Category: News

The US State Department has lifted its international travel advisory advising Americans against travelling during the coronavirus pandemic, stating it would now look at countries on a case-to-case basis.

In March, the department first implemented an international travel advisory as the coronavirus ravaged through parts of Europe and China. It was then announced in a statement on Thursday that the department would lift the advisory – which has remained at the highest alert level as a level 4 since 19 March – in collaboration with the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the Department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice … in order to give travellers detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions,” the release said.

The US State Department has lifted its international travel advisory advising Americans against travelling during the coronavirus pandemic, stating it would now look at countries on a case-to-case basis

Source: US State Department lifts international travel warning for Americans

A 77-year-old prison escapee who had been on the run for nearly half a century was captured this week in New Mexico, the FBI said.

The retired police officer who Luis Archuleta was convicted of shooting in the stomach in 1971 said Thursday he tracked down Archuleta after receiving a telephone tip this summer.

“I’m reveling in the fact that I got him,” former Denver police Officer Daril Cinquanta told NBC affiliate KUSA in Denver

Cinquanta said he passed his tip along to the FBI. With the help of Española, New Mexico, police and a SWAT team, Archuleta was captured at home Wednesday. The station reported Archuleta was living with a wife who was not aware of his criminal past.”Mr. Archuleta will at long last be held accountable for his actions,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a statement.Archuleta, also known as Larry Pusateri, was convicted in 1973 of shooting Cinquanta, according to the FBI. He escaped from a Colorado state prison facility the next year, the bureau said.In 1977, he was named as a federal fugitive.

Cinquanta retired from the force, but he continued to hunt for the fugitive as he set up his a private investigation firm, he said. This summer he got a key phone call.

“This person says, ‘I thought about it, and I’m going to tell where the guy is that shot you,'” the former officer said. “Of course I was skeptical. This person gives me his address his alias and other facts.”

Source: After nearly 50 years on the run, 77-year-old prison escapee captured in New Mexico

Investigators probing the devastating blast in Beirut that killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000 more are pointing to a Russian ship docked in the city’s port for nearly 7 years without appropriate security precautions that officials warned was “a floating bomb.”

Source: Beirut explosion linked to Russian ship storing ammonium nitrate left in port, called ‘floating bomb’ | Fox News

With 90 days until the 2020 Presidential Election, Pittsburgh has become a focus for both presidential campaigns.

Source: Presidential campaigns pouring cash into Pittsburgh, and more money is coming

In what’s being called a restaurant revolution, restaurant owners are standing together to get the attention of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf as they struggle to stay afloat amid COVID-19 restrictions.

Source: Restaurant owners stand together, demand Gov. Wolf lift some restrictions

“A single non-fatal adverse event” possibly tied to super-potent hormone in medications reported in U.S., FDA says.

Source: Certain nasal sprays recalled due to risks including seizure and death – CBS News

Pittsburgh Public Schools are recommending the postponement of fall sports throughout the city’s school district — including football, cheerleading, soccer, girls’ tennis and volleyball, cross country, golf and field hockey.

Source: Pittsburgh Public Schools recommend postponing all fall sports

People who’ve had coronaviruses that cause common colds may have a head start in mounting a defense against the new coronavirus.

• In our immune systems, T cells identify infected cells, kill them, and tell B cells how to create new antibodies.
• Some research has found that people who’ve never had the new coronavirus still have T cells that can identify and react to it.
• That may be because those people were previously exposed to other coronaviruses — those that cause common colds — and their T cells remember.
• That preexisting immunological memory may help explain why some people’s COVID-19 cases remain so mild.

Source: Coronavirus: People may have preexisting immune memory thanks to colds – Business Insider

In the middle of a February night last year, Vivian Bey heard what she thought was a car crashing into her home on Kelly Street in Homewood. It set off her security alarm, which alerted her daughter several blocks away.

The now 82-year-old library clerk got up from bed in full-body tremble. She approached her staircase to see police officers coming up the stairs with guns drawn.

“They screamed and hollered, ‘Put your hands up,’” she said.

She put her hands up.

More than a year later, Ms. Bey’s shock is still visible, even with a mask on.

“I still don’t sleep at night,” she said Monday during an interview in her home. “I sleep during the day.”

Source: Pittsburgh police bashed in her door by mistake, and she got stuck with the bill | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette