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COVID-19

Congress nears deal on COVID-19 relief bill

WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators closed in Wednesday on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that would deliver additional “paycheck protection” subsidies to businesses, $300 per week jobless checks, and $600 or so stimulus payments to most Americans. The long-delayed measure was coming together as Capitol Hill combatants finally fashioned difficult compromises, often at the expense of more ambitious Democratic wishes for the legislation, to complete the second major relief package of the pandemic. It’s the first significant legislative response to the pandemic since ...

Loretto inmate seeks release

The Federal Correctional Institution at Loretto has been ordered to respond this week to a letter sent by the attorney of an inmate requesting home detention because of his client’s “significant health conditions that place him at a greater risk of death from COVID-19.” The letter was sent to the U.S. District Court in Johnstown by attorney Timothy C. Parlatore on behalf of Dr. Atif Malik, who is serving a five-year prison term for fraud. The attorney stated that his letter was to be considered “supplementary information” to papers filed earlier this year by Malik as he ...

Smithfield prison gets new role amid outbreak

The State Correctional Institution at Smithfield in Huntingdon County will become the central reception facility for new inmates, including parole violators reentering the system, as part of a reorganization in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Department of Corrections news release Friday. Smithfield also will become a regional infirmary for male inmates without COVID-19. The coronavirus surge in the state has been reflected in a surge in the corrections system, according to DoC Secretary John Wetzel, as quoted in the news release. The 13-day reorganization will ...

Local counties hit virus case record

The six counties in the region set a record for new coronavirus cases Friday, with 1,118 — 275 higher than the previous record on Dec. 5. Cambria County had the highest number, 305, followed by Centre with 302 and Blair with 210. There were 12,745 new COVID-19 cases statewide, 139 shy of last Saturday’s record, and there was another new high for hospitalizations — 5,877, the seventh consecutive record day for hospitalizations. All six local counties and the state as a whole are far past the thresholds of concern for the two leading indicators of coronavirus activity that are ...

US OKs Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

WASHINGTON — The U.S. gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans. Shots for health workers and nursing home residents are expected to begin in the coming days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of what promises to be a strongly protective vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech. Initial doses are scarce and rationed as the U.S. joins Britain and several other countries in scrambling to vaccinate ...

HASD’s Meals on the Bus go ’round

The Meals on the Bus program through the Hollidaysburg Area School District delivers food to families throughout the borough. The program began Dec. 4 with a trial of 200 meal deliveries, according to a news release from the district. As of Friday, the district delivered 412 meals to ...