Associated Press
AP PA Headlines 5/12/20
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf attacked local elected officials making plans to reopen in defiance of his shutdown orders as cowards deserting the pandemic battlefield, threatening Monday to block aid to rebellious Pennsylvania counties in an escalating political fight over his administration’s handling of the coronavirus.
The normally mild-mannered Democrat fired back after several GOP-controlled counties declared themselves in open rebellion against his stay-at-home orders and shutdown of businesses deemed “non-life-sustaining.” The counties assert they have enough testing, equipment and hospital capacity to manage flareups of a virus that has sickened over 57,000 in Pennsylvania, of whom more than 3,700 have died.
Gov. Wolf said local officials who pronounce their communities open for business are acting selfishly and risking lives, “The politicians who are encouraging the people they were elected to lead to quit the fight are acting in a most cowardly way,” said Wolf, asserting they are “choosing to desert in the face of the enemy.”
Wolf threatened to withhold COVID-19 funding to counties that act unilaterally and “put us all at risk by operating illegally.” Under the federal emergency relief law signed by President Donald Trump in late March, Pennsylvania has about $4 billion in aid that Wolf, for now, has pledged to work with the GOP-controlled Legislature on how to spend.
Republican officials responded sharply Monday to Wolf’s “name-calling” and threats, saying their constituents are suffering economically and desperate to get back to work. They say Wolf has been arbitrary and illogical in deciding what areas of the state to reopen and when, refusing to explain his decision, “You can only govern if the people are willing to be governed, and the governor has clearly lost his crowd,” said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre.
Nearly all of the counties that are planning to reopen are longtime GOP strongholds that voted heavily for Trump in 2016, helping him become the first Republican to capture the key presidential battleground of Pennsylvania since 1988. Trump was planning to visit the state later this week. Trump himself weighed in on the intensifying political fight Monday, tweeting: “The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now, and they are fully aware of what that entails.”
While Wolf still has plenty of Democratic support, Republicans and some business owners have accused him of moving too slowly to restart Pennsylvania’s battered and largely shuttered economy. They also criticize the opaque process by which his administration granted waivers to some businesses to stay open during the shutdown, while denying waivers to others.
The dispute over Wolf’s reopening plan, which has simmered for weeks, finally boiled over Friday when counties began declaring their intent to go their own way and disregard lockdown orders that Wolf first issued in March using his emergency powers. “Governor, we don’t question your motives; however, given all that has unfolded over the past several weeks, we must question your methods,” Lancaster County officials wrote to Wolf. “We have consistently called for a data-driven, collaborative and transparent approach to getting through this crisis. In refusing to do so, you have lost the will of many people to continue on the extremely narrow path you have outlined.”
Along with Lancaster County — one of the state’s most heavily populated — Dauphin, Franklin, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties also indicated they plan to lift pandemic restrictions without Wolf’s blessing beginning this week. Berks is moving in that direction, and Huntingdon said it supports businesses that choose to reopen without state permission. Together, those counties represent more than 1.7 million of Pennsylvania’s 12.8 million residents. Cumberland County, after making noise about reopening over the weekend, “clarified” its position Monday, saying in an open letter to residents: “This move, we are advised, has no legal basis, and would not stand up.”
New infections have been trending down in much of the state after nearly two months of social distancing, and Wolf has been easing restrictions in lightly impacted counties. But frustration among counties that remain locked down is growing amid mounting economic devastation. Around 2 million people have lost their jobs since mid-March, including self-employed and gig workers, and there have been miles-long lines at food and milk giveaways.
York County restaurant owner Themi Sacarellos reopened his two diners Sunday and offered table service — something that is prohibited everywhere in the state right now — saying eight weeks was long enough to be shut down. He said he is taking appropriate precautions, eliminating more than half his tables to promote social distancing, while staff are wearing masks and using special cleaners on tables and seats.
“We don’t believe we’re defying the governor’s orders,” Sacarellos said Monday. “We believe he’s defying the people.” Wolf insisted that now is not the time to ease restrictions in counties that remain virus hot spots. “This is not a time to surrender. This is the time to rededicate ourselves to the task of beating this virus,” he said.
He warned businesses that choose to “follow the whims of local politicians and ignore the law” by reopening that they risk businesses licenses, certificates of occupancy and other required governmental approvals to operate. Companies that ignore the shutdown order could also jeopardize their insurance coverage and put themselves at risk of having their claims denied, said his insurance commissioner, Jessica Altman.
She said many policies have provisions that exclude coverage stemming from “illegal acts or conduct,” and could result in denied claims for property damage, protection from liability and other hazards should a business decide to reopen in violation of Wolf’s order.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s education secretary says he expects students to go back to school in the fall, and the Department of Education will provide information in the coming weeks to prepare teachers and staff to return to school buildings. Education Secretary Pedro Rivera, testifying in a Senate committee hearing Monday, downplayed the notion that students might not return to school buildings in the fall.
The department intends to reopen schools, but keeping students and staff safe might mean changes that involve following state Health Department recommendations, he said. Rivera said he expects to allow school districts to choose from multiple strategies to meet social distancing guidelines.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A notice of execution has been signed for a sniper who killed one Pennsylvania state trooper and wounded another in a nighttime ambush outside their barracks 5 1/2 years ago, although the notice will have no immediate effect due to the governor’s moratorium on executions. Thirty-six-year-old Eric Frein was convicted in the 2014 murder of Cpl. Bryon Dickson II outside the Blooming Grove barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania. Under state law, if the governor doesn’t sign a warrant of execution within a certain time, the secretary of the Department of Corrections has 30 days to issue a notice of execution.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Organ transplants have plummeted as COVID-19 swept through communities. Surgeons are wary of endangering living donors and too often unable to retrieve possibly usable organs from the dead. International researchers reported Monday transplants from deceased donors dropped by about half in the U.S. and 90% in France from late February to early April. Separate U.S. data shows living donations had a similarly staggering decline. Transplants have begun inching back up again in recent weeks as U.S. hospitals determine how to get desperately needed new organs to the thousands waiting for them despite the virus threat.
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Features
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A commission that oversees Michigan’s Capitol has delayed a decision on banning guns from the building before a planned protest against the governor’s coronavirus restrictions. The State Capitol Commission voted to form a panel to seek input from the Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has a ceremonial office in the Statehouse.
The step, criticized by the governor and Democratic lawmakers, came less than two weeks after some lawmakers said they felt intimidated by armed demonstrators who entered the building carrying loaded assault rifles, including in a public gallery overlooking the Senate. Another protest is set for Thursday.
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News is apologizing for a ‘Meet the Press’ segment that cut a portion of an interview with Attorney General William Barr that left a false impression. That has led to President Donald Trump calling for the network to fire the show moderator Chuck Todd. The show was discussing the Justice Department’s decision to drop its case against the president’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and referred to a CBS interview where Barr said of the decision that history is written by the winners. Todd criticized Barr for not making the case that he was upholding the law, but, in fact, Barr went on to do that in his complete answer to the CBS reporter.
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly ended his White House briefing Monday after contentious exchanges with reporters Weijia Jiang of CBC News and Kaitlan Collins of CNN. Jiang had asked the president why he was putting so much emphasis on how much coronavirus testing had been done in the United States, wondering why it was a “global competition.” The president replied that Jiang, who was born in China and raised in West Virginia, should ask China. The president tried to move on, but rejected Collins; he has long had a contentious relationship with CNN. He then ended the news conference and walked away.
FREMONT, Calif. (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter that the company has restarted its California factory, a move that defied local government orders involving measures to contain the coronavirus. In a Monday tweet, Musk said he would be on the assembly line and asked that he be arrested if authorities take anyone into custody. The plant in Fremont employs 10,000 workers and had been closed since March 23. No agency appeared ready to enforce the order against Tesla. The company previously sued the county health department seeking to overturn its order, and Musk threatened to move Tesla’s manufacturing operations and headquarters from the state.
CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities have captured a man who escaped from a Chicago jail by wearing a coronavirus protective mask and pretending to be another detainee who was set for release. The Cook County Sheriff’s Department said Monday that Jahquez Scott was arrested in a Chicago home on Saturday. Scott escaped from the county jail on May 2 after he allegedly promised to pay another detainee who was scheduled to be released that day. When the other detainee’s name was called, the 21-year-old Scott allegedly stepped forward, signed his release paperwork and walked out of jail. The other detainee has been charged with aiding and abetting the escape of a felon.
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) — A Boston police officer used an electronic mating call Monday to help capture a peacock that had escaped from a nearby zoo. The Boston Globe reports the officer lured the curious peacock that had escaped from Franklin Park Zoo into a fenced-in yard while playing a mating call on his cell phone. Zoo officials say the bird was then returned to the zoo and is reported to be doing well. Normally, peacocks at the zoo are free-roaming but officials believe its possible that Snowbank was on a mission to find love during mating season when he made his escape.
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