Pennsylvania audit to determine whether lobbyists, legislators influenced business waivers
There have been numerous cases in which the state granted waivers allowing some businesses to operate during the state’s coronavirus shutdown while other, similar businesses were denied, according to state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. That’s not an inherent sign of improper behavior by the state Department of Community and Economic...
Pandemic put $1 billion hole in Pennsylvania’s transportation budget
PennDOT is delaying new construction and downgrading resurfacing to patching and sealing as state highway workers return to work after a seven-week coronavirus pandemic shutdown. Acting Secretary of Transportation Yassmin Gramian said the shutdown that halted driver’s license renewals and triggered a dramatic reduction in travel and a corresponding loss...
Whistleblower: U.S. still lacks coronavirus plan, Americans at risk
WASHINGTON — Despite White House claims, the U.S. still lacks a comprehensive battle plan against the coronavirus in critical areas including masks, testing, treatments and vaccines, whistleblower Rick Bright warned Thursday in testimony before a House committee. “Our window of opportunity is closing,” he declared. The nation could face “the...
Trump faces emoluments lawsuit after court tosses his win
President Donald Trump must face a lawsuit accusing him of illegally profiting from his Washington hotel, a federal appeals court ruled, reviving a case that was dismissed last year. The decision on Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, sets up a fresh fight over the president’s...
36 million have sought U.S. unemployment aid since coronavirus hitVideo
WASHINGTON — Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as the viral outbreak forced more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen. Roughly 36 million people have now sought jobless aid in just the two months since...
Russia calls on New York Times, Financial Times to retract stories about virus toll
MOSCOW — Russia’s Foreign Ministry has accused the Financial Times and The New York Times of spreading “disinformation” after the two newspapers alleged that Russia’s coronavirus death toll could be much higher than officials are reporting. The Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said late Wednesday that letters demanding a retraction...
Season that wasn’t: Spring claimed by coronavirus pandemic
By the time spring arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, the pandemic had the world firmly in its grip. The vernal equinox arrived March 19, the day California handed down the first statewide stay-at-home order in the United States. Most of the country would soon follow suit. In the coming weeks,...
‘A pressure cooker’: Gov. Wolf aims to contain GOP revolt in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — By many accounts, Gov. Tom Wolf has helped mitigate Pennsylvania’s coronavirus outbreak and avoided the full-blown disasters seen elsewhere. His success in the next challenge — containing the growing resistance to his efforts — is to be determined. The Democrat at the helm in one of the premier...
Trump, GOP launch broad attack on Russia probe foundations
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Republicans are launching a broad election-year attack on the foundation of the Russia investigation, including declassifying intelligence information to try to place senior Obama administration officials under scrutiny for routine actions. The effort has been aided by a Justice Department decision to dismiss its...
FBI serves warrant on North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr in stock investigation
WASHINGTON — Federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to a prominent Republican senator on Wednesday night as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into controversial stock trades he made as the coronavirus first struck the United States, a law enforcement official said. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, chairman of...
911 call, text hint at confrontation days before Ahmaud Arbery shot
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Days before Ahmaud Arbery was pursued by two white men and fatally shot after being spotted inside a home under construction, neighbors — including one of the suspects — reported an earlier encounter with a person wandering through the open-framed structure. Owner Larry English found nothing stolen...
Ex-judge asked to evaluate whether to hold Michael Flynn in contempt
WASHINGTON — The judge presiding over Michael Flynn’s criminal case appointed a retired jurist on Wednesday to evaluate whether the former Trump administration national security adviser should be held in criminal contempt. The judge’s order is the second signal in as many days registering his resistance to swiftly accepting the...
Milwaukee officer charged with homicide in off-duty fight
MILWAUKEE — Prosecutors charged a Milwaukee police officer Wednesday with first-degree reckless homicide, accusing him of fatally choking a man during a fight at the off-duty officer’s home. Michael Mattioli, 32, was charged Wednesday, more than two weeks after 25-year-old Joel Acevedo died of asphyxiation. Police were called April 19...
Wisconsin high court tosses out governor’s stay-home order
MADISON — The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ coronavirus stay-at-home order Wednesday, ruling that his administration overstepped its authority when it extended the mandate for another month without consulting legislators. The 4-3 ruling essentially reopens the state, lifting caps on the size of gatherings, allowing people to...
Trump presses for schools to reopen, makes dig at Dr. FauciVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on governors across the nation Wednesday to work to reopen schools in their states, pointedly taking issue with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s caution against moving too quickly in sending students back to class. The president accused Fauci of wanting “to play all sides of the...
Test used by White House still misses many covid-19 cases, NYU study says
The coronavirus test from Abbott Laboratories used at the White House to get rapid answers to whether someone is infected may miss as many as half of positive cases, according to a report from New York University. The analysis, which has yet to be confirmed, found that Abbott’s ID NOW...
Online group plans Harrisburg protest over continued covid closures
A private Facebook group that has gained more than 90,000 members in the past month is planning a protest Friday in Harrisburg against Pennsylvania’s quarantine measures to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. ReOpen PA, described as a non-partisan group “for residents of Pennsylvania to organize and work towards...
Republican Mike Garcia claims victory in special California House vote
LOS ANGELES — A former Navy combat pilot claimed victory Wednesday in the fight for an open U.S. House seat north of Los Angeles, a win that would mark the first time in over two decades that a Republican captured a Democratic-held congressional district in California. “I’m ready to go...
Michigan strikes back by suspending elderly barber’s license
DETROIT — State regulators on Wednesday suspended the license of a 77-year-old Michigan barber who insisted on cutting hair despite an order to stay closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Karl Manke has pledged to keep his shop open “until Jesus comes.” A judge declined the state’s request to shut down...
McKeesport woman remembered as extraordinary teacher, friend of community
No one was surprised when Jamie Brewster Filotei came back to McKeesport after college, first earning a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s. Friends say the woman who attended Mansfield University of Pennsylvania on a basketball scholarship could have gone anywhere, but her roots were in McKeesport. And the city...
Los Angeles County reopens beaches closed by coronavirus concerns
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County reopened its beaches Wednesday in the latest cautious easing of coronavirus restrictions that have closed most California public spaces and businesses for nearly two months. County beaches and many city-owned beaches along the 75 miles of coastline are open only for “active recreation” such...
Native American tribe says sovereignty allows checkpoints in South DakotaVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The head of a Native American tribe said Wednesday it won’t comply with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s demand to remove coronavirus checkpoints it set up on federal and state highways that run through its reservation. Harold Frazier, the chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe,...
Judge sets deadline for abuse claims vs. Harrisburg diocese
HARRISBURG — A federal judge is giving most claimants until Nov. 13 to seek compensation over child sexual abuse from the Harrisburg Roman Catholic Diocese, which sought bankruptcy protection earlier this year. The order signed last week by Chief Bankruptcy Judge Henry Van Eck also gave governmental entities until Dec....
Louisville mayor calls for thorough probe of police shooting of Breonna TaylorVideo
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Calls for an outside investigation into the fatal police shooting of a Kentucky emergency medical technician are growing, two months after the 26-year-old black woman was killed in her home. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday evening that the state’s attorney general and U.S. attorney should review...
Trump ramps up expulsions of migrant youth, citing coronavirus
HOUSTON — The young migrants and asylum seekers swim across the Rio Grande and clamber into the dense brush of Texas. Many are teens who left Central America on their own; others were sent along by parents from refugee camps in Mexico. They are as young as 10. Under U.S....
