Pa. residents 65 and older eligible for covid vaccine but most providers don’t have supply
Pennsylvania will prioritize people 65 and older and others with certain conditions for covid-19 vaccination, though many providers say the supply of vaccine is so low they cannot begin vaccinating any more groups. Cindy Findley, deputy secretary of Health and head of the state’s covid-19 vaccine task force, said Tuesday...
Oklahoma judge orders ‘Tiger King’ zoo to turn over big cats
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A federal judge in Oklahoma has ordered the new owners of an Oklahoma zoo featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King” documentary to turn over all the lion and tiger cubs in their possession, along with the animals’ mothers, to the federal government. U.S. District Judge John F. Heil...
Janet Yellen pushes GOP senators on $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package
Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice as Treasury secretary, said Tuesday that the incoming administration would focus on winning quick passage of its $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan, rejecting Republican arguments that the measure is too big given the size of U.S. budget deficits. “More must be done,” Yellen told...
McConnell: Trump ‘provoked’ Capitol siege, mob ‘fed lies’
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly placed blame on President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying the mob was “fed lies” and that the president and others “provoked” those intent on overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s election. McConnell’s remarks as he opened the Senate were...
Pa. reports 77 covid deaths, 5,341 cases
Pennsylvania reported 5,341 additional covid-18 cases and 77 deaths Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. The state now has 777,186 total covid cases and 19,467 total deaths. In January thus far, there have been 136,861 cases and 3,489 deaths reported. Tuesday’s case count is the second lowest in...
12 National Guard members removed from Biden inauguration for ties to fringe groups
Twelve U.S. Army National Guard members have been removed from the presidential inauguration security mission after they were found to have ties with right-wing militia groups or posted extremist views online, according to two U.S. officials. There was no threat to President-elect Joe Biden, they said. The officials, a senior...
EU commission urges member states to speed up vaccination
BRUSSELS — The European Union is urging member states to speed up the pace of covid-19 vaccinations to ensure that at least 80% of the most vulnerable people to the virus — those over age 80 — are vaccinated by March. In nonbinding recommendations published Tuesday, the European Commission also...
Mega Millions jackpot now $865M; Powerball up to $730M
DES MOINES, Iowa — Lottery players will have another shot Tuesday night at the third-largest jackpot in U.S. history. The Mega Millions top prize climbed to an estimated $865 million, the biggest jackpot in more than two years. Powerball, the other lottery game offered in most of the U.S., isn’t...
Biden to attend Mass with congressional leaders
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden will strike a unity theme before his inauguration as president Wednesday by worshipping with Congress’ top Republican and Democratic leaders. The Democratic president-elect has talked throughout the campaign and the post-election period about his goal of uniting a sharply divided country. Biden’s incoming chief of...
Massive car pileup on Japan highway kills 1, injures 17
TOKYO — One person was killed and at least 17 injured Tuesday in a massive pileup of at least 134 vehicles in blizzard conditions on a highway in northern Japan, officials said. About 200 people were stranded in the pileup, which forced the closure of the Tohoku Expressway in Miyagi...
Heavy metal guitarist photographed at Capitol riot charged
INDIANAPOLIS — A heavy metal guitarist who was photographed with the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol and is accused of spraying police officers with a pepper-based bear spray irritant has been arrested, the FBI said. Jon Ryan Schaffer turned himself in Sunday after he was featured on an FBI...
Poll: Virus, economy swamp other priorities for U.S.
WASHINGTON — Containing the coronavirus outbreak and repairing the economic damage it has inflicted are the top priorities for Americans as Joe Biden prepares to become the 46th president of the United States, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Overall, 53% of...
Panel: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic
GENEVA — A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. In a report issued to the...
Meghan seeks court ruling over ‘serious breach’ of privacy
LONDON — Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex asked a British judge on Tuesday to settle her lawsuit against a newspaper before it goes to trial by ruling that its publication of a “deeply personal” letter to her estranged father was “a plain and a serious breach of her rights...
Biden picks Pa.’s Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant health secretaryVideo
President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, as his administration’s assistant secretary of health. The move is being championed by civil rights organizations as it would make her the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Biden, in announcing the...
At least 4 hurt in string of shootings in Poconos area; shelter order issuedVideo
MOUNT POCONO — At least four people were injured Monday in a string of shootings that prompted a shelter-in-place order for some residents north of Mount Pocono, authorities said. Mount Pocono Borough Mayor Michael Penn posted on Facebook that there were four or five crime scenes Monday night and “multiple...
Biden won’t end pandemic travel restrictions
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming White House press secretary says his administration does not intend to lift coronavirus travel restrictions for Europe, the U.K., Ireland and Brazil. The message from Jen Psaki came Monday evening after the White House said President Donald Trump had lifted the restrictions for those...
Trump reportedly set to pardon more than 100 people in his final hours as presidentVideo
With just hours left in office, President Donald Trump is expected to dish out pardons and sentence commutations to a varied group of more than 100 criminals, pardons that could include himself and his family members, according to several reports Monday. Trump, whose term ends at noon Wednesday, spent his...
Texas man threatened to shoot family if they reported him going in U.S. Capitol, FBI saysVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas man arrested over the weekend for going inside of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 told his family he went there “to protect the country” and threatened to shoot his children if they turned him in, authorities say. Guy Reffitt took his gun with...
Sister had respect of peers as she guided Catholic schools in Greensburg diocese
Sister Marguerite Moya Coyne, who served as the superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg from 1998 to 2003, was known for her love of children and education, her friends and co-workers said. “She was a stellar woman and one of the best persons I’ve ever worked with,”...
Proposed National Garden of American Heroes would include Clemente, Carnegie, more
President Donald Trump on Monday issued an amended executive order that added more than 200 people to be honored with statues in the National Garden of American Heroes. And there just might be enough for a Western Pennsylvania section: • 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks, who later served...
Carl Icahn nixes charity bid to blow up ex-Trump casino
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — An auction house trying to raise money for a youth charity by soliciting bids to blow up a former casino once owned by President Donald Trump called off the effort Monday after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from conservative billionaire Carl Icahn. Icahn told The Associated Press...
Chinese city reports coronavirus found on ice cream
BEIJING — The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch, according to the government. The Daqiaodao Food Co., Ltd. in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government...
Feds: West Virginia woman said U.S. Capitol raid ‘was cool’
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia woman took a “Members Only” sign near the Senate chambers as she accompanied supporters of President Donald Trump in illegally storming the U.S. Capitol, according to federal court documents. Gracyn Dawn Courtright, 23, was charged in a criminal complaint with theft of government property...
Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham to resign amid criticism over data
Facing criticism over efforts to produce citizenship data to comply with an order from President Donald Trump, U.S. Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham said Monday that he planned to resign with the change in presidential administrations. Dillingham said in a statement that he would resign on Wednesday, the day Trump...
