Photo provided by Gov. Wolf
AP PA Headlines 4/9/20
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) —Pennsylvania emergency management officials will be permitted to commandeer N95 face masks, ventilators and other crucial medical equipment for use in the fight against COVID-19 under an order signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Wolf. The order requires private and public health care facilities, manufacturers and other companies to tabulate their supplies of personal protective gear, drugs and other medical equipment, and provide an inventory to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. PEMA will make the supplies available to areas of the state hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. Several other states, including New York and Minnesota, have issued similar orders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. researchers have opened another safety test of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, this one using a skin-deep shot instead of the usual deeper jab. Inovio Pharmaceuticals launched the small study this week with volunteers in Kansas City, Missouri, and Philadelphia to see if its vaccine candidate is safe enough for crucial larger tests. Kansas City researchers say there’s no shortage of volunteers. It’s the second study underway in the U.S., and multiple potential vaccines are being developed in labs around the world. Experts say it likely will take more than a year for any vaccine to be widely available.
APOLLO, Pa. (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down in western Pennsylvania amid storms that knocked down trees and utility lines, ripped the roofs off a church and brewery and blew away an airport hanger. Forecasters said an EF-1 tornado with maximum winds of up to 100 mph struck early Wednesday near Tarentum in Allegheny County. Storms containing heavy rains, hail, lightning and strong winds hit early Wednesday, tearing roofs off of a church and a brewery in New Kensington and blowing away a hanger at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Officials say Philly Shipyard Inc. has won a major contract to build two training ships for the U.S. Maritime Administration in an award package worth $630 million. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that construction is to start next year, with the first two ships due to be delivered in the spring and winter of 2023. The contract could total $1.5 billion if the federal government opts to purchase three more ships, the Inquirer said. CEO Steinar Nerbovik on Wednesday called it “a major milestone in our strategy to re-position the yard for government and commercial projects.”
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — As officials consider releasing as many as 1,500 inmates to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania prisons, county prosecutors are urging lawmakers to pass legislation so those decisions aren’t left to the governor alone. The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association says it considers “a temporary, legislative solution” to be reasonable.
The corrections secretary told lawmakers that if acceptable legislation doesn’t pass this week, he’ll recommend that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf use reprieves to thin the inmate population. So far, four inmates at the State Correctional Institution-Phoenix outside Philadelphia and 11 corrections employees at scattered sites have confirmed cases of COVID-19.
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Features
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a first, small step toward reopening the country, the Trump administration has issued new guidelines to make it easier for essential workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 get back to work — if they have no symptoms. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says essential employees, such as health care and food supply workers, who had been within 6 feet of a confirmed or suspected case of the coronavirus can return to work under certain circumstances. The CDC recommends taking their temperature before shifts, wearing face masks and practicing social distancing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders has ended his presidential bid, making Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in a general election campaign that will be waged against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders initially exceeded sky-high expectations about his ability to recreate the magic of his 2016 presidential bid, and even overcame a heart attack last October. But he couldn’t convert unwavering support from progressives into a viable path to the nomination. In announcing his decision on Wednesday, Sanders told supporter: “The path toward victory is virtually impossible. If I believed we had a feasible path to the nomination I would certainly continue the campaign, but it’s just not there.”
NEW YORK (AP) — A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Washington Post has written an unauthorized biography of first lady Melania Trump. Mary Jordan’s “The Art of Her Deal” draws upon more than 100 interviews. It comes out June 16. Jordan began working on the book in 2015, well before Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the presidential election. She investigated everything from the first lady’s childhood in Slovenia to her years as a model to her relationship with her husband. Jordan said in a statement that she found Melania Trump far more ambitious politically than is commonly believed.
The coronavirus has shuttered many small businesses that do our work and supply our things. So, millions of people who are trying to stay home are being driven by necessity — or boredom — to relearn some old household skills. That means things like mending clothes and cutting hair and baking bread and fixing a dripping faucet. In difficult times it can be an emotional lift to find you’re more capable around the house than you thought. Demand is up for how-to videos on YouTube and for home-repair and lawn tools. Not to mention baking supplies.
UNDATED (AP) — As the coronavirus tightens its grip across the country, it is cutting a particularly devastating swath through an already vulnerable population — black Americans. Democratic lawmakers and community leaders in cities hard-hit by the pandemic have been sounding the alarm over what they see as a disturbing trend of the virus killing African Americans at a higher rate. There is also a lack of information about the race of victims as the nation’s death toll mounts.
zmong the cities where black residents have been hard-hit: New York, Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago and Milwaukee. “Everywhere we look, the coronavirus is devastating our communities,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP. An Associated Press analysis finds that of the victims whose demographic data was publicly shared by officials — nearly 3,300 of the nation’s 13,000 deaths thus far are black. That’s about 42%. African Americans account for roughly 21% of the total population in the areas covered by the analysis.
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
