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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 7:22 AM
By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pfizer says that its experimental COVID-19 pill appears effective against the omicron variant. The company also confirmed Tuesday that the pill delivered on promising early results in reducing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. The updates come as U.S. regulators are expected to soon decide on whether to authorize Pfizer’s pill and a competing drug from Merck. If authorized, the pills would be the first COVID-19 drugs that Americans could take at home to treat the virus. Pfizer is seeking U.S. authorization for high-risk adults but is also studying the drug in lower-risk adults. The company said the drug missed a key study goal in ongoing testing of those patients.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 7:17 AM
NEW YORK (AP) — Sony says that the ‘Dr. Oz’ syndicated talk show will end next month, with its star Mehmet Oz now a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. It will be replaced in most parts of the country by a hybrid cooking-talk show hosted in part by Oz’s daughter Daphne. Some television stations with viewers in Pennsylvania had already dropped Oz’s show for fear that federal “equal time” rules would compel them to offer space on the air to his political rivals. Daphne Oz’s ‘The Good Dish’ is a spinoff of segments seen on her father’s show, recalling the doctor’s own start as a feature on Oprah Winfrey’s show.

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Tuesday December 14, 2021 at 7:14 AM
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia is the latest large city to require proof of vaccination to dine indoors. City officials announced Monday that vaccination proof will be required starting Jan. 3 for bars, restaurants, indoor sporting events, movie theatres and other places where people eat indoors close to each other. For the first two weeks of the mandate, patrons and employees can show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 24 hours of entry. Employees and children ages 5-11 will also have some extra time to get vaccinated under the policy, with a first dose required by Jan. 3 and full vaccination required by Feb. 3.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 6:50 AM
(Gibsonia, Pa.) The Pa State Police in Gibsonia need the publics help with an incident that occurred on Toll 376 in Big Beaver Borough near mile marker 26 at 4:28 PM on Friday, December 10, 2021.
Troopers are reporting via release that they were dispatched to the scene of a report of two men fighting along the roadway. Upon investigation it was learned that the incident started out as a road rage altercation between two white unnamed males. Both men were driving commercial vehicles and the road rage incident turned physical when both men exited their vehicles and started fist fighting. One of the men then fled the scene in a white tractor trailer prior to Troopers arriving.
Pa State Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact them at the Gibsonia Barracks at 724-443-5907

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:57 AM
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The five-person commission drawing new district lines for Pennsylvania’s General Assembly will hold a voting meeting later this week. A state Senate Democratic spokeswoman says the subject will be preliminary maps for the state House and Senate. The new maps are being drawn with 2020 Census data. The primary election is May 17, and counties want to have maps in place about three weeks before candidates start circulating petitions make it onto the primary ballot. That period begins Feb. 15.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:54 AM
(HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate is advancing legislation to prevent school children from being required to get a COVID-19 vaccination to attend school, although it likely faces a veto by Gov. Tom Wolf. The bill passed on party lines Monday, and goes to the House of Representatives. Neither the state nor any school district in Pennsylvania require the COVID-19 vaccination to attend school. In cases of other infectious diseases, school children in Pennsylvania can invoke medical, religious or philosophical exemptions for immunization requirements. Evidence of immunity is sometimes acceptable. Wolf’s office says there are no plans to require the vaccine and is urging Pennsylvanians to get vaccinated.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:51 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The state House is giving its unanimous approval to a plan to set up a governmental body that will develop a statewide plan for broadband internet funding and expansion into unserved and underserved areas of Pennsylvania. The bill was sent to the Senate after a unanimous vote by the House on Monday. It would set up the independent Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority to act as a central point to coordinate grant money in underserved areas. Pennsylvania is in line for at least $100 million in federal money to expand broadband in the state. The authority that would be set up under the House-passed bill would consist of an 11-member board.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 5:50 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The highest-ranking member of the Pennsylvania Senate says he’s not going seek another term in the chamber in order to focus on his candidacy for the governorship. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman took himself out of the running Monday for another term representing a State College area district. He had previously said that he would run for both the governor’s office and his Senate seat at the same time. The 57-year-old Corman is among a large cohort of Republicans seeking the gubernatorial nomination in the May 17 primary election. Corman was first elected in 1998. Second-term state Attorney General Josh Shapiro is the presumed Democratic nominee.