March 31, 2020 3:57 am
NEW YORK (AP) – New York’s governor has put out an urgent plea for medical volunteers as coronavirus deaths in New York City mount and hospitals are overwhelmed. Authorities say it could be a preview of what other cities across the U.S. will soon face. On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York needed help now as the number of dead in the state climbed past 1,200, with most dying in the city. In Europe, hard-hit Italy and Spain saw their death tolls climb by more than 800 each. But the World Health Organization’s emergency chief said cases there were “potentially stabilizing.”
March 31, 2020 2:44 am
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says his directive to have police monitor roads and check in on travelers from coronavirus hotspots might be unconstitutional but will continue for safety reasons. The Republican governor on Tuesday responded to constitutional concerns about his order that has threatened criminal charges if people from areas hard-hit by the virus don’t quarantine for two weeks. Justice says authorities will watch roads and conduct home checks to make sure people comply with the order. The leader of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia has said enforcing the order could lead to violations of constitutional rights on unreasonable searches and seizures.
March 31, 2020 2:22 am
(WPXI) – JCPenney officials have announced that the company will be temporarily laying off most hourly store workers as stores and offices remain closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company made the announcement Tuesday that the furloughs will start Thursday. Starting April 5, workers at the company’s home office, Salt Lake City and Soho design offices will be furloughed, along with store employees who are salaried associates. The announcement adds to the employees who were furloughed on March 20th. Employees who were part of the JCPenney benefits program will still get health benefits and the company will cover 100% employee-paid premiums while on furlough. Employees will also be able to get state unemployment benefits while they are laid off. While the stores will not be open, JCPenney officials said that distribution centers and customer care divisions will still operate.
March 30, 2020 4:08 am
NEW YORK (AP) – New York has surpassed 1,000 deaths from the coronavirus outbreak, less than a month after the first case was detected in the state. The virus has torn through New York City and its suburbs with frightening speed. Most of the deaths have happened in a span of just a few days. New York City reported in the evening that its toll had risen to 776. The total number of statewide deaths isn’t expected to be released until Monday. But with at least 250 additional deaths recorded outside the city as of Sunday morning, the state’s total fatalities was at least 1,026.
March 30, 2020 4:07 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Joe Diffie had announced on Friday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Yesterday, he died of complications from the virus in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 61, according to his publicist. Diffie was one of the mainstays of ’90s country with songs like “Home,” “Pickup Man” and “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die).” Diffie said in a 2004 Associated Press interview he chose a song not only for its melody, but for a certain sound. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and those with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
March 30, 2020 4:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is bracing the nation for a death toll that could exceed 100,000 people. Trump on Sunday extended restrictive social distancing guidelines through April. He was bowing to public-health experts who presented him with even more dire projections for the expanding coronavirus pandemic. It was a stark shift in tone by the president, who only days ago mused about the country reopening in a few weeks. From the Rose Garden, he said his Easter revival hopes had only been “aspirational.”
March 30, 2020 4:03 am
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Florida officials have arrested the pastor of a megachurch after detectives say he held two Sunday services with hundreds of people and violated a safer-at-home order in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus. According to jail records, Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne turned himself in to authorities Monday afternoon in Hernando County, where he lives. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister says he told church leaders of the danger they are putting themselves and their congregation in by not maintaining appropriate social distancing. The county and governor’s orders require gatherings be fewer than 10 people to limit the spread of COVID-19. A live stream of Sunday’s three-and-a-half-hour church service showed scores of congregants.
March 30, 2020 4:02 am
PHOENIX (AP) – A Phoenix police commander was killed and two other officers were injured Sunday night in a shooting on the city’s north side during a domestic violence call, police said. Cmdr. Greg Carnicle was killed in the incident in the 23800 block of North 40th Drive, near Pinnacle Peak Road, the department announced on Twitter. The conditions of the other officers are not known. But the department said they are expected to recover. The shooting took place at 7:10 p.m., KNXV-TV reported. The TV station reports that a suspect is barricaded in a home near the site of the shooting.
March 29, 2020 7:48 am
NEW YORK (AP) – President Donald Trump considered and then rejected ordering a quarantine for residents of the state and neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut amid the coronavirus outbreak. However, he later announced in a tweet late Saturday that a travel advisory was the way to go. It urges residents of the states to avoid all but essential travel for two weeks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said earlier in the day that roping off states would amount to “a federal declaration of war.” Meanwhile, Cuomo postponed his state’s presidential primary from April to June, and nurses made anguished pleas for more protective equipment and rebuffed officials’ claims that supplies are adequate.
March 29, 2020 7:45 am
BERLIN (AP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel has run Germany for more than 14 years and has over a decade’s experience of managing crises. She reassured her compatriots in the 2008 financial crisis that their savings were safe and led a hard-nosed but domestically popular response to the eurozone debt crisis. In 2015, she took responsibility for welcoming an influx of migrants from war-torn Syria – a stance that caused divisions among Germans. Now, in the twilight of her time in power, Merkel is rising to the occasion as she faces her biggest crisis yet – the coronavirus pandemic. Merkel is using her traditional political strengths to help reassure the German people and positioning her country to cope with the crisis.
