-19 contact tracing and case investigation efforts as cases surge and fewer people cooperate with tracers and investigators. Pennsylvania’s positivity rate rose to 11% this week, with more than 34,700...