Virtual retreat equips Western Pa. teachers with tools for online education
When the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools across the nation, it wasn’t just students and parents who were tossed headlong into a brand-new challenge. Many teachers, counselors and principals faced the same dilemma. “All of a sudden, we found ourselves having to write game plans and blueprints for something that...
Wolf calls on General Assembly to raise minimum wage in Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday called on lawmakers to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, which has not been increased in 11 years. The state’s minimum wage was set at $7.25 on July 24, 2009, the last time the federal government raised wages. Prior to that, the minimum wage was...
Iconic Philly cheesesteak shop founder, son face tax charges
PHILADELPHIA — The founder of an iconic Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant and one of his sons have been indicted on federal tax evasion and fraud charges for allegedly hiding nearly $8 million in sales over the course of a decade. A spokesperson for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney’s office...
Pennsylvania schools setting in-person teaching rules as pandemic spreads
HARRISBURG — The many Pennsylvania school districts that have not settled on how and when they will restart instruction this fall will be making decisions in the coming weeks, and the pandemic plans that have been produced so far are all over the map. That’s by design, the state education...
U.S. prison populations down 8% amid coronavirus outbreak
RICHMOND, Va. — Stephanie Parris was finishing a two-year prison sentence for a probation violation when she heard she’d be going home three weeks early because of COVID-19. It made her feel bad to leave when she had so few days left at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. She...
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen released from prison again
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer was released Friday after a judge ruled that he had been sent back to prison from home confinement as retaliation for his plan to release a book critical of Trump before November’s election. Michael Cohen walked out of a federal prison...
Pennsylvania reports highest new covid-19 case count in over 2 months
The Pennsylvania Department of Health posted its highest number of new cases of covid-19 in two and a half months on Friday. The day’s report of 1,213 new cases was the highest new daily total since May 10, when 1,295 new cases were counted. The state has amassed a total...
Mandatory masks becoming the rule amid Europe’s virus uptick
ROME — New rules on wearing masks in England came into effect Friday, with people entering shops, banks and supermarkets now required to wear face coverings, while Romania reported a record for daily infections and new cases nearly doubled in France. People in England can be fined as much as...
Let’s go Bucks: Gov. Wolf’s tweet to Pirates wished good luck with gaffe
Gov. Tom Wolf wished the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies good luck for the MLB season. Or at least tried to. Wolf tweeted the message Thursday afternoon, but included the wrong spelling of the Pirates’ nickname, writing “Bucks” instead of Bucs. @GovernorTomWolf That’s a swing and a miss, sir! But...
Medical study is seeking people who may have tick immunity or resistanceVideo
Jason Bobe is looking for a few of what he calls “medical superheroes.” Bobe, an associate professor in the genetics and genome science department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, is part of Mount Sinai’s Resilience Project. It seeks to find people who,...
China tells U.S. to close consulate in Chengdu in growing spat
BEIJING — China ordered the United States on Friday to close its consulate in the western city of Chengdu, ratcheting up a diplomatic conflict at a time when relations have sunk to their lowest level in decades. The move was a response to the Trump administration’s order this week for...
Christopher Columbus statues taken down at 2 Chicago parks
CHICAGO — A statue of Christopher Columbus in downtown Chicago’s Grant Park was taken down early Friday, a week after protesters trying to topple the monument to the Italian explorer clashed with police. Crews used a large crane to remove the statue from its pedestal as a small crowd gathered...
Vietnam bans wildlife imports, markets amid new health fears
HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam announced Friday that it was banning wildlife imports and would close wildlife markets in response to renewed concerns about the threat from diseases that can jump from animals to humans, such as the virus that causes covid-19. An order signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc...
German curator kidnapped in Iraq freed in security operation
BAGHDAD — A German arts curator who was kidnapped earlier this week was freed Friday by Iraqi security forces, security and government officials said. Hella Mewis was freed at 6:25 a.m. local time (11:25 p.m. Thursday) in an operation southeast of the capital Baghdad in which security forces raided a...
Florida Walmart shopper charged with pulling gun during mask dispute
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— A Florida man is facing felony charges for pointing a gun at another Walmart shopper who had told him to wear a mask, officials said Thursday. Vincent Scavetta, 28, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and improper exhibition of a firearm after surrendering Wednesday to...
John Lewis to lie in state at the Capitol next week
WASHINGTON — Rep. John Lewis will lie in state at the Capitol next week, with the public viewing extended over two days and moved outdoors to allow for social distancing and public health precautions because of covid-19, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Thursday. The Georgia...
Florida lawmaker tests positive amid 173 coronavirus deathsVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A second Florida lawmaker said Thursday he has tested positive for the coronavirus as the state reached a new milestone with 173 reported coronavirus deaths and pushed the total number of cases in the state past 389,000. State Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican who represents the...
Judge orders release of Jeffrey Epstein records in Ghislaine Maxwell case
A federal judge in New York on Thursday ordered the unsealing of key documents from a settled civil lawsuit involving Ghislaine Maxwell and victims alleging sex abuse and trafficking by the late Jeffrey Epstein. Senior District Judge Loretta Preska ruled from the bench in a telephonic hearing that the public...
Dearth of blockbusters amid outbreak again delays AMC theater reopenings
With Major League Baseball and the NBA resuming play — albeit with coronavirus testing and safety protocols and without fans in the stands — Americans are getting back a small slice of normalcy and something to occupy their minds other than daily covid-19 case counts. But cases are again spiking...
Pennsylvania’s rate of covid-19 testing among lowest in country, data show
The percentage of Pennsylvanians being tested for covid-19 is among the lowest rates in the country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The Commonwealth came in 47th out of the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with 8,244 tests performed per 100,000 people, the...
Trump calls off Florida segment of GOP National ConventionVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s hopes to salvage a four-night celebration for his reelection campaign have been thwarted by spiking coronavirus cases across the Sun Belt, with the president announcing Thursday that he was calling off the public events of the Republican National Convention scheduled to be held in Florida....
Congress defies Trump veto threat on Confederate base names
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday joined the House in defying a veto threat from President Donald Trump to approve defense legislation that would remove the names of Confederate officers from American military bases such as Fort Bragg and Fort Benning. The Senate approved the annual policy measure, 86-14, a...
Pepcid as a coronavirus remedy? Trump administration’s $21M gamble fizzled
A nearly $21 million government-funded study to see if a popular, over-the-counter heartburn medication could be a covid-19 remedy has fizzled amid allegations of conflicts of interest and scientific misconduct, according to interviews, a whistleblower complaint and internal government records obtained by The Associated Press. In mid-April, the Trump administration...
Lawsuit alleges former Cardinal McCarrick, others abused youth at beach house
A new lawsuit alleges former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and several other clerics sexually abused a teenage boy at a New Jersey beach house in the 1980s. The suit filed this week in state Superior Court in New Jersey claims the youth, who is not named, was first abused...
Gov. Wolf on open records bill he intends to veto: ‘I would have voted for it too’
Gov. Tom Wolf this week said that he would have backed legislation that aims to require his administration to process Right-to-Know Law requests during emergency declarations if he were a lawmaker. Yet the Democrat still plans, later this week, to veto the legislation that lawmakers recently unanimously approved in both...
