AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EDT
Dow sinks 1,800 as virus cases rise, deflating optimism
Stocks fell sharply Thursday on Wall Street as coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased again, deflating recent optimism for a quick economic recovery and raising more doubts about how long the market’s scorching comeback can last.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,800 points and the S&P 500 dropped 5.9%, its worst day since mid-March, when stocks went through repeated harrowing falls as the virus lockdowns began.
Many market watchers have been saying that the comeback in the market since late March was overdone and did not reflect the dire state of an economy in its worst crisis in decades. The S&P 500 rallied 44.5% between late March and Monday, erasing most of its losses tied to the pandemic.
The selling comes as coronavirus cases rise in the U.S., with some of the increase likely tied to the reopening of businesses and the lifting of stay-at-home orders. Cases are climbing in nearly half the states, according to an Associated Press analysis, a worrying trend that could intensify as people return to work and venture out during the summer.
“Not surprisingly, a lack of preventative behavior has led to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases around the country, and the stock market is having another gut check,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.
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Historical figures reassessed after George Floyd's death
The rapidly unfolding movement to pull down Confederate monuments around the U.S. in the wake of George Floyd’s death has extended to statues of slave traders, imperialists, conquerors and explorers around the world, including Christopher Columbus, Cecil Rhodes and Belgium’s King Leopold II.
Protests and, in some cases, acts of vandalism have taken place in such cities as Boston; New York; Paris; Brussels; and Oxford, England, in an intense re-examination of racial injustices over the centuries. Scholars are divided over whether the campaign amounts to erasing history or updating it.
At the University of Oxford, protesters have stepped up their longtime push to remove a statue of Rhodes, the Victorian imperialist who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony in southern Africa. He made a fortune from gold and diamonds on the backs of miners who labored in brutal conditions.
Oxford’s vice chancellor Louise Richardson, in an interview with the BBC, balked at the idea.
“We need to confront our past,” she said. “My own view on this is that hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment.”
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Alarming rise in virus cases as states roll back lockdowns
NEW YORK (AP) — States are rolling back lockdowns, but the coronavirus isn't done with the U.S.
Cases are rising in nearly half the states, according to an Associated Press analysis, a worrying trend that could intensify as people return to work and venture out during the summer.
In Arizona, hospitals have been told to prepare for the worst. Texas has more hospitalized COVID-19 patients than at any time before. And the governor of North Carolina said recent jumps caused him to rethink plans to reopen schools or businesses.
There is no single reason for the surges. In some cases, more testing has revealed more cases. In others, local outbreaks are big enough to push statewide tallies higher. But experts think at least some are due to lifting stay-at-home orders, school and business closures, and other restrictions put in place during the spring to stem the virus's spread.
The increase in infections pulled stocks down sharply Thursday on Wall Street, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 1,800 points lower and giving the S&P 500 its worst day in nearly three months. The infections deflated recent optimism that the economy could recover quickly from its worst crisis in decades.
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Black Lives Matter goes mainstream after Floyd's death
For much of its seven-year existence, the Black Lives Matter movement has been seen by many Americans as a divisive, even radical force. Its very name enraged its foes, who countered with the slogans “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter."
Times have changed — dramatically so — as evidenced during the wave of protests sparked by George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Black Lives Matter has gone mainstream — and black activists are carefully assessing how they should respond.
A few examples of the changed landscape:
Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican stalwart, joined a Black Lives Matter march. Some NASCAR drivers, whose fan base includes legions of conservative whites, embraced the phrase. So did NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and executives of all 30 major league teams. The mayor of Washington ordered the words painted in large letters on a street near the White House. Now, Black Lives Matter Plaza turns up in driving directions from Google Maps.
Like many black activists, Sakira Cook is pleased by such developments but also cautious. She and others worry that businesses and politicians will hijack the slogan without any real commitment to doing the hard work needed to fight racism.
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Several officers wounded in shootout with ambush suspect
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Several police officers were wounded Thursday in separate shootouts with a man suspected of ambushing and seriously injuring a deputy a day earlier. The suspect was “secured and unresponsive," authorities said.
Scores of police officers have been searching for Mason James Lira, 26, since early Wednesday when authorities said he opened fire on the Paso Robles police station on California’s Central Coast and then shot a San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy in the face. The deputy is in serious condition.
An Arroyo Grande police officer helping with the search was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with Lira at about 3 p.m., according to a post on the city of Arroyo Grande website that said the injury wasn’t life-threatening.
Later, after a second exchange of gunfire, the Paso Robles Police Department tweeted “Suspect down. Several officers wounded.” There was no immediate word on their conditions.
A San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Lira was “secured and is unresponsive.”
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'It's broken': Fears grow about strength of US voting system
ATLANTA (AP) — The chaos that plagued Georgia’s primary this week is raising concerns about a potential broader failure of the nation’s patchwork election system that could undermine the November presidential contest, political leaders and elections experts say.
With less than five months to go, fears are mounting that several battleground states are not prepared to administer problem-free elections during the pandemic.
The increasingly urgent concerns are both complex and simple: long lines disproportionately affecting voters of color in places like Atlanta with a history of voter suppression; a severe shortage of poll workers scared away by coronavirus concerns; and an emerging consensus that it could take several days after polls close on Election Day to determine a winner as battleground states struggle with an explosion of mail voting.
“We want a democracy in the United States we can showcase for the world, and right now it's broken and on full display," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Officials across the political spectrum have raised concerns, but there is a contrast in the level of urgency by party, and even by race.
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Black Tulsans call Trump rally plan 'a slap in the face'
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Black community and political leaders called on President Donald Trump to at least change the Juneteenth date for a rally kicking off his return to public campaigning, saying Thursday that plans for a rally on the day that marks the end of slavery in America come as a “slap in the face.”
Trump campaign officials discussed in advance the possible reaction to the Juneteenth date, but despite fierce blowback there are no plans to change it.
From Sen. Kamala Harris of California to Tulsa civic officials, black leaders said it was offensive for Trump to pick that day — June 19 — and that place — Tulsa, an Oklahoma city that in 1921 was the site of a fiery and orchestrated white-on-black killing spree.
“This isn’t just a wink to white supremacists — he’s throwing them a welcome home party,” Harris, a leading contender to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate, tweeted of Trump’s rally plans.
“To choose the date, to come to Tulsa, is totally disrespectful and a slap in the face to even happen,” said Sherry Gamble Smith, president of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce, an organization named after the prosperous black community that white Oklahomans burned down in the 1921 attack.
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Trump fumes as protesters stake out festive zone in Seattle
SEATTLE (AP) — Following days of violent confrontations with protesters, police in Seattle have largely withdrawn from part of a neighborhood where protesters have created a festival-like scene that has President Donald Trump fuming.
Trump taunted Gov. Jay Inslee and Mayor Jenny Durkan about the situation on Twitter and said the city had been taken over by “anarchists." “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will,” Trump tweeted.
The president continued his complaints in a Thursday interview with the Fox News Channel. “If we have to go in, we’re going to go in," Trump said. "These people are not going to occupy a major portion of a great city.”
The “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” stretches over a couple city blocks and sprung up after police on Monday removed barricades near the East Precinct and basically abandoned the structure after officers used tear gas, pepper spray and flash bangs over the weekend to disperse demonstrators they said were assaulting them with projectiles.
The president has sparred before with Inslee and Durkan — both liberal Democrats. Inslee previously sought his party's presidential nomination.
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Amid pandemic, scores of US Catholic schools face closure
Catholic schools have faced tough times for years, but the pace of closures is accelerating dramatically amid economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, sparking heartbreak and anger in scores of affected communities.
“It’s not a pretty picture right now,” said Sister Dale McDonald, public policy director of the National Catholic Educational Association, which says about 100 schools have announced in recent weeks that they won’t reopen this fall. McDonald fears that number could more than double in the coming months.
Most of the closures are occurring at the elementary level, but also on the list are a number of venerable and beloved high schools including some that produced some famous alumni.
The Institute of Notre Dame, a girls’ school in Baltimore founded in 1847, is due to close on June 30, to the dismay of alumnae like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Immaculate Conception Cathedral School of Memphis, Tennessee, another girls’ institution, is also shutting down after 98 years; it’s where Priscilla Beaulieu finished her senior year while dating husband-to-be Elvis Presley.
Closures in New Jersey include Hammonton's St. Joseph High School, which has won more than 20 state football championships, and Cristo Rey high school in Newark, which was highly praised for its work helping students from low-income families go to college. Founded in 2007, Cristo Rey says every one of its graduates from the last 10 years had been accepted at colleges.
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Kelly Clarkson seeks divorce from husband of nearly 7 years
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kelly Clarkson has filed for divorce from her husband of nearly seven years, Brandon Blackstock.
The singer, talk show host and judge on “The Voice” filed court papers to end the marriage under her married name Kelly Blackstock on June 4 in Los Angeles.
The 38-year-old Clarkson and the 43-year-old Blackstock have a 5-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son.
Clarkson cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split and requested that she not be required to pay Blackstock spousal support.
The filing asks that the singer's legal last name be restored to Clarkson and it indicates that the couple had a prenuptial agreement.