COVID rising, election questioned

Like the rest of the country, COVID-19 is back on the rise in Pennsylvania. The commonwealth saw its largest ever increase in new cases between last Wednesday and Thursday, with a record 5,488 additional positive test results. Amid these high rates of COVID-19 infection, Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine said that officials are keeping a close eye on 52 counties, including several from Northeast Pennsylvania. Monroe, Pike and Luzerne counties were all named for having infection rates of 5 percent or higher this week.

Last Thursday, Gov. Tom Wolf extended his opioid disaster declaration for the twelfth time since first declaring it in January of 2018. Some state lawmakers, like Rep. Mike Peifer, who represents Wayne and Pike counties, have been critical of the governor’s extended use of emergency declarations, doubting their effectiveness after so long. But Wolf maintains that the declarations allow the state to loosen regulations and work outside of typical procedures to expedite aid.

And Republicans in the Pennsylvania state house are casting doubt on the commonwealth’s election results. GOP leaders have called for a complete audit of the election, alleging that decisions made by the PA Supreme Court and Department of State injected chaos into the process. On Tuesday, they promised a bipartisan investigative committee with subpoena power to conduct hearings on the election.

Looking for missing woman

The FBI is asking for local residents’ help in finding a woman missing since 2017. Shaniece Harris was last seen on May 29, 2017 in Rock Hill and was known to frequent parts of Middletown and Monticello. Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to call the FBI at 212/384-1000. They could receive a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Voters in Sullivan County will now be waiting even longer before learning which candidates won which races. Incumbent Democrat Sen. Jen Metzger currently trails behind her opponent Mike Martucci by a little more than 10,000 votes. But there are still around 25,000 absentee ballots to be opened. Sullivan County was scheduled to begin opening them on Tuesday, November 10th, but due to a petition from Martucci for absentee ballots to be impounded, counting has been delayed until November 16. 

In Loch Sheldrake, a nursing student at SUNY has tested positive for COVID-19 at an off-campus facility. The college said that it is working with the Sullivan County Public Health Department to undertake contact tracing. One staff member and four other nursing students are known to have been in contact with this individual, and they are being tested off campus and are quarantining at home.