The 1,000-Bed Comfort Was Supposed to Aid New York.  It Has 3 Patients.  —  “It's a joke,” said a top hospital executive, whose facilities are packed with coronavirus patients.  —  Such were the expectations for the Navy hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort that when it chugged into New York Harbor this week …

Navy expected to relieve captain who raised alarm about COVID-19 outbreak on aircraft carrier  —  The United States Navy is expected to relieve the captain who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.  —  The Navy is expected to announce it has relieved …

Trump's Company Seeks Financial Help as Coronavirus Takes Toll  —  As companies nationwide look for relief, the Trump Organization has talked with Deutsche Bank and a Florida county about delaying payments on some loans and other obligations.  —  All over the country, businesses large …

Jared Kushner Is Going to Get Us All Killed  —  Trump's son-in-law has no business running the coronavirus response.  —  Reporting on the White House's herky-jerky coronavirus response, Vanity Fair's Gabriel Sherman has a quotation from Jared Kushner that should make all Americans, and particularly all New Yorkers, dizzy with terror.

What Everyone's Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage  —  It isn't really about hoarding.  And there isn't an easy fix.  —  round the world, in countries afflicted with the coronavirus, stores are sold out of toilet paper.  There have been shortages in Hong Kong, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Inside the National Security Council, a rising sense of dread  —  On the second day in January, as a mysterious pathogen was infecting its way across China, Dr. Robert Redfield contacted the National Security Council.  —  The U.S. government had unconfirmed information about what they believed …

Experts and Trump's advisers doubt White House's 240,000 coronavirus deaths estimate  —  Inside the White House's effort to create an projected death toll.  —  Leading disease forecasters, whose research the White House used to conclude 100,000 to 240,000 people will die nationwide from the coronavirus …

Some Americans could wait 20 weeks to receive stimulus checks, IRS tells House Democrats  —  Washington (CNN)Americans likely won't begin to see direct payments from the coronavirus stimulus bill until at least April 13 and it could take 20 weeks for all the checks to be mailed …

Mark Meadows considers new White House press secretary  —  White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has privately discussed bringing on Pentagon spokeswoman Alyssa Farah or Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany as a new White House press secretary, two sources familiar with the talks tell Axios.

Leaked Amazon Memo Details Plan to Smear Fired Warehouse Organizer: 'He's Not Smart or Articulate'  —  Leaked notes from an internal meeting of Amazon leadership obtained by VICE News reveal company executives discussed a plan to smear fired warehouse employee Christian Smalls, calling him …

President's Campaign Calls Sessions ‘Delusional’ for Tying Himself to Trump  —  In an unusual letter, President Trump's campaign said that Jeff Sessions, who is running to reclaim his Senate seat in Alabama, was misleading the public.  —  President Trump's campaign is demanding that Jeff Sessions …

Ron DeSantis quietly signed second executive order targeting local coronavirus restrictions  —  The order says the statewide stay-at-home order ‘shall supersede any conflicting official action or order issued by local officials.’  —  Hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay …

Wisconsin Democrats apoplectic over governor's handling of Tuesday primary  —  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers' refusal to push for a delay of his state's Tuesday primary has infuriated fellow Democrats in the state, who are now openly accusing him of failing to prevent an impending train wreck.

Trump Has Broken the Republican Party—and Conservatism—for Good  —  There is no going back.  —  A brief history refresher course: How did Harry Truman become president of the United States?  —  Well, he succeeded to the office when President Roosevelt died in April 1945, a month after having been sworn in for his fourth term.

Banks warn of ‘utter chaos’ in new small business lending program  —  The program is supposed to begin at midnight, but banks say there is so little guidance from the Trump administration that they may not be able to lend.  —  Millions of small businesses are anxiously awaiting their slices …

CNN: Fauci advises all states issue stay-at-home orders  —  Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci recommended on Thursday that all states across the U.S. implement stay-at-home orders, at a CNN town hall.  —  Why it matters: The recommendation stands …

Alarm, Denial, Blame: The Pro-Trump Media's Coronavirus Distortion  —  Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing commentators turned a pandemic into a battle of us vs. them — the kind of battle President Trump has waged for much of his life.  —  On Feb. 27, two days after the first reported case …

Commander of confusion: Trump sows uncertainty and seeks to cast blame in coronavirus crisis  —  In the three weeks since declaring the novel coronavirus outbreak a national emergency, President Trump has delivered a dizzying array of rhetorical contortions, sowed confusion and repeatedly sought to cast blame on others.

Where America Didn't Stay Home Even as the Virus Spread  —  Where people were still traveling last week  —  Stay-at-home orders have nearly halted travel for most Americans, but people in Florida, the Southeast and other places that waited to enact such orders have continued to travel widely …

What's the Deal With Andrew Cuomo's Nipples?  An Investigation  —  By now you have probably seen them.  Framed by arms, half-bare, resting on the table.  A few inches below THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK: PERFORMANCE — INTEGRITY — PRIDE — I WORK FOR THE PEOPLE.

The FDA Is Making It Much, Much Harder for Distilleries To Produce Hand Sanitizer  —  In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitizer has become an incredibly scarce resource.  It's practically impossible to find any at a grocery or drug store, or to order it online.

In Desperation, New York State Pays Up to 15 Times the Normal Prices for Medical Equipment  —  State data shows that New York is paying enormous markups for vital supplies, including almost $250,000 for an X-ray machine.  Laws against price gouging usually don't apply.

Updating CBO's Economic Forecast to Account for the Pandemic  —  CBO expects that the economy will contract sharply during the second quarter of 2020 as a result of the continued disruption of commerce stemming from the spread of the novel coronavirus.  The following are CBO's very preliminary estimates …

Trump administration ended pandemic early-warning program to detect coronaviruses  —  Two months before the novel coronavirus probably began spreading in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration ended a $200-million pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China …