Trump fires intelligence community watchdog who defied him on whistleblower complaint  —  President Donald Trump has fired the intelligence community's chief watchdog, Michael Atkinson, who was the first to sound the alarm to Congress last September about an “urgent” complaint he received …

CNN's Acosta Interrupts Dr Birx As She Discusses The WHO's Handling Of Coronavirus Pandemic  —  CNN reporter Jim Acosta interrupted Dr. Deborah Birx on Friday as the White House coronavirus task force coordinator was discussing the World Health Organization's handling of the pandemic.

Fact check: Did the Obama administration deplete the federal stockpile of N95 masks?  —  The claim: The Obama administration used and did not replenish the nation's emergency stockpile of medical supplies, including N95 masks  —  As the novel coronavirus pandemic strains health care systems …

Recommendation Regarding the Use of Cloth Face Coverings, Especially in Areas of Significant Community-Based Transmission  —  CDC continues to study the spread and effects of the novel coronavirus across the United States.  We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals …

Anick Jesdanun, longtime AP technology writer, dies at 51  —  He ran marathons on every continent, including Antarctica — 83 of them in all, many followed by a visit to an obscure craft brewery.  Last year, he watched 365 movies — most of them in theaters.

NEW DETAILS: Georgia beaches reopening as of Friday night  —  Gov. Brian Kemp's stay-at-home order trumps previous city-level orders  —  Some of the state's most popular beaches will be allowed to reopen Friday night due to Gov. Brian Kemp's statewide order superseding that of some city-level shelter-in-place mandates.

Removing the USS Theodore Roosevelt captain was reckless and foolish  —  Sailors cheer Navy captain removed for coronavirus warning  —  CNN national security analyst John Kirby, a retired rear admiral in the US Navy, was a spokesman for both the State and Defense Departments in the Obama administration.

Trump says he opposes mail-in voting for November  —  President Trump on Friday said he's confident the general election in November won't be delayed by the coronavirus, but he rejected the idea of having every state prepare to conduct mail-in voting.  —  The president, speaking …

Zoom Bombings Started Off as Pranks.  Now Someone Could End Up Dead  —  For those unaware, Zoom officially has a porn problem.  The multibillion-dollar video messaging mainstay among employees at Johnson & Johnson and the Department of Homeland Security—not to mention a household name among …

Inside the coronavirus testing failure: Alarm and dismay among the scientists who sought to help  —  On a Jan. 15 conference call, a leading scientist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assured local and state public health officials from across the nation that there would soon …

Holdout States Resist Calls for Stay-at-Home Orders: ‘What Are You Waiting For?’  —  A small number of states in the Midwest and the South are under growing pressure to order all residents to stay at home to fight the coronavirus.  —  A surge in coronavirus deaths in the United States …

Coronavirus Ended His Shot at a Second Chance  —  When Patrick Jones called his family members from a federal prison in Louisiana, he'd talk about how hard he was trying to get out.  He wanted to return to Texas and open a restaurant, serving everything from tacos to brisket to soul food.

Can Keir Starmer Persuade Britain to Dump Its Wartime Prime Minister Like Churchill?  —  In 1945, Brits unceremoniously tossed Winston Churchill aside.  Now Labour's new leader, Keir Starmer, has to convince virus-hit Britain he can repeat history.  —  It's one of history's greatest illustrations of ingratitude.

Early Data Shows African Americans Have Contracted and Died of Coronavirus at an Alarming Rate  —  No, the coronavirus is not an “equalizer.”  Black people are being infected and dying at higher rates.  Here's what Milwaukee is doing about it — and why governments need to start releasing data on the race of COVID-19 patients.

GOP governor refusing to implement stay-at-home order says Dr. Fauci 'doesn't have all the information'  —  While numerous governors have enacted stay-at-home orders shutting down nonessential businesses and ordering residents to shelter in their homes for all but necessary outings, one holdout is Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA).

Trump Administration Uses Wartime Powers To Be First In Line On Medical Supplies  —  The Trump administration quietly invoked the Defense Production Act to force medical suppliers in Texas and Colorado to sell to it first — ahead of states, hospitals or foreign countries.

Bill Gates is funding new factories for 7 potential coronavirus vaccines, even though it will waste billions of dollars  — The Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates told “The Daily Show” on Thursday that his foundation was funding the construction of factories for seven coronavirus vaccine candidates.

Coronavirus in N.Y.: Toll Soars to Nearly 3,000 as State Pleads for Aid  —  “It is hard to put fully into words what we are all grappling with as we navigate our way through this pandemic,” a hospital official said.  —  New York, the increasingly battered epicenter of the nation's coronavirus outbreak …

Fox News Moguls Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch Stockpile Attorneys Against Coronavirus Lawsuits  —  After one non-profit org sued the network for pushing coronavirus misinformation, the network is readying to go to war against more such lawsuits.  —  Amid the mushrooming coronavirus crisis …

Hobby Lobby is closing all stores and furloughing ‘nearly all’ employees after it defied stay-at-home orders by quietly reopening locations around the nation  — Hobby Lobby is closing all of its stores nationwide and furloughing most of its employees, according to a statement shared on the company's website Friday afternoon.

Search for Kennedy family members missing in Chesapeake Bay has ‘turned from rescue to recovery’  —  Authorities continued searching Friday for two members of the Kennedy family who disappeared in the Chesapeake Bay after they had set out in a canoe to retrieve a ball in the water …

Biden to name VP vetting team, thinking about Cabinet makeup  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden said Friday that he will announce a committee to oversee his vice presidential selection process and is already thinking about whom he'd choose to join his Cabinet.

Remarks by President Trump in Meeting with Energy Sector CEOs  —  THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much.  It's a great honor to be with the world leaders in American oil and gas and, really, I could say, the world leaders, period, when it comes to energy and American energy.

Trump Organization has laid off about 1,500 employees as pandemic hits business  —  The Trump Organization has laid off or furloughed about 1,500 employees at hotels in the United States and Canada as the coronavirus pandemic inflicts further pain on the president's private business.

Ivanka Trump Was Conduit for Small Banks Over SBA Program  — Trump's daughter forwarded ideas from Bank of America, others  — Paycheck Protection Program website up and running Friday  —  Bank executives concerned about the Trump administration's rollout of a $349 billion emergency …