Gov. Wolf asks lawmakers to spend coronavirus funds
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday outlined how he thinks the state should spend much of the $1.3 billion remaining in federal coronavirus relief funds during what’s left of lawmakers’ two-year session. The Democratic governor urged the General Assembly to put $225 million toward hazard pay for more than...
Gov. Tom Wolf: Pennsylvania eviction moratorium to lapse Aug. 31
Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday he does not have the legal authority to extend Pennsylvania’s moratorium on evictions and foreclosures beyond the end of the month, meaning that renters will no longer be shielded from losing their homes for failing to pay rent during the pandemic. In a letter to...
Pennsylvania adds 561 new covid-19 cases, 26 new deaths to totals
Pennsylvania reported 561 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. The state’s covid-19 cases count is now 130,035, as a result. Between resident cases (20,798) and employee cases (4,411), there are 25,209 covid-19 cases from nursing and personal care homes. That accounts for 19% of total...
Republican National Convention showcases rising stars, dark warnings
WASHINGTON — A rising generation of Republican stars offered an optimistic view of President Donald Trump’s leadership, but were undermined on the opening night of the GOP’s scaled-back convention by speakers issuing dark warnings about the country’s future and distorting the president’s record, particularly on the pandemic. As Trump faces...
Trump supporters eschew formal platform at RNC
While Republican party leaders were gathering in a socially distanced ballroom in Charlotte, N.C., to nominate President Donald Trump for a second term this week, a steady stream of Trump supporters from far and near were lining up in Unity to troop through the Trump House. The old two-story frame...
Excela hires new chief operating officer
Sixteen months after a shake-up in the top leadership at Greensburg-based Excela Health, the health care system has a new chief operating officer. Jeffrey A. Tiesi, a Bethel Park native who was the senior vice president and chief operating officer at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., has been...
Rock fall at Grand Canyon reveals ancient animal footprints
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — It’s something like a modern-day chuckwalla, side-stepping sand dunes on an island in what now is Grand Canyon National Park. That’s how Steve Rowland, a professor emeritus of geology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, interprets fossil footprints that were revealed in a rock fall near...
California man masquerading for years as federal agent pulled over motorists, obtained guns, feds allege
LOS ANGELES — Last May, agents from the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service showed up at an Orange County retirement community to serve a search warrant. They were joined by a man wearing a ballistic vest, a pistol strapped to his thigh and a badge on his chest, who introduced...
Several arrests precede Charlotte’s pared-down share of RNC
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Several protesters and a person who illegally entered a secure area were arrested in the hours before North Carolina’s scaled-back share of the Republican National Convention on Monday, local police said, noting that the event itself was conducted without disruption. Hours later, after a group of demonstrators...
Redwoods survive wildfire at California’s oldest state park
BOULDER CREEK, Calif. — When a massive wildfire swept through California’s oldest state park last week it was feared many trees in a grove of old-growth redwoods, some of them 2,000 years old and among the tallest living things on Earth, may finally have succumbed. But an Associated Press reporter...
Revved by Sturgis Rally, covid-19 infections move fast, far
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The hundreds of thousands of bikers who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have departed western South Dakota, but public health departments in multiple states are trying to measure how much and how quickly the coronavirus spread in bars, tattoo shops and gatherings before people traveled...
WWII surrender ceremony in Hawaii limited to local veterans
HONOLULU — A Pearl Harbor ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II — possibly the last opportunity for many elderly U.S. veterans to commemorate the day — will be limited to survivors of the war living in Hawaii because of coronavirus concerns. The plan before...
National Guard called out after police shoot Black man
KENOSHA, Wis. — Wisconsin’s governor summoned the National Guard for fear of another round of violent protests Monday after the police shooting of a Black man turned Kenosha into the nation’s latest flashpoint city in a summer of racial unrest. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said 125 members of the National...
Official says Falwell leaving Liberty; Falwell says he’s not
RICHMOND, Va. — Jerry Falwell Jr.’s future at evangelical Liberty University was unclear late Monday, with a senior school official saying he had resigned from his leadership post but Falwell telling at least one news outlet that he does not plan to leave permanently. A formal announcement from the school...
Upper St. Clair couple killed in apparent murder-suicide identified
An Upper St. Clair man called police Monday morning, saying he had killed his wife and that he was going to kill himself, police said. When authorities arrived at the home in the 100 block of Thousand Oaks Drive they found the couple dead. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified...
Falwell says he faced ’emotional toll’ after wife’s affair
RICHMOND, Va. — Jerry Falwell Jr., currently on a leave of absence as the leader of evangelical Liberty University, has released a statement saying that he is seeking help for the “emotional toll” of an affair his wife had with a man who he says later threatened his family. Falwell...
Scientists: Hong Kong man got coronavirus a 2nd time
University of Hong Kong scientists claim to have the first evidence of someone being reinfected with the virus that causes covid-19. Genetic tests revealed that a 33-year-old man returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain in mid-August had a different strain of the coronavirus than the one he’d...
Marco collapses, sets stage for Laura to hit U.S. as hurricaneVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Marco began falling apart Monday, easing one threat to the Gulf Coast but setting the stage for the arrival of Laura as a potentially supercharged Category 3 hurricane with winds topping 110 mph. The two-storm combination could bring a history-making onslaught of wind and coastal...
N.Y. attorney general probes if Trump inflated assets to gain loan advantage
NEW YORK — New York’s Democratic attorney general asked a court Monday to enforce subpoenas into an investigation into whether President Donald Trump and his businesses inflated assets on financial statements. Attorney General Letitia James filed a petition in state trial court in New York City naming the Trump Organization,...
California high court rejects Scott Peterson’s death penalty
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Supreme Court on Monday overturned the 2005 death sentence for Scott Peterson in the slaying of his pregnant wife, but said prosecutors may try again for the same sentence if they wish in the high-profile case. It upheld his 2004 murder conviction in the killing...
First day of school for thousands and Zoom gets glitchy
Zoom is experiencing partial outages during the first day of school for thousands of students who are relying on the video conferencing technology to connect with educators. The company said Monday that it began receiving reports of disruptions around 9 a.m. Eastern time. It has identified the issue causing the...
Gray area of mail-in voting law up to Pennsylvania court
With the Trump campaign’s lawsuit in federal court on hold until October, it could be up to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court to settle crucial questions of election law in the presidential battleground, including whether ballots mailed without secrecy envelopes can be counted. The state Supreme Court could decide as early as...
Defiant DeJoy says he won’t restore mail-sorting machines
WASHINGTON — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy refused requests by Democrats on Monday to restore mail-sorting machines or mailboxes removed from service as part of sweeping operational changes at the Postal Service, despite complaints that the changes are causing lasting damage and widespread delays. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., told DeJoy at...
Facebook to pay $125 million in back taxes to France
PARIS — Facebook’s French subsidiary has agreed to pay $125 million in back taxes and penalties following persistent government efforts to get online giants to pay more taxes where they make their money. The agreement came after French tax authorities carried out an extensive audit of a decade of Facebook’s...
Spain adds thousands of new coronavirus cases
MADRID — Fearing an even sharper surge in coronavirus infections with the opening of the school year in September, some Spanish regions moved Monday to impose new measures against the spread of the pandemic, including bans on large social gatherings. On Monday, when Spain’s Ministry of Health reported figures for...
