PNC to buy US unit of Spain’s BBVA bank for $11.6 billion
NEW YORK (AP) — PNC Financial Services Group says it is buying the U.S. subsidiary of Spain’s BBVA bank for $11.6 billion in cash. BBVA’s U.S. operations are based in Houston, Texas. They have $104 billion in assets and operate 637 branches, mainly in the south and southwest of the country. PNC is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is largely a regional bank. The deal would give it a presence across the U.S. Shares in BBVA jumped more than 15% in Madrid on Monday. Those in PNC were up 1.8% in premarket trading.

Keystone State News Connection

November 16, 2020

Andrea Sears

HARRISBURG, Pa. — This is American Education Week and even with the disruptions of a national health crisis, educators say there is plenty to celebrate.

School closures, remote learning and fears of spreading the coronavirus have presented teachers, parents and students with a unique set of challenges this year.

Joe Welch, an eighth-grade American History teacher and Pennsylvania’s Teacher of the Year, said American Education Week is an opportunity to recognize that, despite those difficulties, teachers across the Commonwealth are finding new ways to make education work.

“We still have really great things happening in our schools,” Welch stressed. “We’re getting creative, we’re thinking outside the box, and we’re really thinking about how we can still connect with students and still provide them with a great education.”

He emphasized the pandemic should make tackling the unequal resources available to school districts in Pennsylvania a top priority.

Welch noted the innovative approaches teachers are using this year include collaborating with a local public television station to produce educational videos, and “virtual instruction days” with teachers conducting live classes from historical sites.

“We travelled to Washington, DC to teach live from the national memorials there,” Welch explained. “When we were learning about the French and Indian Wars, we taught direct from Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.”

He added in the classroom he’s used wooden cutouts of historical figures at the empty desks required by social distancing to spark conversations about their impact on history.

It is difficult to know just how the disruptions of the pandemic will affect educational outcomes, but Welch observed there are signs the innovative techniques teachers have developed are working.

“If I have a class of 25 students and I see all 25 there early, on-time in a virtual format, I think that’s evidence that they’re engaged, that I am making a difference and my colleagues are making a difference,” Welch concluded.

A schedule of events during American Education Week is available online at psea.org/americaneducationweek.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are broadly higher on Wall Street, keeping the market on track for its second weekly gain in a row. The S&P 500 index rose 0.8% in the early going, bringing its gain for the month so far to just over 9%. Technology stocks are leading the way once again. Cisco, which makes networking gear, and Applied Materials, which makes semiconductor equipment, both rose sharply after reporting results that beat analysts’ forecasts. Disney also rose after reporting that its newly launched streaming service, Disney Plus, now has 73.7 million subscribers, surpassing estimates. Treasury yields rose.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose moderately in October as food costs jumped by the largest amount in five months. The Labor Department says its producer price index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach the consumer, increased 0.3% last month, slightly lower than the 0.4% gain in September. Food costs rose 2.4%, the biggest increase since a 5.6% surge in May that was tied to shortages caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The report on wholesale prices follows a report yesterday that retail prices showed no change in October and consumer inflation has risen just 1.2% over the past 12 months.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Group of 20 nations, representing the world’s biggest economies, says that low-income countries hardest hit by the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic could potentially get an extension on their debt payments beyond mid-2021, and in the most severe cases, be considered for a write-off. The statement was released today after a virtual gathering of the group’s finance ministers and central bank governors. It declared that the countries had agreed on a common framework for debt restructuring that aims to treat creditors equally. A month ago, the G-20 agreed to suspend $14 billion in debt payments for an additional six months to support 73 of the world’s neediest countries.

BOSTON (AP) — Microsoft says state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers have in recent months tried to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and COVID-19 vaccine researchers. It says in a blog post that most of the attacks were unsuccessful but provided no information on those that did succeed. Microsoft says most of the targets were in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the U.S. It is not naming them, but says most were vaccine developers in various stages of clinical trials. In July, the U.S. government said Chinese state-backed hackers were also targeting vaccine-makers.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish regulators have fined Google more than $25 million for allegedly abusing its market dominance in online searches. The Competition Authority says Google and its parent company Alphabet have made it difficult for companies to show up in searches if they did not generate advertisement revenue for Google. The Turkish authority said Google would have to take remedial measures within six months. It will have to present compliance measures and annual reports for five years.

(Monaca, Pa.)  Someone who bought a Millionaire’s Club $20  Pa Lottery Scratch ticket  at Monaca Wal-mart is celebrating the fact that they won one of the top prizes of the One Million Dollars. The winner has one year from the end of the game to claim their prize. There is no word on whether the winner has claimed the prize.  Wal-mart gets a bonus of $5,000.00 for selling the ticket.

Microsoft: Russian, North Korean hackers target vaccine work
By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer
BOSTON (AP) — Microsoft says state-backed Russian and North Korean hackers have in recent months tried to steal valuable data from leading pharmaceutical companies and COVID-19 vaccine researchers. It says in a blog post that most of the attacks were unsuccessful but provided no information on those that did succeed. Microsoft says most of the targets were in Canada, France, India, South Korea and the U.S. It is not naming them, but says most were vaccine developers in various stages of clinical trials. In July, the U.S. government said Chinese state-backed hackers were also targeting vaccine-makers.

AC/DC is back and fighting off the black with new album
By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Through decades, deaths and disasters, AC/DC keeps thundering on. After 47 years, the band is releasing its 17th studio album, “Power Up,” on Friday. It’s their first in six years and first since the death of founding member Malcolm Young. But Malcolm’s spirit and songs are all over the album. His younger brother, the band’s legendary school-uniform-wearing guitarist Angus Young, chose only unused songs he and his brother had written together in the band’s earlier decades for the album. Angus Young told The Associated Press in an interview that he concentrated on the ones he knew were his brother’s favorites.

Top officials: Nov. 3 election most secure in US history
By ERIC TUCKER and FRANK BAJAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of federal and state officials say they have no evidence that votes were compromised or altered in last week’s presidential election, rejecting unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud advanced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters. The statement from cybersecurity experts, which trumpets the Nov. 3 election as the most secure in American history, amounts to the most direct repudiation to date of Trump’s efforts to undermine the integrity of the contest. It echoes repeated assertions by election experts and state officials that the election unfolded smoothly without broad irregularities.