New HHS spokesman made racist comments about Chinese people in now-deleted tweets  —  WARNING: This story contains graphic language.  —  (CNN)The new spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services in a series of now-deleted tweets made racist and derogatory comments about Chinese people …

Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother dies of coronavirus in Oklahoma  —  Donald Reed Herring, the oldest brother of Senator Elizabeth Warren, died on Tuesday night in Norman, Okla., about three weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.  —  Herring, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was 86.

AP-NORC poll: Few Americans trust Trump's info on pandemic  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has made himself the daily spokesman for the nation's coronavirus response.  Yet few Americans regularly look to or trust Trump as a source of information on the pandemic …

In Wisconsin, Virus Creates New Front in Long-Simmering Partisan Wars  —  Protests planned for Friday continue a decade-long partisan cleaving in the state and serve as a stand-in for the general election battle to come.  —  Wisconsin had barely finished its fight over whether to hold …

‘Sadness’ and Disbelief From a World Missing American Leadership  —  The coronavirus pandemic is shaking bedrock assumptions about U.S. exceptionalism.  This is perhaps the first global crisis in more than a century where no one is even looking for Washington to lead.

New data on Gilead's remdesivir, released by accident, show no benefit for coronavirus patients.  Company still sees reason for hope  —  The antiviral medicine remdesivir from Gilead Sciences failed to speed the improvement of patients with Covid-19 or prevent them from dying …

They lived in a factory for 28 days to make millions of pounds of raw PPE materials to help fight coronavirus  —  At his factory just off the Delaware River, in the far southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, Joe Boyce clocked in on March 23 for the longest shift of his life.

Special Report: Former Labradoodle breeder was tapped to lead U.S. pandemic task force  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On January 21, the day the first U.S. case of coronavirus was reported, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services appeared on Fox News to report the latest on the disease as it ravaged China.

Trump administration considers leveraging emergency coronavirus loan to force Postal Service changes  —  President Trump has railed for years against what he sees as mismanagement of the agency, which he argues has been exploited by sites such as Amazon  —  The Treasury Department …

Murphy: McConnell's suggestion states declare bankruptcy ‘utterly irresponsible’  —  New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday blasted as “completely and utterly irresponsible” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion that state governments facing financial disaster during …

Kansas GOP chair asks Wagle and Lindstrom to drop out of Senate race for good of party  —  Kansas GOP chair Mike Kuckelman sent letters Thursday to two Republican candidates asking them to drop out of the race for U.S. Senate for the good of the party.  —  In nearly identical April 23 letters …

Joe Biden is leading in presidential polls as a generic alternative to Trump  —  The Democrat is ahead of the president in new national and battleground surveys even as his message on the coronavirus fails to break through.  —  WASHINGTON — As the coronavirus continues to ravage America …

Facing furor, Ruth's Chris high-end steak chain returns $20 million small business loan  —  The restaurant chain has been under fire for accepting stimulus loans earmarked for struggling small businesses.  —  Ruth's Chris Steak House will return the $20 million coronavirus small business loan …

Governor: Antibody survey shows wide exposure to virus in NY  —  NEW YORK (AP) — More evidence is emerging that far more New Yorkers have had the coronavirus than the number confirmed by lab tests, officials said Thursday.  —  A state survey of about 3,000 people found that nearly 14% had antibodies …

Trump Donor Hired Trump-Tied Lobbyists, Then Raked in Coronavirus Relief Cash  —  The real estate investment firm Ashford Inc. turned to big time fundraisers for the president to help it stave off financial ruin.  —  In late March, real estate investment firm Ashford Inc. was on the verge of financial ruin.

Miami-Dade County misses out on 1 million N95 masks when feds scoop up shipment  —  Miami-Dade's emergency arm was close to taking possession of 1 million N95 masks last week, but the shipment was “taken” by the federal government, WLRN reported.  —  Frank Rollason, Miami-Dade's director …

The Cuomos' Corona Protocol, Week 3  —  Just as my husband, Chris, began to finally kick this, I was stricken with the coronavirus.  I spent a week in isolation battling COVID-19.  Here's what I learned—and what I did to push it out over the week.  —  On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day …

Task force members sent Birx to convince Trump to denounce Kemp's Georgia reopening decision, source says  —  Trump: I told Georgia governor I disagree with decision to reopen  —  (CNN)Members of the coronavirus task force had to convince President Donald Trump to change his view …

Coronavirus is invading Red America, new data show.  That's ominous for Trump.  —  The political geography of our pandemic is shifting.  And that's bad news for President Trump.  —  I don't mean that this is bad news for Trump's reelection chances, though that might prove the case.

Was Hockney RIGHT?  French researchers to give nicotine patches to coronavirus patients and frontline workers after lower rates of infection were found among smokers  — A French study found that only 4.4% of 350 coronavirus patients hospitalized were regular smokers and 5.3% of 130 homebound patients smoked

Bernie Sanders' ex-press secretary explains why she's not endorsing Biden  —  The Bernie Sanders campaign's former press secretary Briahna Joy Gray told the Atlantic in an interview Thursday that Joe Biden has not done enough to secure her endorsement, or the votes of many progressive Democrats.

Hidden Outbreaks Spread Through U.S. Cities Far Earlier Than Americans Knew, Estimates Say  —  Hidden Outbreaks Spread Far Earlier Than Americans Knew, Estimates Say  —  New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle had undetected outbreaks long before testing showed a major problem, according to a model.

The US economy has now erased all job gains since the Great Recession  — The Labor Department reported that the number of Americans applying for state unemployment benefits totaled 4.427 million last week.  — Combined with the prior four jobless claims reports, the number of Americans …

Amazon Scooped Up Data From Its Own Sellers to Launch Competing Products  —  Contrary to assertions to Congress, employees often consulted sales information on third-party vendors when developing private-label merchandise  —  Amazon.com Inc. employees have used data about independent sellers …

In Hawaii case, justices see broad reach of Clean Water Act  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that sewage plants and other industries cannot avoid environmental requirements under landmark clean-water protections when they send dirty water on an indirect route to rivers, oceans and other navigable waterways.

Study: Elderly Trump voters dying of coronavirus could cost him in November  —  Mass casualties from the coronavirus could upend the political landscape in battleground states and shift contests away from President Donald Trump, according to a new analysis.  —  Academic researchers writing …

The Democrats' House Polling Lead: Remarkably Steady  —  KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE  — The Democratic lead in House generic ballot polling has been very consistent over the course of Donald Trump's presidency.  — Democrats also have a significant money edge in the lion's share of their most vulnerable districts.

Coronavirus Kills “Unrecoverable” Los Angeles On-Location Production For 2020, FilmLA Says  —  Already coming off a five-year low in 2019, film and television production in Los Angeles is almost assured to bottom out in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, regardless of when features, series and specials start up work again.

Do Most Republicans Agree With People Protesting Stay-At-Home Orders?  —  Rank-and-file Republicans voters are still generally supportive of social distancing and other measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, even after conservative protesters in several states …

We Won't Do This for 12 to 18 Months  —  Economist Herb Stein was famous for a great many things, but most prominent among them was “Stein's Law.”  It is elegant in its simplicity: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”  —  Stein's Law is particularly appropriate these days as we discuss plans for reopening the economy.

Fauci: US needs to ‘significantly ramp up’ testing  —  Anthony Fauci, the administration's top infectious diseases expert, said Thursday that the United States needs to “significantly ramp up” its testing capacity in order to effectively contain the coronavirus as blunt measures like stay-at-home orders are eased.

Trump chloroquine push came after talk with donor, source says  —  The official said he was instructed to implement a program aimed at expanding access to the drug after the president's conversation with a billionaire supporter.  —  WASHINGTON — A top Health and Human Services official …

Want to Find a Misinformed Public?  Facebook's Already Done It  —  While vowing to police COVID-19 misinformation on its platform, Facebook let advertisers target users interested in"pseudoscience"  —  Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a post pledging to combat misinformation about COVID-19 circulating on Facebook.

Fed, facing pressure, commits to disclose monthly who's getting bailouts  —  The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced it will reveal every month the names of companies that borrow under its massive emergency lending programs, as it faces intense pressure to be transparent about the use of bailout money.

These Racist ‘Wuhan Plague’ Plaques Are Popping Up Around Atlanta  —  Racist plaques depicting Winnie the Pooh holding a bat with chopsticks have begun to pop up around Atlanta, and police have no leads as to who is responsible.  —  The round, bronze and teal plaques bearing the words …

Misunderstanding the math, Trump embraced a coronavirus death toll we'll soon surpass  —  When the White House announced its recommendation last month that Americans refrain from meeting in groups and take other steps to contain the spread of the coronavirus, it presented a chart suggesting …

Vaccine Rates Drop Dangerously as Parents Avoid Doctor's Visits  —  Afraid of Covid-19, parents are postponing well-child checkups, including shots, putting millions of children at risk of exposure to preventable deadly diseases.  —  As parents around the country cancel well-child checkups …

Coronavirus and its social effects fueling extremist violence, says government report  —  The report cites 2 incidents involving suspected domestic extremists and 2 incidents in Florida that DHS labeled non-ideological.  —  WASHINGTON — The coronavirus pandemic and its social repercussions …

Netanyahu's Annexation Plan Is a Threat to Israel's National Security  —  Annexing the West Bank would threaten Israel's peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, anger allies in the Gulf, undermine the Palestinian Authority, and endanger Israel as a Jewish democracy.

With Only 6 Members Participating, Senate Passed $483-Billion Spending Bill by ‘Unanimous Consent’  —  The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a $483-billion spending bill to further aid Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic—with only six members of the 100-member Senate participating.