Top Items:
New York Times:
He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus — An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response.
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Raw Story
Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:
With Each Briefing, Trump Is Making Us Worse People — There has never been an American president as spiritually impoverished as Donald Trump. And his spiritual poverty, like an overdrawn checking account that keeps imposing new penalties on a customer already in difficult straits …
Steve Contorno / Tampa Bay Times:
Why Ron DeSantis' popularity has taken a hit since the pandemic started — The approval ratings of most governors have soared during the crisis. DeSantis has seen his support plummet amid a confusing, conflicting response. — TALLAHASSEE — From New York to Ohio to California …
RELATED:
Mary Ellen Klas / Miami Herald:
Rural North Florida nursing home is pummeled by outbreak of 51 COVID-19 cases — A nursing home in the rural North Florida town of Live Oak has become a virtual hot spot as at least 51 people have tested positive for COVID-19, including 30 members of the staff.
Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:
Trump leaves trail of unmet promises in coronavirus response — WASHINGTON (AP) — For several months, President Donald Trump and his officials have cast a fog of promises meant to reassure a country in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump and his team haven't delivered on critical ones.
Discussion:
WCMH-TV
RELATED:
Marianne LeVine / Politico:
Clash hardens over coronavirus aid as GOP leaders reject Dem demands — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy vowed Saturday morning to refuse Democratic demands in the GOP's push for more aid to small businesses. — “Republicans reject Democrats …
Discussion:
PJ Media Home, Daily Kos and The Hill
New York Times:
The Costly Toll of Not Shutting Down Spring Break Earlier — People got sick — and some died — after attending crowded parties and theme parks in Florida as the coronavirus spread. — MIAMI — You could find Beatriz Diaz at this spring's Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach, giving out hand sanitizer.
Catherine Herridge / CBS News:
Footnotes in watchdog report indicate FBI knew of risk of Russian disinformation in Steele dossier — The FBI was warned sections of the controversial Steele dossier could have been part of a “Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate U.S. foreign relations,” according to newly declassified footnotes …
Discussion:
Power Line, Wall Street Journal and Fox News
RELATED:
Michael Grunwald / Politico:
5 Increasingly Hardball Versions of the Next Stimulus — The news out of Washington this week made it sound like Democrats are playing hardball on economic relief, blocking a Republican bill that didn't include their top priorities. But the Democrats aren't really playing hardball.
Miami Herald:
‘Playing games with numbers’: Florida COVID-19 test backlog worse than state says — Florida is significantly under-reporting the state's COVID-19 testing backlog, a blind spot in the data that could obscure the pandemic's size and hamper efforts to decide when it's safe to end restrictions …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Francis X. Donnelly / Detroit News:
‘Unimaginable’ pain: Coronavirus robs Michigan woman of whole family — COVID-19 AFFECTED EVERY FACET OF A GRAND BLANC WOMAN'S GRIEF AS SHE DEALS WITH THE VIRUS-RELATED DEATHS OF HER HUSBAND AND ONLY CHILD — Grand Blanc — Sandy Brown tried to calm her son, Freddie, alone and scared in a hospital intensive care unit.
Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:
Trump's Socially Distanced Campaign Backed by a new loyalist press secretary, the president's coronavirus briefings have replaced reelection rallies. — We're committed to keeping our readers informed. … Donald Trump glances up at the TVs on the wall or down at the newspapers on his desk.
Los Angeles Times:
How a stockpile of 39 million masks was exposed as fake — A powerful California union that claimed to have discovered 39 million masks for healthcare workers fighting the novel coronavirus was duped in an elaborate scam uncovered by FBI investigators, the U.S. attorney's office said Friday.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Wall Street Journal:
Slow Start for Rapid Coronavirus Tests Frustrates States — Most states received materials to conduct about 100 tests, regardless of population; 'I'm banging my head against the wall' — A rapid test for the new coronavirus that was touted by the White House as a game-changing development …
Discussion:
Politico and POLITICUSUSA
Kaiser Health News:
Furor Erupts: Billions Going To Hospitals Based On Medicare Billings, Not COVID-19 — Probably few hospital systems need the emergency federal grants announced this week to handle the coronavirus crisis as badly as Florida's Jackson Health does. — Miami, its base of operations …
Discussion:
The Hill and New York Post
Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
Life and Death as Hospitals Fight the Coronavirus in the Bronx — “If people saw this, they would stay home.” What the war against the coronavirus looks like inside two Bronx hospitals. — This is not a time to die. — Terror, pain and loneliness mingle in the air with the coronavirus in the …
Adam Shaw / Fox News:
Rand Paul tells Kentucky gov to ‘take a step back’ for threatening mandatory quarantine for church-goers — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Kentucky's Gov. Andy Beshear to “take a step back” on Friday after the governor warned residents that they would be forced to self-quarantine for 14 days …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Cassandra Fairbanks / The Gateway Pundit:
Democrat Kentucky Governor Announces Plan to Record License Plates of Easter Church Goers …
Democrat Kentucky Governor Announces Plan to Record License Plates of Easter Church Goers …
Discussion:
NBC News, CNN, The Hill, Friendly Atheist, Outside the Beltway, New York Post, Raw Story and Todd Starnes
Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:
The Most Important 2020 States Already Have Vote by Mail — In the states that will likely decide the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump has already lost his newly declared war against voting by mail. — All six of the swing states that both sides see as the most probable tipping points allow …
Discussion:
HuffPost, NPR, Mediaite and Morning Consult
Wall Street Journal:
De Blasio Says New York Public Schools Won't Reopen Until September — City at the center of one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S. made decision out of caution for students, faculty and staff — New York City's public school system, the largest in the country …
RELATED:
Rep. Andy Biggs / Washington Examiner:
Is Anthony Fauci helping or hurting? — Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently said, “It's inconvenient from a societal standpoint, from an economic standpoint to go through this.” It is interesting sometimes that a brief comment …
RELATED:
Houston Chronicle:
How many missed? Texas is second-worst in the nation for COVID-19 testing — Six times in three weeks, Marci Rosenberg and her ailing husband and teenage children tried to get tested for the new coronavirus — only to be turned away each time, either for not meeting narrow testing criteria …
Eliza Shapiro / New York Times:
The Coronavirus Outbreak — Frequently Asked Questions and Advice — When will this end? — This is a difficult question, because a lot depends on how well the virus is contained. A better question might be: “How will we know when to reopen the country?”
Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post:
‘Dreamers’ risk lives on pandemic's front lines while they await court ruling — Manuel Bernal could have sought a different assignment once the coronavirus pandemic hit Advocate Christ Medical Center, one of the busiest trauma hospitals serving Chicago's South Side.
New York Times:
Trump Has Emergency Powers We Aren't Allowed to Know About — Given that they could make their first appearance in the coronavirus crisis, Congress should insist on having full access to them. — Ms. Goitein and Mr. Boyle work at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
Chet Czarniak / USA Today:
Trump's coronavirus briefings are too dangerous for news media to show them live — I changed my mind about showing Trump live after he encouraged Americans to embrace hydroxychloroquine without mentioning any potential downside. — Grizzled journalists have a saying: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
Jeremy Schwartz / The Texas Tribune:
A Laredo ER spent $500,000 on coronavirus tests. Health officials say they're unreliable. — A private emergency room owner bought 20,000 rapid COVID-19 tests, but a week later they were seized by the federal government. It's a bitter example of what can go wrong when local governments try …
Joanna Slater / Washington Post:
In India, life under coronavirus brings blue skies and clean air — NEW DELHI — Inside the world's largest lockdown, there are no flights, no passenger trains, no taxis and few functioning industries. But one thing is remarkably abundant: cleaner air. — India is engaged in a desperate bid to …
Discussion:
ABC News
Franco Ordoñez / NPR:
White House Seeks To Lower Farmworker Pay To Help Agriculture Industry — New White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is working with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to see how to reduce wage rates for foreign guest workers on American farms, in order to help U.S. farmers struggling during …
New York Times:
Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic — With restaurants, hotels and schools closed, many of the nation's largest farms are destroying millions of pounds of fresh goods that they can no longer sell. — In Wisconsin and Ohio, farmers are dumping thousands …
CNN:
The United States is now reporting more coronavirus deaths than any other country — (CNN)The United States is reporting more coronavirus deaths than any country in the world after the death toll on Saturday morning climbed to at least 18,860, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
Wall Street Journal:
Coronavirus Strikes at Least 2,100 Senior Facilities Across U.S., Killing 2,300 People — Tally of 37 states suggests pandemic has had bigger impact than federal government has reported — The new coronavirus has hit more than 2,100 nursing homes and other senior facilities around the U.S. …
Discussion:
Business Insider Malaysia and NBC News
Washington Post:
Live updates: U.S. surpasses Italy for most confirmed coronavirus deaths with more than 20,000 fatalities — The Washington Post is providing this story for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the coronavirus. For more free stories, sign up for our daily Coronavirus Updates newsletter.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Vox, The Week and New York Post