Pentagon plan on cyber split draws strong Hill criticism
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is proposing to end an arrangement in which a single military officer leads two of the nation’s main cybersecurity organizations, a move that a leading Democrat said Saturday makes him “profoundly concerned” amid a large-scale hacking campaign on U.S. government computer systems. Rep. Adam Smith, chairman...
Sen. Toomey stands firm on provisions to limit Fed’s emergency lending powers
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey said his demands that Congress eliminate more than $400 billion in Federal Reserve emergency lending powers approved under the CARES Act and to prohibit such programs in the future should have come as a surprise to no one. “Contrary to what Democrats suggested, this is not...
Biden introduces his climate team, says ‘no time to waste’
WILMINGTON, Del. — Just as the United States has needed a unified, national response to COVID-19, it needs one for dealing with climate change, President-elect Joe Biden said Saturday as he rolled out key members of his environmental team. “We literally have no time to waste,” Biden told reporters as...
Trump downplays Russia in 1st comments on cyberattack
WASHINGTON — Contradicting his secretary of state and other top officials, President Donald Trump on Saturday suggested without evidence that China — not Russia — may be behind the cyberattack against the United States and tried to minimized its impact. In his first comments on the breach, Trump scoffed at...
West Virginia spent little on masks, gloves in early pandemic
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia, the last state to report a coronavirus case, spent relatively little on protective medical gear during the early months of the pandemic compared to other states, an Associated Press analysis shows. While other states spent tens of millions of dollars, sometimes trusting new companies that...
‘Hurting for hope,’ South Dakota rural churches mark Advent
CANTON, S.D. — The Nativity stable at Canton Lutheran Church will be silent this year, breaking from a community tradition of gathering for a live Christmas performance. Instead, churches in this rural corner of South Dakota are grappling with how to approach an Advent filled with quiet mourning after the...
Biden environmental team heavy on experience, diversity
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden hopes the environmental team he is set to introduce on Saturday will steer America toward greater action to curb climate change and protect the nation’s air and water. Donald Trump’s presidency has been marked by efforts to boost oil and gas production while rolling...
Mississippi former Gov. Winter dies; pushed education reform
JACKSON, Miss. — Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, a Democrat who pushed to strengthen public education in one of the poorest states in the U.S. and to improve race relations across the nation, has died. He was 97. Winter, who was governor from 1980 to 1984, died Friday night at...
California hospitals struggle as coronavirus cases explode
LOS ANGELES — California hospitals are battling to find beds to house patients amid fears that the exploding coronavirus infection rate will exhaust resources and health care workers. As of Friday, nearly 17,000 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected covid-19 infections — more than double the previous peak reached...
General sorry for ‘miscommunication’ over vaccine shipments
The Army general in charge of getting covid-19 vaccines across the United States apologized on Saturday for “miscommunication” with states over the number of doses to be delivered in the early stages of distribution. “I failed. I’m adjusting. I am fixing and we will move forward from there,” Gen. Gustave...
Another U.S. coronavirus record; vaccine shipments reduced
First, Theresa Pirozzi’s 85-year-old dad got sick and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Days later, her mom was so weak she could barely walk. Now, instead of getting ready for Christmas, Pirozzi is anxiously awaiting updates from the hospital where both of her parents are in intensive...
Pennsylvania posts nearly 10,000 new coronavirus cases; 217 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 9,834 new coronavirus cases, as the Keystone State gets nearer to accumulating 550,000 cases. The new data bring the total cases to 548,489. That’s a jump of more than 67,000 cases from this time last week (481,118). Officials said 50,157 of total cases are considered probable....
Pence, top congressional leaders get vaccines; Trump absent
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and the leaders of the House and Senate received their first doses of the covid-19 vaccine on Friday as they tried to reassure the American public that the shot is safe. Pence, in a live-television event, celebrated the milestone as “a medical miracle” that...
Seattle police clear homeless camp, make arrests
SEATTLE — Police cleared a homeless camp in Seattle early Friday morning after a judge declined to block authorities from removing the people and tents. Police arrested 24 people and accused them of various offenses including failure to disperse, trespass and resisting arrest, the Seattle Police Department said on Twitter....
U.S. clears Moderna vaccine for covid-19, 2nd shot in arsenal
WASHINGTON —The U.S. added a second covid-19 vaccine to its arsenal Friday, boosting efforts to beat back an outbreak so dire that the nation is regularly recording more than 3,000 deaths a day. Much-needed doses are set to arrive Monday after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout...
UNC suspends 3 fraternities that feds linked to drug ring
RALEIGH, N.C. — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Friday that it has suspended three fraternities that have been linked to a drug trafficking ring that federal prosecutors say funneled large amounts of drugs into three college campuses. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Greensboro announced on Thursday...
House passes bill to avert government shutdown; Senate next
WASHINGTON — The House passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night to avert a partial government shutdown, trying to buy time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion covid-19 economic relief package. Senate action wasn’t guaranteed but appeared likely before the midnight deadline. The House passed...
Watchdog: George Floyd protests overwhelmed NYPD, sparking conflict
NEW YORK — The New York Police Department was caught off guard by the size of the spring protests after the killing of George Floyd and resorted to aggressive disorder control methods that stoked tensions and stifled free speech, the city’s inspector general said in a report released Friday. The...
Wrongfully convicted Michigan man freed after 38 years
JACKSON, Mich. — A man who was sentenced to life without parole in an arson fatality has been freed after 38 years in a Michigan prison after a woman admitted that she lied under oath during his 1983 trial. Walter Forbes, 63, walked out of Kinross Correctional Facility on Nov....
Pennsylvania sees fewer daily covid-19 cases, deaths than in recent days
Pennsylvania on Friday reported a slight drop in new coronavirus cases with 9,320 added, the fewest in three days. Since reporting a record 12,884 new cases two weeks ago, the state has seen just seven days below 10,000 cases. The seven-day average is 9,803 cases, down from a high of...
UN health agency gains access to nearly 2 billion doses of covid vaccines
GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that the U.N. health agency’s program to help get COVID-19 vaccines to all countries in need, whether rich or poor, has gained access to nearly 2 billion doses of several “promising” vaccine candidates. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said...
Shutdown deadline looms over covid relief talks
WASHINGTON — Bearing down on a midnight shutdown deadline, top negotiators on a must-pass, almost $1 trillion covid-19 economic relief package are committed to sealing an agreement Friday as they resolve remaining differences in hopes of passing the legislation this weekend. The pressure is on. Government funding lapses at midnight...
Motorist rescued after 10 hours in car buried by snow plow
OWEGO, N.Y. — A man who drove off the road in this week’s snowstorm spent 10 hours trapped in his car after a passing plow buried it, finally managing to get a 911 call through and being rescued in the nick of time by a New York state trooper. Kevin...
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate declines to 6.6% in November
WILKES-BARRE — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was down 0.8 points over the month to 6.6% in November — falling below the U.S. rate of 6.7% in November for the first time since May 2015. The commonwealth’s unemployment rate was 2 points above its November 2019 level while the national rate was...
Coronavirus vaccine provided to U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — The justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are being provided with doses of the coronavirus vaccine. That is according to a letter by Capitol Physician Brian Monahan, which says the court, along with Congress and executive branch agencies are being given a limited supply of doses “for continuity...
