Pa. announces extension for firearms permits
The Pennsylvania State Police announced today that Governor Tom Wolf has granted an extension to license to carry firearms permits. Permits that expired on March 19, 2020, or later have been extended to May 30, 2020. The extension is necessary due to the closure of some county courthouses and sheriff’s...
‘Like a battlefield behind your home’: Deaths mount in New York
NEW YORK — New York authorities rushed to bring in an army of medical volunteers Wednesday as the statewide death toll from the coronavirus doubled in 72 hours to more than 1,900 and the wail of ambulances in the otherwise eerily quiet streets of the city became the heartbreaking soundtrack...
Man suspected of killing 3, taking child, stopped in Florida
TAMPA, Fla. — Florida state troopers were in a standoff Wednesday afternoon with a Georgia man accused of fatally shooting three people in his child’s mother’s family, and then leaving with the child, authorities said. Caesar Zamien Lamar Crockett Jr., 29, is wanted on three counts of murder and one...
California virus cases grow to at least 8,200; 180 deaths
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California nursing home has more than 50 residents infected with coronavirus — a troubling development amid cautious optimism that cases in the state might peak more slowly than expected. Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation in Yucaipa has been told to assume that all of...
Healthy-looking people spread coronavirus, more studies say
More evidence is emerging that coronavirus infections are being spread by people who have no clear symptoms, complicating efforts to gain control of the pandemic. A study conducted by researchers in Singapore and published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday is the latest to estimate that...
State police no longer sending troopers to some calls because of coronavirus pandemic
Pennsylvania State Police will no longer respond in person to some types of calls as the agency tries to limit troopers’ contact with the public and slow the spread of the coronavirus, officials announced Wednesday. Calls for lost and found, littering, identity theft and general requests to speak to a...
Pennsylvania prisons ratcheting up efforts to combat covid-19 outbreaks
A second inmate tested positive for covid-19 at a state prison located just outside of Philadelphia Tuesday night, Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel announced Wednesday. Four prison staffers also have tested positive for the virus, he said. Citing Department of Health privacy concerns, Wetzel declined to say where those...
Gov. Wolf orders all of Pennsylvania to stay at home
An expanded stay-at-home order now means that all Pennsylvanians must stay home unless they absolutely must go out, a move that state officials made in an effort to stanch the spread of the coronavirus. Gov. Tom Wolf’s order — which he doubled to include all 67 counties — came the...
Pa. addiction hot line getting fewer calls after liquor stores shut down
State drug and alcohol officials braced for a deluge of alcohol-related phone calls when Pennsylvania two weeks ago closed all state-run wine and liquor stores. “We were concerned that it could be a very big deal,” said Jennifer Smith, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. So...
Why health experts aren’t warning about coronavirus in food
NEW YORK — Chicken with salmonella can make you sick. So can romaine lettuce with E. coli and buffets with lurking norovirus. So why aren’t health officials warning people about eating food contaminated with the new coronavirus? The answer has to do with the varying paths organisms take to make...
British man runs marathon in backyard during lockdownVideo
CHELTENHAM, England — Being stuck at home didn’t stop a British man from running an outdoor marathon. James Campbell, a former professional javelin thrower, spent his 32nd birthday on Wednesday doing 20-foot shuttles from one end of his small backyard to the other after promising to run a marathon if...
Truck hauling toilet paper catches fire on Texas interstateVideo
HUTCHINS, Texas — A tractor-trailer hauling toilet paper crashed and caught fire near Dallas early Wednesday, spilling the hot commodity all over an interstate. The fire shut down westbound lanes of Interstate 20 near Interstate 45 in Hutchins, the Texas Department of Transportation said. The driver of the truck is...
Virus deaths in NYC top 1,000 as city prepares for worse
NEW YORK — Deaths from the coronavirus topped 1,000 in New York City as officials warned that the worst of the virus’ toll is yet to come. The city’s Health Department reported late Tuesday that nearly 1,100 people have died of the virus in the city. More than 1,500 deaths...
Coast Guard: Cruise ships must stay at sea with sick onboard
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. Coast Guard has directed all cruise ships to remain at sea where they may be sequestered “indefinitely” during the coronavirus pandemic and be prepared to send any severely ill passengers to the countries where the vessels are registered. For most of the South Florida’s...
Keep your car clean to reduce risk from coronavirus
The spread of the novel coronavirus, and its associated covid-19 disease, is made worse because it is highly contagious. Since vehicle interiors are essentially small contained spaces, it is important to take steps to reduce the risk of contracting the virus while driving or riding inside. When it comes to...
Census Day arrives with U.S. almost paralyzed by coronavirus
ORLANDO, Fla. — Census Day — the date used to reference where a person lives for the once-a-decade count — arrived Wednesday with a nation almost paralyzed by the spread of the novel coronavirus. But census officials vowed the job would be completed by its year-end deadline. The virus’s spread...
Mass testing, empty ICUs: Germany scores early against coronavirus
BERLIN — Late last year — long before most people had heard of the new coronavirus now sweeping the globe — scientists in Germany sprang into action to develop a test for the virus that was causing an unusual respiratory disease in central China. They had one by mid-January —...
Olympic flame to stay a month in Fukushima; next stop Tokyo?Video
TOKYO — The Olympic flame will be on display until the end of April in Japan’s northeastern prefecture of Fukushima. Tokyo Olympic and prefecture officials held an official “handover ceremony”on Wednesday at the J-Village National Training Center in Fukushima. The public will have limited access to view the flame, and...
Ohio officer, armed suspect both wounded in confrontation
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A confrontation between police and an armed suspect in Ohio’s capital city ended early Wednesday with the suspect and an officer both shot and wounded, though both were expected to survive. The shooting in Columbus occurred shortly after 3 a.m. on South Ohio Avenue, when officers responded...
West Virginia, feds launch task force for coronavirus scamsVideo
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A task force to prosecute scams in West Virginia during the coronavirus pandemic has been launched by state and federal officials. The West Virginia Coronavirus Fraud Task Force will investigate online, phone and price-gouging scams targeting people in the state, the Department of Justice said in a...
World coronavirus roundup: Spain reports record 864 virus deaths in 1 dayVideo
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus pandemic from around the world. From Spain Spain reports a new record of 864 deaths in one day while total infections broke the 100,000 mark, making it the third country to surpass that milestone behind the United States and Italy. Spanish health authorities said...
Adapting: The ‘second first day of school’
Editor’s note: Adapting is a regular series spotlighting the ways the global coronavirus pandemic is changing the everyday lives of people in Western Pennsylvania. On Monday, students in many areas across Pennsylvania had their “second first day of school,” in the form of school districts’ online learning plan going into...
NY officials warn ‘the worst’ has yet to come as city, state scramble to contain coronavirusVideo
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Tuesday that New York has likely only seen the tip of the coronavirus iceberg, even as the state’s death toll topped 1,500 and city hospitals scrambled to make room for thousands of new covid-19 patients. In his daily...
White House projects 100K to 240K U.S. deaths from covid-19Video
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Americans to brace for a “rough two-week period” ahead as the White House released new projections that there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained. Public health officials...
Carnegie Museum researchers discover new reptile genus, species
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History might be closed to the public right now, but its staff is still busy with research — including the discovery of a reptile from the Late Paleozoic period that had a crucial role in shifting its species’ diet from eating insects to eating plants....
