AP PA Headlines
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvanians are closer to being able to get marijuana to help treat their medical conditions as the state is launching its patient and caregiver registry. The Health Department announced Wednesday that a pilot program was successful and the agency is accepting applications to participate in the system. It’s expected to be up and running within six months. Locally, Dr. Ahmad Wardeh and Dr. Richard Huskey are approved, they are from Shamokin and Williamsport.
A 2016 state law gives people under a doctor’s care access to medical marijuana if they suffer from an illness on a list of 17 qualifying conditions. The law permits pills, oils, vapor or liquid marijuana but not marijuana in plant form. Doctors must certify the illness and patients must obtain an identification card from the Health Department. Qualifying conditions include AIDS, autism, cancer, chronic pain and Crohn’s disease.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican leaders in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly want the U.S. Supreme Court to put on ice a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s congressional districts approved after the 2010 census. House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati asked Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday for a stay of the lawsuit by five Pennsylvania voters against the governor and elections officials.
The request says trial in the case could occur in about a month, as the justices are considering a Wisconsin gerrymandering case with what they call “substantively identical claims.” Turzai and Scarnati say that decision could render the Pennsylvania lawsuit moot, or narrow its issues. The lawsuit claims state maps unfairly give Republicans an electoral advantage. A plaintiffs’ lawyer says they oppose the request and are developing a response.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former police chief convicted of illegally accessing emails for information about a grand jury investigation of his then-boss, former state Attorney General Kathleen Kane, is on his way to jail. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal of Patrick “Rocco” Reese, who’s been convicted of indirect criminal contempt.
Reese’s lawyer says he’s disappointed in the decision, but Reese doesn’t plan to pursue further appeals. He argues Reese wasn’t properly informed of a protective order. Reese is due to report to jail Nov. 13 to start serving a three- to six-month sentence. Kane, a Democrat, was convicted last year of leaking secret grand jury information to smear a rival and then lying about it under oath. She’s free on bail while she appeals.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Cash is already rolling into Pennsylvania’s coffers as a result of a sprawling, two-day-old gambling expansion law. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said Wednesday that Valley Forge Casino Resort has paid a $1 million fee to allow gambling by people who aren’t taking part in other amenities there.
The provision allowed the payment by the state’s two licensed resort casinos to be relieved of requirements in the original 2004 casino law that gamblers also must take part in other amenities at an establishment or be guests there. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill on Monday, and the effect is immediate. Valley Forge Casino says on its website it’s open to the public at no cost.
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Features
WASHINGTON (AP) — A trove of Facebook ads made public Wednesday by Congress depicts Russia’s extraordinary cyber intrusion into American life in 2016 aimed at upending the nation’s democratic debate and fomenting discord over such disparate issues as immigration, gun control and politics. The ads, seen by vast numbers of people, encouraged street demonstrations against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and fostered support and opposition to Bernie Sanders, Muslims, gays, blacks and the icons of the Civil Rights movement. The few dozen ads, a small sampling of the roughly 3,000 Russia-connected ones that Facebook has identified and turned over to Congress, were released amid two consecutive days of tough and sometimes caustic questioning by House and Senate lawmakers about why social media giants hadn’t done more to combat Russian interference on their sites.
LONDON (AP) — A British town plans to burn a 36-foot (11-meter) effigy of Harvey Weinstein at its annual Bonfire Night celebrations. Each year the Edenbridge Bonfire Society chooses a well-known figure to go up in flames alongside an effigy of 17th-century militant Guy Fawkes. The society says the movie mogul was the obvious choice after many women made allegations of sexual harassment and assault against him. The effigy unveiled Wednesday appears in a bathrobe, holding a Hollywood star and a clapperboard with “final cut” on it. It will be burned Saturday in the southern England town. The society stressed while the event is light-hearted, there’s “nothing funny” about the allegations. Towns across Britain light bonfires and fireworks to commemorate Guy Fawkes’ failed Nov. 5 Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605.
WASHINGTON (AP) — What a lot of people thought were ads on Facebook last year was part of a huge effort by Russia to shape the minds and hearts of Americans — by blasting out information about hot-button issues to pit U.S. citizens against each other. Facebook has released a sampling of the 3,000 or so ads that Russian-connected sites churned out through cyberspace into our online news feeds. The ads urged street marches for and against candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. They also looked to stir up controversy over issues like immigration, gay rights, gun control and civil rights.
CYBERSPACE (AP) — Carlos Correa will probably be one of those rare husbands who, without hesitation, will be able to remember the exact date he got engaged. At that same time, that shouldn’t earn him any brownie points — since most Houston Astros fans will also remember, too. The Astros’ shortstop used a postgame interview last night to propose to his girlfriend — live on national TV shortly after his team won the franchise’s first-ever World Series title. His new and very much surprised finance, Daniella Rodriguez, sobbed and hugged after Correa popped the question. Between the cheering of family and friends, Correa could be heard asking at least twice if Rodriguez had accepted the proposal before he put the huge “rock” on her finger.
BOSTON (AP) – Days before most of us “fall back,” a special commission in Massachusetts has recommended against switching to year-round daylight saving time. Daylight saving time ends Sunday, when clocks will be set back an hour in all but two U.S. states, Arizona and Hawaii. The panel spent months studying a possible shift from the Eastern to the Atlantic time zone, which would effectively result in 12 months of daylight saving time. But the commission said in its final report that such a change could be beneficial “under certain circumstances” — most notably, a majority of other Northeast states would also have to adopt the same new time zone. That hasn’t happened.
GENEVA (AP) – A runaway 7-year-old girl slipped through security checks at Geneva’s airport and got onto a plane without a ticket before a crew member spotted her and handed her over to police. Swiss authorities say it was an “eminently regrettable” incident that could have ended badly. The girl initially slipped away from her parents at Geneva’s main railway station and traveled by train to the small airport on the French border. Officials say she “took advantage of her small size” and employed a “ruse” to make it look like she was traveling with adults ahead or behind her. They say she got onboard by slipping through a gap only large enough for a small child.
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