Senate Democrat says Republican leader’s plan to resume work puts lives in danger
A U.S. Senate Democrat on Wednesday accused Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of endangering the lives of Senate staff if he brings them back to work next week without effective safeguards against coronavirus infection in place.
What is at stake as the Supreme Court weighs the future of immigrant ‘Dreamers’
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide the legality of President Donald Trump’s decision to end a program offering work permits and deportation relief to immigrant “Dreamers” who came to the United States illegally as children.
CDC reports 1,005,147 coronavirus cases, 57,505 deaths
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday reported 1,005,147 cases of new coronavirus, an increase of 23,901 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 2,247 to 57,505.
U.S. congressional Democrats push for coronavirus medical supply czar
Congressional Democrats on Wednesday proposed a bill that would require a U.S. coronavirus supply czar to oversee critical medical supplies, while the top Senate Republican doubled down on demands for business protections.
Trump administration plans ‘Operation Warp Speed’ to rush coronavirus vaccine: Bloomberg News
The Trump administration is quietly planning a major undertaking to speed the development of a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal to have 100 million doses ready by year’s end, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter…
A scarf a day turns Dr. Birx into pop culture star at COVID-19 daily briefings
U.S. coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx is best-known for her calm, authoritative briefings at the daily White House press conferences. But she has also become a pop culture phenomenon for her scarves.
New York police break up massive crowd at rabbi’s funeral that defied virus shutdown
New York police broke up a massive crowd of ultra-Orthodox Jews who took part in a rabbi’s funeral in defiance of a statewide coronavirus shutdown, and the mayor walked back comments on the gathering that some Jewish leaders called discriminatory.
New York’s Cuomo calls politics ‘hammer into the middle’ of U.S. during pandemic
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday that he was hearing the “music of a campaign season” in Washington’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, warning that partisanship could drive a “hammer into the middle of this country.”
Most Americans cannot or will not use COVID-19 contact tracing apps: poll
More than half of all Americans either do not own smartphones or would not use apps backed by Alphabet Inc’s Google and Apple Inc to trace who has been exposed to the new coronavirus, according to a poll by the Washington Post and University of Marylan…
Florida to unveil plan to ease coronavirus shutdown as data shows U.S. economy shrinks
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday prepared to unveil his plan for easing restrictions on businesses in his state, as data showed the U.S. economy contracted 4.8% in the first quarter due to the shutdowns to fight the coronavirus.
