| 4 takeaways from the Biden-Sanders Democratic debate Posted: 15 Mar 2020 08:01 PM PDT  For the first time in this election cycle, just two candidates shared a debate stage Sunday evening. Here are four takeaways from the one-on-one debate.
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| Trump tries to ease concerns of a nation increasingly rattled over coronavirus Posted: 15 Mar 2020 04:45 PM PDT  For the third time in three days, President Trump addressed the nation in an effort to address growing fears about the pandemic that has now infected about 3,200 Americans and killed more than 60.
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| Just Let the Patriot Act Die, Rights Groups Tell Senate Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT  It's Monday morning and three sections of the Patriot Act—or, as most on Capitol Hill prefer to call it, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—have expired. And now that the provisions are gone, ahead of a vote expected late Monday afternoon, a coalition of some of the most left-leaning privacy groups is urging senators to let them stay gone. As in 2015, the expiration came after the Senate couldn't pass a reauthorization after factionalizing between those who want more safeguards against the government's ability to grab Americans' data and those who don't. In the absence of "meaningful reforms," coming in the way of amendments that several privacy-focused senators of both parties seek to propose, Color of Change, Demand Progress, Indivisible, and Free Press Action want senators, "in particular Democrats," to oppose the cloture bill that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will put on the floor. That's according to a letter the groups are circulating on the Hill, shared with The Daily Beast. "If these authorities can lapse to stop the consideration of any amendments, they can stay lapsed to provide for the consideration of any critical amendments," the groups write. As with all civil-libertarian coalitions on surveillance law, it's an uphill fight. McConnell has the backing of most Republicans and Democrats for the PATRIOT/FISA re-up. He seeks to pass something the House Democratic leadership already has: an extension of the three provisions through 2023. While most of the country is focused on responses to the novel coronavirus, Monday is shaping up to be a low-key important day in the surveillance debate. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| South Africa’s ANC Postpones Policy Conference Amid Coronavirus Posted: 16 Mar 2020 09:10 AM PDT |
| Trump: Avoid 'discretionary travel,' but no restrictions on travel within the United States Posted: 16 Mar 2020 01:42 PM PDT  White House officials have repeatedly said restrictions on travel within the United States are under consideration. When will they come?
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| Russia builds coronavirus hospital in Moscow as cases rise Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:16 AM PDT |
| New coronavirus cluster linked to South Korean church Posted: 15 Mar 2020 08:11 PM PDT  A new coronavirus cluster linked to a South Korean religious group emerged on Monday, with 46 cases at a church near Seoul that defied calls to suspend services. The Grace River Church in Seongnam, south of the capital, finally closed its doors on Sunday after nearly a third of its 135 worshippers tested positive -- including the pastor and his wife. Forty infections had been newly confirmed among the congregation, Seongnam city authorities said, adding to six previously known.
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| 'Dead Sea Scrolls fragments' at Museum of the Bible are all fakes, study says Posted: 15 Mar 2020 10:00 PM PDT  * Washington museum hired experts to examine purchases * Artefacts came from controversial 'Post-2002' collectionWhen Steve Green paid millions of dollars from his family fortune for 16 fragments of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, it seemed the perfect addition to their new Museum of the Bible in Washington DC.But now experts have confirmed what has long been suspected: the artefacts proudly displayed in the nation's capital by the owners of the Hobby Lobby chain of stores are not part of one of the most significant archaeological finds of all time.They are worthless forgeries, probably made from old shoe leather.Confirmation of the hoax came in a report published online by a team of five art fraud investigators, after a two-day conference at the museum focusing on the comprehensive testing of the supposed scroll fragments was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.The experts spent six months analyzing each fragment, concluding a study born from 2017 revelations that the lucrative international trade in Dead Sea Scroll pieces was awash in suspected forgeries and indications that at least five pieces bought by Green, the museum's chairman, for an undisclosed amount ahead of its opening that year, were fake."After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in [the] Museum of the Bible's Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic," wrote Colette Loll, the founder and director of Art Fraud Insights, the Washington company contracted to examine them."Moreover, each exhibit's characteristics that suggest they are deliberate forgeries created in the 20th century with the intent to mimic authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments."The investigators outlined how they believe the deception was perpetrated and a succession of biblical scholars and the museum's curators fooled. The forgers, they suggest, used Roman-era leather, possibly from boots or sandals, to imitate parchment, and attempted to recreate the handwriting of ancient Hebrew scribes.Using microscopes and a variety of other scientific techniques including chemical analysis, the team found inconsistencies such as the presence of a shiny coating suspected to be animal glue, which wouldn't have existed at the time, and clues in the spread, position and pooling of ink.There was also evidence that writing was added after attempts were made to artificially age the surface.The exposure of the fakes does not affect the authenticity of the genuine Dead Sea Scrolls. The oldest known pieces of the original Hebrew bible, dating from about 400BC to 300AD, were discovered rolled in clay pots in caves in Palestine's West Bank in the 1940s.But it casts doubt on almost every piece of the so-called Post-2002 fragments, a collection of about 70 items that entered the market in the early years of this century after William Kando, the son of an antiquities dealer who bought the original scrolls from Bedouin shepherds seven decades ago, claimed to have opened a family vault in Switzerland.According to National Geographic, Green invested heavily between 2009 and 2014 to acquire 16 of those pieces, as he built a collection for the family's showpiece museum.Until this weekend the scrolls were displayed under soft lighting in the museum's Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. They will be removed during its closure for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, beginning on Monday."Notwithstanding the less than favorable results, we have done what no other institution with post-2002 fragments has done," said Dr Jeffrey Kloha, the chief curatorial officer."The sophisticated and costly methods employed to discover the truth about our collection could be used to shed light on other suspicious fragments and perhaps even be effective in uncovering who is responsible for these forgeries."
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| Seven family members fatally shot in North Carolina Posted: 16 Mar 2020 10:05 AM PDT  The suspect is among the dead, said Lt. Sara Pack, a spokeswoman for the Chatham County Sheriff's Office.
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| How the Navy's small craft action teams defend US warships at sea Posted: 16 Mar 2020 02:43 PM PDT  Small craft action team members have to know how to use all the ship's mounted guns and when to use them.
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| Sanders bets on Biden debate implosion Posted: 15 Mar 2020 04:00 AM PDT  His rivals have been waiting for more than a year for Biden to wilt under pressure. Sunday's debate looks like Sanders' last hope.
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| Peter Navarro Snaps When CNN Anchor Asks if Trump to Blame for Stock Losses: ‘Let’s Not Do That’ Posted: 16 Mar 2020 08:40 AM PDT  White House trade adviser Peter Navarro did not react well when confronted by CNN anchor Poppy Harlow on Monday morning over sinking stock markets in the wake of a full-blown coronavirus pandemic, insisting that now wasn't the time to talk about whether the president's response to the crisis was causing markets to plummet.Appearing on CNN just as the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened Monday morning with a 10 percent drop that caused trading to be temporarily halted—something that's been happening more frequently lately—Navarro first attempted to sidestep questions on whether America was now in a recession.After Navarro boasted about everything he and the White House coronavirus task force were doing to try to mitigate the spread of the virus amid mass cancellations and shutdowns, adding that he has the "full force of American business" working with the government, Harlow stopped him short."I hear you, Peter, but the Dow is off 2,200 points, the S&P; is off 8 percent," she exclaimed. "You're a top economist at the White House. Are we headed into a recession? I appreciate the efforts you just outlined, but this is freaking people out, Peter!""Look, here's what's critical now, Poppy," Navarro replied. "It's the policy response, and we have to have four different vectors coming in all at once in a matter of days, not weeks.""But Peter, what can you do? The market's off 2,000 points!" Harlow shot back.The CNN anchor would go on to reiterate that the "market is not responding well at all" to the federal government's recent actions to fight COVID-19, which recently included another Federal Reserve rate cut and insertion of liquidity into the credit markets. Harlow further noted that during their conversation, she couldn't track the market movements because trading had been halted for 15 minutes."Finally for the message from the president over the weekend is that this virus is under tremendous control, but Dr. Fauci leading this effort says the worst is yet to come and the cases have doubled over the weekend, Peter," Harlow eventually stated. "Markets are looking for leadership. Leadership is prescriptive. The markets here are reacting also to the president and his words. Is he doing enough to put confidence in the market by saying something that's not under control is?"Navarro, who has repeatedly credited Trump when the stock markets have surged and has literally said he's "never disappointed in my president," admonished Harlow for her question."Poppy, let's not do that kind of thing right now," he huffed."Peter, it's not doing that kind of thing," she answered. "The market is hanging on his words. You know this."While stocks have been plunging over the past few weeks over fears that the coronavirus will cause a global economic recession or even depression, the president bragged about the one-day Dow rally on Friday, sending off autographed stock graphs to loyalists such as Fox Business host Lou Dobbs.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Alibaba's Ma donates coronavirus test kits to US Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:49 PM PDT  In his first tweet the billionaire said 500,000 testing kits and one million masks were going to the US.
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| 62 Home Office Ideas That Will Inspire Productivity Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:01 PM PDT |
| Andrew Gillum enters rehab after depression and alcohol abuse Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:16 AM PDT  Andrew Gillum, a former candidate for Florida governor, has announced he's entering a rehab facility after suffering from depression and alcohol abuse.
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| Former Chinese property exec who criticised Xi over virus handling is missing, friends say Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:45 PM PDT |
| An older couple in Oregon was too afraid to get out of their car at the grocery store amid coronavirus. She helped them. Posted: 16 Mar 2020 03:50 PM PDT  Rebecca Mehra helped an older couple in Oregon that was too afraid to go into the grocery store amid the coronavirus outbreak.
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| 5 dead, including officer and gunman, in Missouri shooting Posted: 16 Mar 2020 04:44 AM PDT  A man fired randomly from his vehicle several times while driving through a southwest Missouri city before eventually crashing into a convenience store, where he walked inside, opened fire and left five people dead, including a police officer and himself, police said Monday. The gunman's motives remain unclear, Springfield police Chief Paul Williams said at a news conference, where his voice broke as he described his officers' actions. Williams said police received reports of "multiple shooting calls throughout the city" late Sunday starting in the south and moving north through the city's east side.
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| 'Not for sale': Germany has reacted furiously to Trump's attempts to poach German scientists working on a coronavirus vaccine Posted: 16 Mar 2020 04:50 AM PDT  The Trump administration reportedly offered German scientists a billion dollars for rights to a coronavirus vaccine that would be "only for the USA."
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| NBC News projects Joe Biden wins Washington state primary Posted: 16 Mar 2020 04:47 PM PDT  Bernie Sanders won the state in a landslide in the 2016 Democratic primary.
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| An influencer filmed herself licking a plane toilet seat for 'clout' on TikTok as part of a 'coronavirus challenge' Posted: 16 Mar 2020 06:53 AM PDT  Ava Louise posted the video on Twitter, and it shows her lick the seat then give the camera a pout and two peace signs.
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| Past Perfect Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT |
| Ethiopia's missing students: Families' pain and the unsolved mystery Posted: 15 Mar 2020 05:08 PM PDT  The government has been slow to resolve the issue linked to the country's ethnic tensions.
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| Turkey’s TAI sells six Anka-S drones to Tunisia Posted: 16 Mar 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Turkish procurement officials say TAI had been awaiting a deal with the Tunisian government for more than a year to sell its Anka-S drone.
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| U.S. seen spurning China's coronavirus-linked call for Iran sanctions relief Posted: 16 Mar 2020 02:31 PM PDT |
| Southwest cutting 'at least' 20% of flights as planes half empty from coronavirus Posted: 16 Mar 2020 03:07 PM PDT  Southwest Airlines said it has had several days of more cancellations than bookings and that planes are flying half empty in recent days.
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| The Latest: IRC starts $30M campaign to aid vulnerable areas Posted: 15 Mar 2020 10:51 PM PDT  IRC President and CEO David Miliband said that "while coronavirus is a serious threat where there is a health system, its dangers are magnified in communities where there is no such system." COVID-19 is now confirmed in crisis-affected countries where the IRC operates like Afghanistan, Iraq, Burkina Faso and Venezuela, Miliband said, warning that the virus "will thrive in active war zones like Yemen and Syria, putting the lives of thousands of civilians in even more danger." A Pennsylvania distillery owner who grew increasingly angry as he saw the skyrocketing price of hand sanitizer has decided to temporarily convert his operation into a production line for the suddenly hard-to-find, alcohol-based disinfectant.
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| Customs officers seized 6 bags full of fake coronavirus testing kits at LAX Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:18 PM PDT  The bags were filled with small vials labeled "Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)" and "Virus1 Test Kit."
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| Fauci: Americans are 'going to have to hunker down significantly more' to fight coronavirus Posted: 15 Mar 2020 08:33 AM PDT  "I think we should really be overly aggressive and get criticized for overreacting," Fauci said.
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| Joe Biden's pledge to name a woman as running mate fires speculation Posted: 16 Mar 2020 10:09 AM PDT  Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris lead list of veep contenders but Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren not ruled outJoe Biden has long been expected to pick a woman or a minority figure – or someone who is both – as his pick for vice-president, should he win the Democratic nomination to face Donald Trump in November.During his debate with Bernie Sanders in Washington on Sunday, the former vice-president made it official. He would name a woman as his running mate, he said – and also put an African American woman on the supreme court."I'll pick a woman to be vice-president," Biden said. "There are a number of women who are qualified to be president tomorrow."The California senator Kamala Harris and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams are two names most commonly mentioned in Democratic circles.Harris ran against Biden in the primary and landed memorable blows on him in an early debate, but endorsed him after dropping out. Neither she nor Abrams has said they would turn down an offer to join a Biden ticket.However, Biden's comments during the debate, and those of senior campaign officials in a post-debate call with reporters, made it clear that the likes of the Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, also former rivals for the nomination, could also be selected. The hard criterion is that the pick will be a woman who both works well with Biden and balances the ticket."He has to balance out who he is," said Steve Phillips, a top party donor and the founder of Democracy in Color. "He's an old white man so logically he should have a young woman of color to balance the ticket out."He will have some strength with some of the white suburban voters but he's going to need turnout with young people, that was the cornerstone of the Obama-Biden ticket. So if there's one thing people are not about Joe Biden, it's enthusiastic. But if he has someone like a Stacey Abrams on his ticket, the level of enthusiasm there would just be dramatically different."Phillips said his organization and a number of others had been discussing sending a letter to Biden and Sanders, urging them to commit to a person of color.Biden advisers, as any advisers would with the nomination still to be won, are loth to go into more detail about their candidate's thinking. But in the post-debate call, Symone Sanders, a senior adviser, said: "He has said that the qualification for vice-president for him would be someone that is simpatico with him, as he would like to say."She added, unequivocally: "It will be a woman."Abrams has arguably been the most open about her willingness to join Biden on the ticket. She met with the former vice-president in the early days of the campaign, as his advisers floated the idea of naming a running mate early."Leader Abrams would be honored to be asked to join the ticket," Seth Bringman, a spokesman for Fair Fight, Abrams' voting rights group, said in a statement after Sunday's debate, referring to her former position in the Georgia state house."For now, she is focused on leading national efforts to stop voter suppression and ensure an accurate census."Biden's comments ignited a new level of speculation. On Monday, the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who is seen as a rising star in the Democratic party, said she did not expect to join Biden in the general election.Biden endorsed Whitmer during her 2018 campaign and on Monday she said she would "help him vet and make sure he's got a great running mate"."It is not going to be me but I'm going to have a hand in helping him make sure that he has got a roundabout ticket that can win," Whitmer said.Picking a woman cuts out contenders including Cory Booker, a senator from New Jersey, and the former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, both of whom mounted their own presidential campaigns.During Sunday's debate, Sanders was also asked about his thinking. The Vermont senator's path to the nomination is increasingly narrow but it has not closed entirely. After digressing, he said he was moving in the direction of picking a woman."In all likelihood, I will," Sanders said. "For me, it's not just nominating a woman, it is making sure that we have a progressive woman and there are progressive women out there. So my very strong tendency is to move in that direction."
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| Sanders says first thing needed in coronavirus pandemic is to 'shut this president up' Posted: 15 Mar 2020 05:28 PM PDT  During the Democratic debate, Sen. Sanders said the first thing needed to help the U.S. with the coronavirus pandemic is to "shut this president up right now."
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| About half of France's coronavirus patients in intensive care are under 65, health official says Posted: 16 Mar 2020 05:30 AM PDT  A French health official says warnings to stay home in the coronavirus pandemic are in some cases falling on deaf ears while noting that the virus hasn't just been posing a risk to seniors.French health ministry official Jérôme Salomon said Monday that the situation is "deteriorating very quickly" while providing this statistic: of the between 300 and 400 coronavirus patients in intensive care in France, about half of them are younger than 65, The New York Times reports.Salomon is looking to "dispel the notion that the virus seriously threatens only the elderly," the Times reports, and Mother Jones observes that even though the novel coronavirus is "understood to be particularly lethal among the elderly," these numbers "underscore the reality that younger generations can still face serious consequences."Salomon also said Monday that in France, "a lot of people have not understood that they need to stay at home," and as a result, "we are not succeeding in curbing the outbreak of the epidemic," per Reuters. Most nonessential businesses in France were ordered to be closed over the weekend.France has confirmed more than 5,400 cases of the novel coronavirus, and by Sunday, the number of deaths had risen to 127. Salomon said Monday the number of cases has been doubling "every three days."More stories from theweek.com Coronavirus is exposing America's shameful selfish streak Hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip are closing their doors due to coronavirus Global airlines likely to be bankrupt by end of May, aviation consultant warns
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| Iran closes key religious sites as virus death toll hits 853 Posted: 16 Mar 2020 11:26 AM PDT  Iran on Monday closed four key Shiite pilgrimage sites to stop a coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 850 people out of nearly 15,000 cases recorded in the Islamic republic. The holy shrines of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Fatima Masumeh in Qom and Shah Abdol-Azim in Tehran were shut until further notice "upon the orders of the anti-coronavirus headquarters and the health minister," state television said. Qom's Jamkaran mosque also said it would close its doors, the official IRNA news agency reported.
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| Mnuchin Shills for Trump’s Botched Oval Office Address Posted: 15 Mar 2020 10:03 AM PDT  On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin waved off the numerous misstatements made by President Donald Trump in his much-criticized Oval Office address last week. Mnuchin insisted that the president didn't get "things wrong at all" despite the Trump administration having to clarify and correct multiple inaccuracies.Appearing on ABC's This Week, Mnuchin boasted that the stock market reacted positively to the announcement of a bipartisan bill to address the coronavirus crisis and Trump's Rose Garden speech in which private sector companies committed resources to the government.But host Jonathan Karl retorted that the market had acted "severely negative" to Trump's address."The president said several things. He said that cargo would be banned coming in from Europe," Karl continued. "He failed to mention that the American citizens would not be subjected to the ban. These were all false statements. How, in an Oval Office address, do statements about the president's own proposals end up being wrong?"Trump's Coronavirus Speech Sparks 'Total Chaos' in His Own AdministrationMnuchin, meanwhile, said that Trump wanted to be "very clear" that he was making a "move to shut down travel so that we shut down more cases coming" into the country."He wanted to reassure the American public," Mnuchin added. "I don't think in an Oval Office address you can address every single issue as you're discussing it."Shortly after Trump's Wednesday night address, however, the Department of Homeland Security had to scramble and clarify that the proclamation would not impact Americans and legal permanent residents abroad. Despite the clarification, the 30-day European travel ban has resulted in massive overcrowding at airports due to Americans rushing home, causing lengthy customs waits and heightening the risk of infection through community spreading."How does he get things wrong about his own proposal?" Karl shot back, prompting Mnuchin to answer: "I don't think he got things wrong at all."The ABC host would go on to note that Trump also incorrectly said that cargo would be banned, causing Mnuchin to place the blame on the public."We were very clear that people misinterpreted the comment on cargo and we immediately put out a statement to clarify that," Mnuchin insisted. "So the president said this is similar to China and China cargo is not banned."Later in the interview, Karl would also press the Treasury secretary on another botched announcement by the president: his claim Google was working on a coronavirus testing website that would be "very quickly done." Karl pointed out that Google has since contradicted the president, noting that they are only in the early stages of development of a pilot program in the Bay Area that they had the "hope of expanding more broadly over time." When asked when he thought the website would be up and running, Mnuchin admitted that he really doesn't know. But then he optimistically added that he believes it would be made "as quickly as possible."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Hospitals in San Francisco and other cities may ban pregnant people from having visitors during labor because of the coronavirus, including spouses and partners Posted: 16 Mar 2020 01:15 PM PDT  San Francisco's public health department issued a mandate that all visitors were banned from hospitals. Other cities have followed suit.
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| Virus toll in Iran climbs as lockdowns deepen across Mideast Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:55 PM PDT  Iran reported another 129 fatalities from the new coronavirus on Monday, the largest one-day rise in deaths since it began battling the Middle East's worst outbreak, which has claimed more than 850 lives and infected a number of senior officials in the country. Businesses in Iran's capital remained open, however, even as other countries in the region grounded planes, sealed their borders and moved toward full lockdowns. The divergent approaches adopted by local authorities reflect continued uncertainty over how to slow the spread of a virus that has infected around 180,000 people worldwide and caused more than 700 deaths.
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| Saudi Arabia detains 298 public officials in new corruption probes Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:02 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced the detention of hundreds of government officials, including military and security officers, on charges involving bribery and exploiting public office, and said investigators would bring charges against them. Scores of the kingdom's economic and political elite were detained in 2017 at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel in a corruption crackdown that unsettled some foreign investors. An anti-corruption body known as Nazaha tweeted on Sunday that it had arrested and would indict 298 people on crimes such as bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power involving a total of 379 million riyals ($101 million).
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| 368 dead in 24 hours in Italy as Europe shuts down to slow the growing crisis Posted: 16 Mar 2020 11:34 AM PDT  "After the coronavirus, nothing will be as before," Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tells the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
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| New York Gov. Cuomo just sounded the biggest alarm on the coronavirus: 'Deploy the Army Corps of Engineers ... And if you don't do it, you know what is going to happen' Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:14 PM PDT  The New York governor gave the most severe assessment of the coronavirus outbreak by an American politician yet, calling on the military to step in.
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| 'I literally cried': parents grapple with impact of US school closures Posted: 16 Mar 2020 08:35 AM PDT  New York City schools close until at least 20 April affecting families who desperately need schools for childcare and as a source of foodThe closure of New York City public schools until at least 20 April due to the coronavirus outbreak, announced on Sunday, has underscored difficulties faced by millions of parents across the entire US.While many recognize that Covid-19 needs to be controlled, parents and advocates find themselves not only grappling with daytime childcare challenges but worrying about the welfare of students who rely upon schools for far more than education.Thirty-three states have decided to shutter public schools due to coronavirus concerns, Education Week reported. In addition to district closures, a minimum of 64,000 public schools have shut their doors or plan to close.These closures have impacted a minimum of 32.5 million pupils, Education Week said, out of 50.8 million students at 98,277 public schools in the US. This means more than 60% of students have been affected in some way. Many private schools have also closed.New York City's public school system claims to have 1,126,501 students, making it the largest such district in the US and providing a sense of scale when it comes to the impact on families who desperately need schools for childcare and even a source of food. In addition to free meals, New York City public schools provide crucial services for students with a wide range of needs, among them speech, physical and disability-related therapy programs and counseling."As we learn more about Covid-19 every day, we are keeping every possible option on the table to keep New Yorkers safe," Mayor Bill de Blasio said."That's why we are asking the people of our city to make hard choices as we introduce more restrictive measures to create greater social distancing – including the temporary closure of our school buildings. We all need to change our lives – in ways both big and small – to keep each other safe."New York City public schools will launch remote learning on 23 March. The 300,000 students without internet-connected devices will receive one to complete schoolwork and 25,000 iPads are scheduled to be distributed next week. Students will be able to pick up meals, De Blasio's office said.Advocates for Children of New York, a group defending low-income students' rights, reported last October that 114,085 schoolchildren in the city are homeless, or 10%."While we are not questioning the decision to close schools to address this public health crisis, remote learning is likely to be a struggle for many families, including families with children who need more support to learn successfully," Kim Sweet, the group's executive director, said in a statement."It will be important for schools to make extra effort to ensure that remote learning benefits all students."The United Federation of Teachers, which had slammed De Blasio when he kept schools open, lauded the decision to close."The administration has made the right decision: closing the schools is a critical step to reduce the spread of the virus and to help preserve the health of our students, their families and our staff," the UFT president, Michael Mulgrew, said.Some parents are worried about what will happen to their children now."I literally cried – I was crying all afternoon," said Grisel Cardona, a mother of three and parent advocate in the Bronx, of the news of the closures.Cardona's nine-year-old son has autism, her seven-year-old daughter has special needs and her two-year-old son attends an "early intervention" program where he gets feeding therapy as he cannot chew anything large, she said."I cried because what went through my head was: 'What do I tell my son?' We have a routine, everyday, that we follow. We're not going to get up at six in the morning to get dressed and go on the bus."There's no school, this is why his question to me was: 'What's the coronavirus? [But] I take a bath everyday. Am I going to die?'"We both cried because it's scary. He's like, 'Mommy, this is dangerous. What are we going to do?' It was so emotional, then I kept thinking about his services. What am I going to do?"Children will regress if they don't get the services that they need."The US Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Services, which administers the National School Lunch Program, said it was taking steps to ensure that children affected by school closures still receive meals.The program provides low-cost or free lunches to schoolchildren in public and not-for-profit private schools, as well as residential childcare institutions, on school days.A spokesperson for the USDA said officials there have issued waivers, so meals can be served outside of a "congregate" setting. All 50 states, as well as Washington DC and Puerto Rico, have received such approvals in response to the public health crisis.One New York City parent who did not want to be named, whose 14-year-old son attends a private school which is now closed, said she supported school closures but understood the difficulties for parents."I think that there's a fine line between both decisions, because on the one hand, you are looking out for health and public safety [and] on the other hand, you want to continue your son, your child's education, so there's two different sides of the argument," the parent said."But, I always believe it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to health, so I'm glad they made that decision."Still, the parent said, "there are a lot of things that public officials have to figure out."
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| Satoshi Uematsu: Japanese man who killed 19 disabled people sentenced to death Posted: 15 Mar 2020 11:23 PM PDT  Satoshi Uematsu said disabled people who were unable to communicate well had no human rights.
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| Illinois governor: ‘Federal government needs to get its s@#t together’ Posted: 15 Mar 2020 05:05 AM PDT  He complains of impossibly long lines at O'Hare Airport.
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| 'It just impacts us all': Military families try to cope with coronavirus travel restrictions Posted: 16 Mar 2020 09:15 AM PDT  Hundreds of thousands of service members and their families will be stuck close to home for nearly two months starting Monday .
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| Meghan McCain: Calling ‘B.S.’ on Trump Does Not ‘Politicize’ Coronavirus Posted: 16 Mar 2020 10:06 AM PDT  Meghan McCain really doesn't want to "politicize" the coronavirus. When President Donald Trump appointed Vice President Mike Pence to lead the containment effort a few weeks ago, she scolded The View audience for applauding the notion that Trump was setting up a "fall guy" for the inevitable catastrophe. "I don't know why anyone would clap about that because if crap goes wrong, it's going to be bad for all of us," she said, adding, "I do not like the politicizing of this." Last week, McCain accused "both sides" of politicizing the crisis, but as things continued to get worse, she said "the chickens have finally come home to roost" when it comes to Trump's mishandling of the pandemic. Now that the entire country is in a virtual lockdown, she has had it. Fox News Host Shuts Down Guests for Politicizing Biden's Coronavirus SpeechDuring a discussion about Trump's response on Monday's audience-free edition of The View, McCain came out swinging against the president. "The mixed messaging coming out of the White House right now is not only irresponsible, but it's downright dangerous," she said, pointing the finger in Republican Congressman Devin Nunes' direction as well after he contradicted medical experts on Sunday by saying now is "great time to go out and go to a local restaurant." "Lead by example! And we're not seeing a lot of profiles in courage coming out of the White House right now," she added. "It starts at the top, and if you have people saying Jared Kushner is in charge, sorry if I don't think that's going to handle everything well."And yet, despite what McCain's fellow conservatives on Fox News have been arguing, she made clear that she does not believe criticizing the administration's response is the same as "politicizing" the crisis. After ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton warned against "pointing the finger" at those who are trying to manage the fallout, McCain said, "I don't like the idea of politicizing it in the sense that it's all Republicans' fault or all Democrats' fault. But it's our job as citizens to call out B.S. when you see it." "And when you have people from the administration saying, we don't know if we have enough ventilators, we don't know if our hospitals can handle it," she continued, "it is more than fair to have righteous indignation as American citizens that I don't believe they are handling it as well as they should be."Trevor Noah to Trump: Stop Pretending No One's 'Gonna Die' From CoronavirusRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Coronavirus a new challenge for many with mental illness Posted: 16 Mar 2020 04:48 AM PDT  "This is an increased anxiety for everyone," one expert said – but for those with mental illness, coping could be much harder.
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| US Army, Marines want to make the Hellfire missile replacement more deadly at sea Posted: 16 Mar 2020 12:47 PM PDT  After working out kinks related to the Hellfire missile replacement's lethality in a maritime environment, the Army and Marine Corps are heading into more tests of the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile against targets at sea.
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| Native American tribes brace for coronavirus: 'It's going to be a test' Posted: 15 Mar 2020 02:56 AM PDT  "We need to do everything we can to make sure that Native Americans don't get left behind," Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said.
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| Congress' coronavirus relief bill still doesn't actually guarantee paid sick leave for most American workers Posted: 16 Mar 2020 09:00 AM PDT  Large companies with 500 or more workers are exempt from complying with the Families First legislation. So are many small businesses.
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| Biden and Sanders spar over Social Security Posted: 15 Mar 2020 06:18 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders argued over Social Security while at the Democratic debate on Sunday.
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| The Best Hiking Socks for Summer Treks Posted: 16 Mar 2020 10:33 AM PDT |
