Pennsylvania

(AP) --- COVID-19 vaccinations are at a critical juncture as companies test whether new approaches like combination shots or nasal drops can keep up with a mutating coronavirus — even though it’s not clear if changes are needed.

Already there’s public confusion about who should get a second booster now and who can wait. There’s also debate about whether pretty much everyone might need an extra dose in the fall.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump endorsed Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s crowded Republican Senate primary, ending months of jockeying for his support.

In a statement Saturday evening, Trump said his decision was “all about winning elections” as he formally backed the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of daytime TV’s “The Dr. Oz Show.”

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Top Democrats are pleading for President Joe Biden to act alone on some of the party’s core legislative priorities, viewing executive action as their best hope of delivering on their promises and energizing liberal voters they worry are going to sit out the elections in November.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The mayor of Pittsburgh has announced plans to sign a declaration of disaster emergency for the city in light of last week’s collapse of a bridge in a city park.

Mayor Ed Gainey said the declaration would increase availability of federal funds and speed cleanup and reconstruction of the Frick Park bridge, improving coordination between the state transportation department and the city.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A 50-year-old bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh early Friday, requiring rescuers to rappel nearly 150 feet (46 meters) and form a human chain to reach occupants of a bus that had plummeted with the span into a park ravine.

The collapse came hours before President Joe Biden was to visit the city to promote his $1 trillion infrastructure law, which has earmarked about $1.6 billion for Pennsylvania bridge maintenance.

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) — Federal investigators pored over the wreckage of a medical helicopter a day after it crash-landed without loss of life next to a church in a residential area of suburban Philadelphia, somehow avoiding a web of power lines and buildings.

Brian Rayner, senior safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters Wednesday investigators hoped to be able to remove the wreckage from the scene at Drexel Hill United Methodist Church in Upper Darby later in the day for more detailed examination off-site.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The vehicle stolen at gunpoint in Philadelphia from U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was found in neighboring Delaware with five suspects inside, who were in police custody Thursday, police said.

Scanlon’s blue Acura MDX was located Wednesday night in Newark, Delaware, about 45 miles (74 kilometers) from Philadelphia, Delaware State Police said.

The suspects were being processed, police said. Their names have not been released, and no other details were available.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Prosecutors asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to reinstate Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction, complaining the verdict was thrown out over a questionable agreement that the comic claimed gave him lifetime immunity.

They said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in June to overturn Cosby’s conviction created a dangerous precedent by giving a press release the legal weight of an immunity agreement.

NEW HOPE, Pa. (AP) — The Democrats of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, felt the red wave building over the summer when frustrated parents filled school board meetings to complain about masking requirements and an academic theory on systemic racism that wasn’t even taught in local schools.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — In an abrupt change, the White House on Wednesday floated new plans to pay for parts of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion social services and climate change package, shelving a proposed big increase in corporate tax rates though also adding a new billionaires’ tax on the investment gains of the very richest Americans.