AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
Trump's 'I alone can fix it' view and state powers collide
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump insists there are “numerous provisions” in the Constitution to support his view that he has “total authority” to order states to open their economies as the coronavirus pandemic roils.
He did not enumerate what they were. And the consensus among constitutional scholars is that's because they don't exist.
Trump's statement on Monday was another head-snapping turn in a presidency filled with them. In the days and weeks before, Trump had laid responsibility for the pandemic response at the feet of the nation’s governors. Now, he says he has vast powers as president to compel states to action.
In doing so, he reignited a debate as old as the nation over the division of power and authority between the federal government and the states.
The United States was founded in the late 18th century in part on a profound skepticism of the dangers of power concentrated in a central government. The 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights was designed to apportion authority. Thomas Jefferson called it “the foundation of the Constitution.”
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What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
Setting the stage for a possible power struggle with President Donald Trump, governors around the U.S. began collaborating on plans Tuesday to reopen their economies in what is likely to be a drawn-out, step-by-step process to prevent the new coronavirus from rebounding with disastrous results.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, said the U.S. does not yet have the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the nation’s economy, adding a dose of caution to increasingly optimistic projections from the White House.
“We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet,” Fauci said in an interview with The Associated Press.
In parts of Europe where infections and deaths have begun stabilizing, the process was already underway. Certain businesses and industries have been allowed to reopen in a calibrated effort by politicians to balance public health against their countries’ economic well-being.
Here are some of AP’s top stories Tuesday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
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Deaths hit 45 at Virginia care home called 'virus's dream'
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Ronald Mitchell worried about his mother’s care at a suburban Richmond nursing home long before she was swept up in one of the nation’s deadliest coronavirus outbreaks.
She’s bedbound and susceptible to seizures. A sore on her foot went unnoticed for so long, he said, that it led to the amputation of her leg. When he called her last month after she tested positive for COVID-19, she sounded disoriented, and he stayed on the line as she pressed a call button and waited an hour and a half for a nurse who never came.
Mitchell then called Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center directly and was told that they were doing the best they could with just two nurses looking after 40 patients at a time in the coronavirus quarantine wing.
With the death toll from the Canterbury outbreak rising to 45, Mitchell can only hope that his 62-year-old mother now on a ventilator in a hospital won’t be next.
“It’s the worst feeling in the world,” he said.
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States confront practical dilemmas on reopening economies
WASHINGTON (AP) — Setting the stage for a possible power struggle with President Donald Trump, governors around the U.S. began sketching out plans Tuesday to reopen their economies in a slow and methodical process so as to prevent the coronavirus from rebounding with tragic consequences.
In Italy, Spain and other places around Europe where infections and deaths have begun stabilizing, the process is already underway, with certain businesses and industries allowed to start back up in a calibrated effort by politicians to balance public health against their countries' economic well-being.
While the crisis is far from over in the U.S., with over 25,000 dead and approximately 600,000 confirmed infections by Johns Hopkins University's count, the doomsday scenarios that were predicted just two weeks ago have not come to pass, raising hopes from coast to coast.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has joined a coalition with his West Coast counterparts in Oregon and Washington on how to emerge from the crisis, outlined a set of conditions Tuesday for lifting the coronavirus restrictions in America's most populous state. Among other things, he said hospitalizations will have to decline and more testing will have to become available.
And when the state does reopen, he warned, things will not look the same. Waiters will probably be wearing masks and gloves, schools may stagger students' arrival times to reduce crowding, and large gatherings such as sporting events and concerts are "not in the cards,” the Democrat said.
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No hugs or handshakes: Pandemic complicates storm relief
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — For people who lost homes to the deadly tornadoes that rampaged across the South, there are no comforting hugs from volunteers or handshakes from politicians. For homeless families, there are no Red Cross shelters, only hotel rooms.
These and other changes reflect how disaster response has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic: Workers are still trying to provide all the comfort they can, but from a distance.
Within hours of the tornado onslaught, which began Sunday and killed more than 30 people, church groups were out in damaged communities, and Southern Baptist volunteers were told to avoid holding hands with people as they pray, said Sam Porter, director of disaster relief for the nearly 15 million-member denomination. Hugs also are out.
“You’re talking about a very hard change in procedures,” Porter said Tuesday. “It’s agonizing. Jesus touched people all through his ministry. He created us as emotional beings. But we are trying to comply with the guidelines.”
About 550 people in four states were staying in hotel rooms funded by the Red Cross since mass shelters were not an option, said Brad Kieserman, a vice president of the organization.
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Liberty University sued for not refunding student fees
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Liberty University has profited from the COVID-19 pandemic by refusing to refund thousands of dollars in room and board and other fees owed to students after the school moved classes online last month, a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg accuses the university — one of the nation’s largest and most prominent evangelical institutions — of purporting to remain open so it could refuse to return fees paid by students and their parents for the remainder of the spring semester.
The lawsuit also accuses Liberty and its president, Jerry Falwell Jr., of putting students at risk by telling students they were welcome to return to campus following spring break in March.
The suit cites comments and tweets made by Falwell in which he downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic and implied that the government shutdowns were an attempt to hurt President Donald Trump politically.
The lawsuit said that despite efforts to downplay the pandemic, the university stopped providing services and activities by moving classes online, closing its campus to visitors, prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people and closing indoor recreation and fitness centers.
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UN chief: world faces misinformation epidemic about virus
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday that the world is facing “a dangerous epidemic of misinformation” about COVID-19 and announced a U.N. campaign to flood the internet with facts and science to counter what he called “a poison” that is putting lives at risk.
The U.N. chief decried what he described as a global “misinfo-demic” that is spreading harmful health advice, “snake-oil solutions,” falsehoods, and wild conspiracy theories.
Guterres urged social media organizations to do more to counter the misinformation and to “root out hate and harmful assertions about COVID-19.”
“Hatred is going viral, stigmatizing and vilifying people and groups,” he said in a video statement. “Mutual respect and upholding human rights must be our compass in navigating this crisis.”
The U.N. chief said people around the world “are scared” and want to know what to do and where to turn for advice, and they need science.
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AP Interview: Sanders says opposing Biden is 'irresponsible'
Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that it would be “irresponsible” for his loyalists not to support Joe Biden, warning that progressives who “sit on their hands” in the months ahead would simply enable President Donald Trump's reelection.
And lest there be any question, the 78-year-old Vermont senator confirmed that “it’s probably a very fair assumption” that he would not run for president again. He added, with a laugh: “One can’t predict the future.”
Sanders, who suspended his presidential bid last week, spoke at length about his decision to endorse Biden, his political future and the urgent need to unify the Democratic Party during an interview with The Associated Press. He railed against the Republican president but also offered pointed criticism at his own supporters who have so far resisted his vow to do whatever it takes to help Biden win the presidency.
He seemed to distance himself from his campaign's former national press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, when asked about her recent statement on social media refusing to endorse Biden.
“She is my former press secretary — not on the payroll,” Sanders noted. A spokesman later clarified that all campaign staffers were no longer on the payroll as of Tuesday, though they will get a severance check in May.
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Pro wrestling 'essential' under Florida governor's order
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Body slams and pile drives can go on in the Sunshine State.
With Florida under a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, there's one business deemed essential by Florida's governor that is raising some eyebrows: pro wrestling.
Florida's top emergency official last week amended Gov. Ron DeSantis' stay-at-home order which was issued at the start of the month. Pro sports were added to a list of essential businesses allowed to stay open in an April 9 memorandum to include “employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience ... only if the location is closed to the general public.”
The amendment seems almost tailor-made for World Wrestling Entertainment. The WWE Performance Center is located in metro Orlando so chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is able to continuing putting on his show — without fans.
“We believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times,” WWE said in a statement.
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Hank Steinbrenner, Yankees co-owner, dies at 63
NEW YORK (AP) — Hank Steinbrenner, the oldest son of George Steinbrenner and one of the four siblings who own the controlling shares of the New York Yankees, died Tuesday at age 63.
The team said he died at home in Clearwater, Florida, due to a long-standing health issue.
A chain smoker and miniature drag racer, Hank hoped to succeed as father as the team’s controlling owner. Between the 2007 and 2008 seasons, he became the public voice of the Yankees' ownership.
“We’re keepers of the flame, I guess,” he said then. “I don’t particularly necessarily enjoy it. It was kind of thrust upon me. At some point, if you’re going to be a leader, you’ve got to step up and you can’t hide in the office.”
But brother Hal, 11 years younger, was put in charge in November 2008. While Hank was in his 13th season as a general partner and 11th as co-chair, he did not appear to have much involvement in the team’s operations in recent years. Still, Hal said he consulted Hank and sisters Jessica and Jennifer on all major decisions.