Trump boat parade sails into Erie, met ashore by protesters
A few hundred boaters doubling as Donald Trump voters crossed the channel between Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay, honking horns, flying their blue “Keep America Great” flags and waving to the dozens of land-based MAGA backers who took in the spectacle from the South Pier. Vessels of all sizes,...
California sets record with 2 million acres burned so far this yearVideo
SHAVER LAKE, Calif. — Wildfires have burned more than 2 million acres in California this year, setting a state record even as crews battled dozens of growing blazes in sweltering temperatures Monday that strained the electrical grid and threatened power outages for millions. The most striking thing about the record...
$35,000 reward offered in death of Ohio police detective
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Officials in Cleveland have announced reward money totaling up to $35,000 for information in the death of a police detective killed last week in the line of duty along with a civilian. The city’s mayor, safety director and police chief said Sunday night the reward was being...
British judge rejects bid to delay Assange extradition hearingVideo
LONDON — A British judge on Monday rejected a request by lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to delay his extradition hearing until next year to give his lawyers more time to respond to U.S. allegations that he conspired with hackers to obtain classified information. The adjournment request came on...
Bold hopes for virus antibody tests still unfulfilled
WASHINGTON — At the height of the coronavirus lockdown, President Donald Trump and his top health advisers trumpeted a new test that would help Americans reclaim their lives — one that would tell them if they already had the virus and were protected from getting it again. Their arrival would...
Pennsylvania reports 547 new coronavirus cases, 20 new deaths
Pennsylvania reported 547 new coronavirus cases and 20 new deaths on Monday. The new data brings the total cases to 139,863 and the total number of covid-19 deaths in Pennsylvania to 7,780. The state Department of Health said that 161,316 tests were administered the last 7 days between Aug. 31...
Virus still throwing theme park attendance for a loop
TOLEDO, Ohio — Theme park operators who spent months installing hand sanitizing stations, figuring out how to disinfect roller coasters seats and checking the temperatures of guests at their gates so they’d come back in the midst of the pandemic are finding many reluctant to return. Some parks have reduced...
In Labor Day blur, Harris meets Blake family; Trump steps up
MILWAUKEE — Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris met the family of a Wisconsin man shot by police last month to kick off her Labor Day visit to a critical swing state while President Donald Trump assailed the Democratic ticket and put the halting economic recovery under the best light....
WVU frat members suspended for coronavirus violations
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University has suspended 29 members of a fraternity house for not following health and safety orders related to the coronavirus pandemic. A Theta Chi fraternity member, who tested positive for the virus and had been ordered into isolation, attended a party at the fraternity house...
Georgia trooper charged in fatal shooting of Black man denied bail
A former Georgia State Patrol trooper who fatally shot a Black man over a broken tail light will remain behind bars after a judge denied his bail. Jacob Gordon Thompson, a 27-year-old former officer charged with murder in the shooting death of Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, has been in custody...
Report: Former Louis DeJoy employees repaid for political donations
The former business of U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for years reimbursed workers who made political contributions to Republican candidates, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing former employees. North Carolina’s attorney general called for an investigation into the company, New Breed Logistics, based in High Point, N.C. DeJoy sold...
Labor Day kicks off an uncommon campaign season for organized labor
Organized labor typically greets the end of the summer and the beginning of campaign season with a roar. But it is trading that for quiet celebrations of service and online education today. Although the 141,000- plus union members in the seven-county region ratcheted back their public celebrations of strength, the...
Wildfires, excessive heat and maybe blackouts in CaliforniaVideo
SHAVER LAKE, Calif. — Rescuers in military helicopters airlifted 207 people to safety after an explosive wildfire trapped them in a popular camping area in California’s Sierra National Forest, one of dozens of fires burning Sunday amid record-breaking temperatures that strained the state’s electrical grid and could lead to planned...
New Trump ads stoke racial bias among white people in Minnesota and Wisconsin
President Trump resumed television advertising after the Republican National Convention with two racially charged commercials airing in Minnesota and Wisconsin, battleground states racked by social upheaval after recent violent police encounters with Black men. Trump’s ads show how he is trying to replicate his 2016 success in stirring racial resentments...
Florida’s covid-19 deaths top 12,000; new cases continue trending downward
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida’s much-watched coronavirus numbers stayed on a downward trend Sunday, with the state reporting 2,564 new cases and another 38 deaths in advance of the Labor Day holiday. State officials have reported 12,001 deaths since the pandemic began, including 152 non-residents who died in Florida. The...
Sheriff: Five boats sank in Texas Trump parade, no injuriesVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — Five boats sank in a Texas lake during a nautical parade in support of President Donald Trump, but no one was injured or killed, officials said Sunday. Boaters began calling for help “almost immediately” after the procession for Trump’s reelection got underway on a lake west of...
Census Bureau must temporarily halt winding down operations
ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Census Bureau for now must stop following a plan that would have it winding down operations in order to finish the 2020 census at the end of September, according to a federal judge’s order. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, issued a...
Pennsylvania reports 691 new coronavirus cases, no new deaths
Pennsylvania reported 691 new coronavirus cases, but no new deaths on Sunday. The new data brings the total number of cases to 139,316. The state Department of Health said that 158,994 tests were administered the last 7 days between Aug. 30 and Saturday with 5,791 positive cases. There were 19,065...
QAnon conspiracy emerges in some state legislative races
PHOENIX — Candidates engaging with the QAnon conspiracy theory are running for seats in state legislatures this year, breathing more oxygen into a once-obscure conspiracy movement that has grown in prominence since adherents won Republican congressional primaries this year. Some of the legislative candidates have repeatedly shared QAnon memes and...
States plan for cuts as Congress deadlocks on more virus aid
Spending cuts to schools, childhood vaccinations and job-training programs. New taxes on millionaires, cigarettes and legalized marijuana. Borrowing, drawing from rainy day funds and reducing government workers’ pay. These are some actions states are considering to shore up their finances amid a sharp drop in tax revenue caused by the...
Frustration grows as covid restrictions remain, political rallies go on
As thousands gathered Thursday night in Latrobe at a rally for President Trump, others across Western Pennsylvania stayed home — working remotely and unable to go to schools, restaurants or sporting events. They were, as they have over the past six months, following Gov. Tom Wolf’s guidance to stop the...
Michael Cohen’s memoir casts him as ‘star witness’ against Trump
NEW YORK — Michael Cohen’s tell-all memoir makes the case that President Donald Trump is “guilty of the same crimes” that landed his former fixer in federal prison, offering a blow-by-blow account of Trump’s alleged role in a hush money scandal that once overshadowed his presidency. Of all the crises...
Northeastern University kicks out 11 students over party, keeps their $36,500 semester tuition
Does 11 people hanging out count as a “party?” Northeastern University dismissed 11 students Friday after they held a small party in a hotel room Wednesday, the school announced in a news release. The 11 students “are no longer part of the Northeastern community for the fall semester.” All 11...
September 11th National Memorial Trail groundbreaking ‘a big deal’
Ground was broken Friday for the first purpose-built section of the September 11th National Memorial Trail in Somerset County. “With this groundbreaking today … we begin the journey to complete approximately 49 miles of additional trail opportunities here in Somerset County,” Somerset County Commissioner Gerald Walker told a crowd of...
3 killed in crash on Pa. Turnpike in Chester County
Three people were killed in a two-vehicle accident which shut down part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Saturday in Chester County’s Tredyffrin Township, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Police told The Inquirer the crash occurred just before 11 a.m. in the eastbound lanes and involved two passenger vehicles. According to The Inquirer,...
