AP PA Headlines 7/27/20
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A historical panel has advanced plans to remove a 144-year-old statue of Christopher Columbus from south Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Philadelphia Historical Commission voted 10-2 Friday in favor of moving the now-boarded-up statue from Marconi Plaza. The vote clears the way for the city’s art commission to decide its fate at a scheduled Aug. 12 meeting. City crews earlier built a wooden box around the statue following clashes between protesters and residents and the city later announced plans to seek its removal, something some south Philadelphia residents have sued to block.
PITTSBURGH Whatever Pittsburgh did, it seemed to work: The city racked up a fraction of the coronavirus cases in the spring when the other side of Pennsylvania flared up into a hot spot. With a state-mandated masking order in place, Pittsburgh’s gyms, salons, bars and restaurants got permission to reopen in early June. Barely three weeks later, officials in Allegheny County — home to Pittsburgh and 1.2 million residents — raised the alarm over a spike in COVID-19 cases. The culprit? Primarily, officials say, people visiting bars and restaurants or working in them. Thus began a cascade of orders shutting down bars and restaurants in an effort to contain the outbreak.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Many of Pennsylvania’s school districts are about to decide on their local regulations for resuming in-person teaching in the coming academic year. The plans that have already been produced have a lot of variation, which education officials say is by design. Districts must have a board-approved plan posted online before they can resume in-person instruction for the first time since schools closed for the year in March. Administrators who have been planning for months now face the hard decisions as the state’s infection numbers are experiencing a sharp increase.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Black woman who is a former justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has released a sworn affidavit that accuses the court’s chief justice, Thomas Saylor, of complaining to another judge in 2012 about “her minority agenda.” The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported that Cynthia Baldwin released the affidavit publicly Thursday.
Saylor, who is white, denies making the comments. The alleged comment by Saylor came in the context of a disciplinary complaint against Baldwin that ended in her being reprimanded by the court over her work as Penn State’s chief counsel during the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Baldwin says it shows “bias and vindictiveness” in the disciplinary process against her.
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ATLANTA (AP) — Protests took a violent turn in several U.S. cities over the weekend, with demonstrators squaring off against federal agents outside a courthouse in Portland, Oregon, and forcing police in Seattle to retreat into a station house. Vehicles were set ablaze Saturday night or early Sunday in California and Richmond, Virginia. And an armed protester was shot and killed during an anti-police violence protest in Austin, Texas, after police say he approached a car that that had driven through the demonstration and the driver shot him. Authorities say someone was shot and wounded in Aurora, Colorado, after a car drove through a protest there.
QUAKERTOWN, Pa. (AP) — President Donald Trump is trying to win over suburbanites by promising to protect their “beautiful” neighborhoods from the racial unrest that has gripped some U.S. cities this summer. He’s sent federal agents to stem violence in cities, warned of a way of life being “obliterated,” and raised the prospect of falling property values. It’s a strategy with deep roots in presidential politics and some record of success. But even some GOP strategists and Republican voters note it doesn’t account for the rapid demographic changes in the suburbs and may be misreading the top concerns of voters he’s trying to retain.
CHICAGO (AP) — With just 100 days until Election Day, President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden aren’t just attacking one another in online ads. Their ads are also targeting tech companies like Facebook and Twitter. Both candidates have spent thousands of dollars on Facebook ads to criticize the social media platforms for their policies around misinformation and fact-checking false statements made by politicians. This is a new campaign issue in this year’s election, with Trump railing against Twitter after the company fact checked some of his inaccurate tweets about mail-in voting. Meanwhile, Biden has run ads on Facebook criticizing that platform for failing to moderate some of the president’s false Facebook posts.
CINCINNATI (AP) – The Cincinnati-area airport took a child’s beloved stuffed animal for an impromptu tour, reaching many on social media, before uniting the toy Dalmatian with its family in Florida. Staff at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport were sending the toy back to Florida on Friday. Spokesperson Mindy Kershner says the airport’s Facebook posts about the missing plaything reached 1 million people. Airport employees found the toy left behind in the terminal and snapped photos of the lost traveler outfitted in a mask at the airport’s restaurants, on the runway and with a K9 team.
LONDON (AP) — St. Bernards are known for helping to rescue distressed travelers in the mountains, but on Sunday the tables were turned in northern England. Sixteen volunteers from the Wasdale mountain rescue team took turn carrying Daisy, a 121-pound (55 kilogram) St Bernard, from England’s highest peak, Scafell Pike. The mountain rescue team spent nearly five hours rescuing Daisy, who had collapsed while descending the mountain on Friday evening. Rescue workers say she was displaying signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move. They administered some pain relief, adjusted their stretcher to be more dog-friendly and packed a few treats to help settle her down. Daisy is now recovering from her ordeal.
LONDON (CBS) — A student has designed a handheld ‘robotic guide dog’ to help support people with visual impairments who are unable to house a real assistance animal. Loughborough University design engineer Anthony Camu was inspired to develop the device by responsive virtual reality gaming controllers. Dubbed ‘Theia’ — after the Titan goddess of light in Greek mythology — the prototype can replicate the key functions of a real guide dog.
The voice-activated device can program quick and safe routes to given destinations using real-time online data — much like a car’s satnav — and onboard sensors. Force feedback delivered through Theia’s handle then helps direct the user — creating a sensation the designers say is similar to the pull of a guide dog’s leash. If developed, the Theia device could provide people with visual impairments with a mobility solution that is ten times cheaper than keeping a guide dog.
Theia is a portable and concealable handheld device that guides users through outdoor environments and large indoor spaces with very little input. Using a special control moment gyroscope — which are typically found in the attitude control systems of spacecraft — Theia can gently moves users’ hands and physically ‘lead’ them to their desired destination. In addition, the device has been designed to be able to process real-time online data — such as, for example, weather or the traffic density of pedestrians or vehicles — in order to guide users accurately and safely to their destinations.
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