GOP lawmaker’s positive COVID-19 test cancels voting session
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican lawmaker’s positive test for COVID-19 has prompted legislative leaders to immediately cancel the Pennsylvania House’s voting session. Human resources workers were deployed Thursday to trace Rep. Paul Schemel’s personal contacts to see if others should be quarantined. The Franklin County lawmaker issued a statement saying he began to feel sick on Wednesday and got the positive test result Thursday. He then notified House officials. He was most recently in the Capitol on Tuesday. A significant number of House Republicans have continued to be maskless inside the Capitol.

White House ups bid in last-ditch COVID talks with Congress
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is backing a $400 per week pandemic jobless benefit and is dangling the possibility of a COVID-19 relief bill with a price tag above $1.5 trillion in last-ditch, pre-election negotiations. An offer by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on unemployment benefits is higher than many Republicans would like in any potential COVID deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Significant, possibly unbridgeable hurdles remain. But the talks have generated momentum as the Trump administration presses for an agreement. On Air Force One Wednesday night, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump made an offer that was “extremely generous and certainly above the $1.5 trillion that has been articulated to date.”

High demand for flu shots? Experts hope to avoid ‘twindemic’
By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer
Health officials are urging Americans to seek a flu vaccine this month, hoping to avoid twin epidemics as COVID-19 continues to circulate. Europe is gearing up for flu vaccinations, too. Manufacturers have produced record numbers of doses, with as much as 198 million expected in the U.S. But they’re not all shipped at once, and there are sporadic reports of a drugstore or clinic temporarily out of stock. Vaccine makers say shipments still are coming. And the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions says early demand may be high but don’t get frustrated — keep trying.

Biden, Trump snipe from road and rails after debate chaos
By STEVE PEOPLES, WILL WEISSERT and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden kept up their debate-stage clash from the road and the rails as they competed for working-class voters in the Midwest. Meanwhile, elected officials in both parties — and even the debate commission — dealt with the most chaotic presidential faceoff in memory. The Tuesday night affair raised fresh questions about Trump’s continued reluctance to condemn white supremacy, his efforts to undermine the legitimacy of the election and his unwillingness to respect debate ground rules his campaign had agreed to. The Commission on Presidential Debates promised “additional structure” for future debates “to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”

Former President Jimmy Carter celebrates 96th birthday
By BILL BARROW Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter marks his 96th birthday Thursday, the latest milestone for the longest lived of the 44 men to hold the highest American office. Carter planned to celebrate at his home in Plains, Georgia, with his wife of 74 years, Rosalynn Carter, according to a spokeswoman for the Carter Center in Atlanta. The 39th president, in office from 1977-81, has largely receded from the public eye amid the coronavirus pandemic and his own health challenges due to a series of falls in 2019. He previously survived a dire cancer diagnosis in 2015. Yet Carter remains a quiet force still active in both politics at home and, through his post-presidential center, in public health and human rights advocacy around the world.

US layoffs remain elevated as 837,000 seek jobless aid
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits declined last week to a still-high 837,000, evidence that the economy is struggling to sustain a tentative recovery that began this summer. The Labor Department’s report, released Thursday, suggests that companies are still cutting a historically high number of jobs, though the weekly numbers have become less reliable as states have increased their efforts to root out fraudulent claims and process earlier applications that have piled up. For example, California, which accounts for more than one-quarter of aid applications, simply provided the same figure it submitted the previous week. The state had said it would stop accepting jobless claims online so it could tackle a backlog of 600,000 claims.

PennDOT Extends Expiration Dates on Commercial Driver Licenses, Commercial Learner’s Permits and Hazardous Materials Endorsements (HME)

 The previous version of this release had an incorrect date for the extension on expiration dates for commercial driver licenses and permits. Please note that the correct date is November 29, 2020.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that expiration dates for commercial driver licenses and commercial learner’s permits will be extended for Pennsylvania residents in response to statewide COVID-19 mitigation efforts.

Effective September 30, the following products’ expiration dates will be extended:

• The expiration date for a commercial learner’s permit scheduled to expire from March 16, 2020, through November 29, 2020, is extended through November 29, 2020.
• The expiration date for commercial driver licenses scheduled to expire from March 16, 2020, through November 29, 2020, is extended through November 29, 2020.
• The expiration date of a Hazardous Materials Endorsement (HME) for an individual who is a Pennsylvania-licensed commercial driver’s license holder and who held a valid, unexpired HME with a determination of no security threat on or after March 6, 2020, is extended until October 29, 2020.

Expiration extension deadlines on non-commercial driver license, photo identification cards, learner’s permits and camera cards expired on August 31.

For a list of open driver license and photo license centers and the services provided, as well as their hours of operation, please visit www.dmv.pa.gov.

Customers may continue to complete various transactions and access multiple resources online at www.dmv.pa.gov. Driver and vehicle online services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and include driver’s license, photo ID and vehicle registration renewals; driver-history services; changes of address; driver license and vehicle registration restoration letters; ability to pay driver license or vehicle insurance restoration fee; driver license and photo ID duplicates; and schedule a driver’s exam. There are no additional fees for using online services.

PennDOT will continue to evaluate these processes and will communicate any changes with the public.

Additional COVID-19 information is available at www.health.pa.gov. For more information, visit www.dmv.pa.gov or www.PennDOT.gov.