You can skip mortgage payments for 6 months. But many fear what comes after that
In March, like millions of others, Thomas Taylor saw his income plummet. The global pandemic left the 42-year old furloughed from his two bartending jobs and staring down a $2,600 monthly mortgage payment on his condo in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Taylor reached out to his mortgage company for help but...
Russian prime minister says he tested positive for coronavirus
MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Thursday that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, becoming the highest-ranking Russian official known to have gotten infected. Mishustin told President Vladimir Putin during a video call that he would self-isolate but planned to stay in touch on key policy...
Pelosi: $1 trillion needed to avert state, city layoffs from coronavirus
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday up to $1 trillion is needed to shore up state and local governments for coronavirus costs, a stunning benchmark for the next aid package that’s certain to run into opposition from Senate Republicans. Pelosi said the “heroes” fund would help prevent layoffs...
Trump tweets raise speculation about potential Flynn pardonVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted his support for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, raising speculation that a pardon may be coming after Flynn’s lawyers released internal FBI documents they claim show the FBI was trying to entrap him. Trump has long said he is considering...
Trump harshly blames China for coronavirus pandemic; a lab ‘mistake’?Video
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday speculated that China could have unleashed the coronavirus on the world due to some kind of horrible “mistake,” and his intelligence agencies said they are still examining a notion put forward by the president and aides that the pandemic may have resulted from...
Surf’s down in California: Governor set to close beachesVideo
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will order all beaches and state parks closed starting Friday after people thronged the seashore last weekend despite his social distancing order that aims to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Eric Nuñez, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said a...
Tuition freeze, early retirement incentives approved for Pa. state universities
Citing financial challenges families are facing in the coronavirus pandemic, officials with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education froze tuition for the second consecutive year. The move is the first time in the state system’s 38-year history that it has frozen tuition two years in a row. Base tuition...
Biden reaches deal to let Sanders keep hundreds of delegates
WASHINGTON — Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has agreed to let former primary rival Bernie Sanders keep hundreds of delegates he would otherwise forfeit by dropping out of the presidential race in a deal designed to avoid the bitter feelings that marred the party in 2016 and helped lead to...
It’s a beautiful day to join Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s ‘Neighborhood Singalong’Video
Kids bored? Can’t go to the museum? Why not help send a message of music to the world? The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is inviting housebound children and families to snap a few photos, record their version of the classic “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and...
Police called when Brooklyn funeral home puts bodies in trucksVideo
NEW YORK — Police were called to a Brooklyn neighborhood Wednesday when a funeral home overwhelmed by the coronavirus resorted to storing dozens of bodies on ice in rented trucks, and a passerby complained about the smell, officials said. Investigators who responded to a 911 call found that the home...
Navy secretary orders deeper investigation on ousted carrier captain
WASHINGTON — Acting Navy Secretary James McPherson said he’s delayed a decision on whether to return the ousted captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the aircraft carrier where the coronavirus swept through the crew. Putting aside a recommendation by the Navy’s top uniformed officer to restore Capt. Brett Crozier to...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes first ‘baby step’ to reopening stateVideo
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s restaurants and retail stores will be allowed to reopen Monday at 25% capacity, if the local government allows it, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday, as the state begins the slow climb from the economic abyss caused by the coronavirus. The governor specifically excluded hard-hit, heavily populated Miami-Dade,...
Biden assault allegation prompts GOP attacks, Dem worriesVideo
WASHINGTON — A sexual assault allegation is raising Joe Biden’s first big challenge as the Democrats’ presidential nominee, fueling Republican attacks and leaving many in his own party in an uncomfortable bind. Biden’s campaign has denied the allegation from his former Senate staffer, Tara Reade, who has said Biden assaulted...
VA defends use of unproven drug on veterans for coronavirus
WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie on Wednesday defended the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, insisting they were never used as “test subjects” but given the treatment only when medically appropriate. In a letter and call with major veterans organizations, Wilkie said the malaria...
Smallest businesses get a few hours at head of relief loan line
NEW YORK — The smallest companies seeking coronavirus relief loans were moving to the head of the line Wednesday after the Small Business Administration said that for eight hours ending at midnight Eastern time it would accept loans only from small lenders. The step was being taken to ensure that...
Many field hospitals went largely unused, will be shut down
NEW YORK — Gleaming new tent hospitals sit empty on two suburban New York college campuses, never having treated a single coronavirus patient. Convention centers that were turned into temporary hospitals in other cities went mostly unused. And a Navy hospital ship that offered help in Manhattan is soon to...
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner touts administration’s response against the covid-19 pandemic ‘a great success story’Video
On a day when the nation’s death toll of covid-19 neared 60,000 and 26.5 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits, President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner called the administration’s response a “great success story.” “The government, federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story, and I...
Trump’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ aims to rush coronavirus vaccineVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is quietly organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort to drastically cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal to have 100 million doses ready by year’s end, according to two people familiar with the matter. Called “Operation Warp Speed,” the program will...
Swimming pools across Western Pa. looking to dive in when allowed
While some pools across the region have already decided to remain closed, including at least one in the Alle-Kiski Valley, others remain in a holding pattern in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Springdale Township’s Bouquet Park Pool will not open this year — and could possibly close for good,...
Pennsylvania’s ‘yellow’ phase doesn’t mean a return to ‘normal,’ official warns
As the first Pennsylvania regions inch toward a May 8 lift of restrictions, the state’s coronavirus death toll pushed past 2,000 on Wednesday and officials warned that moving to the “yellow phase” will not mean a return to normal. The 479 new deaths reported come from the Department of Health’s...
Russia slams U.S. arguments for low-yield nukes
MOSCOW — The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday rejected U.S. arguments for fielding low-yield nuclear warheads, warning that an attempt to use such weapons against Russia would trigger an all-out nuclear retaliation. The U.S. State Department argued in a paper released last week that fitting the low-yield nuclear warheads to...
52 who worked or voted in Wisconsin election have covid-19
MADISON, Wis. — There are no plans to postpone or otherwise alter a special congressional election in Wisconsin that is less than two weeks away, even though more than 50 people who voted in person or worked the polls during the state’s presidential primary this month have tested positive for...
Pennsylvania reports 479 more coronavirus deaths as it catches up with data
State health officials reported nearly 500 new coronavirus deaths across Pennsylvania on Wednesday, pushing the death toll above 2,000 as officials cautioned that those deaths are from over the course of two weeks, not one day. The jump to 2,195 deaths — an increase of 479 — is part of...
NTSB: 2018 duck boat tragedy could have been avoidedVideo
LIBERTY, Mo. — A duck boat sinking on a Missouri lake that killed 17 people two summers ago likely would not have happened if the U.S. Coast Guard had followed recommendations to improve the safety of such tourist attractions, federal safety regulators said Tuesday. The National Transportation Safety Board released...
U.K. leader Boris Johnson, fiancee announce birth of baby boyVideo
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds announced the birth of a son on Wednesday, just two days after Johnson returned to work following hospitalization for the coronavirus. Johnson’s office said Symonds gave birth to a “healthy baby boy” in a public hospital in London...
