| THE BIG STORY The killing of Ahmaud Arbery
A Georgia prosecutor announced a grand jury will determine whether to bring charges against the killers of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man shot dead by two white men who pursued him through their neighborhood. The announcement came on the same day that video of the shooting was made public.
Arbery’s family say he was a frequent jogger, and simply taking a run through a neighborhood near his home when he was killed. The men who shot him, Gregory McMichael, 64 and his son Travis, 34, told police they suspected he was a burglar and chased him in their pickup truck, armed with a shotgun and a handgun.
Arbery’s killing has received some attention since it happened in February, but the video of the incident released yesterday has turned it into a major national story. “The video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood,” Joe Biden tweeted. “My heart goes out to his family, who deserve justice and deserve it now. It is time for a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder.”
STAYING ON TOP OF THIS The other crisis at our hospitals
Hospital systems in hard-hit states like New York and Michigan are struggling to cope with the immense challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis. But those very same hospitals — and facilities like them all across the country — are also facing a financial crisis like nothing seen before.
Hospitals and health systems nationwide are expected to lose more than $200 billion in just the four months from March to June, Venessa Wong reports. While devoting extensive resources to the coronavirus crisis, they’ve also lost huge amounts of their regular business, including the stuff that typically pays the bills at a big hospital.
The result is those vast losses. “It is a catastrophic number,” said Aaron Wesolowski of the American Hospital Association. “It’s clear there are going to be serious financial consequences for hospitals and health systems.” It also means a whole lot of layoffs: Total employment in the industry dropped by 43,000 jobs in February and March, a number that is still growing.
Health care workers gather for lunch purchased by members of the New York City Police Department outside the Brooklyn Hospital Center. (Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters) SNAPSHOTS 3.2 million people filed for unemployment last week. The data, released this morning, brings the total number of unemployment claims since the crisis began to over 33 million.
The Governor of Texas privately acknowledged that reopening the state will lead to a spike of coronavirus cases there. “The more that you have people out there, the greater the possibility is for transmission," he told lawmakers on a call.
A city in India has ordered its entire population to install the country’s coronavirus tracing app. Residents of Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, will face a fine or jail time if they don’t have the app.
A nominee for one of the country’s most powerful courts defended giving a speech where he promised to fight for “Brett Kavanaugh’s America.” If confirmed, Justin Walker, aged 37, will be one of the youngest federal appeals court judges in the country.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been accused by the Trump administration of causing the coronavirus outbreak, despite scientists ruling out that COVID-19 is a product of genetic engineering. Here’s what we know about the sometimes-controversial scientific research it was doing.
Virologist Shi Zhengli, head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (Johannes Eisele / Getty Images) HELP US KEEP QUALITY NEWS FREE FOR ALL
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THE MASK HUSTLE Return of the $69 million man
You may remember reading about Yaron Oren-Pines, the California entrepreneur who tweeted an offer of ventilators at President Trump and received a $69 million order from New York City just a few days later.
It turns out that wasn’t his first attempt to sell a large amount of gear to the government by posting on social networks. A week before his fateful tweet at the president, Oren-Pines made a similar offer on Nextdoor, the neighborhood social network more commonly used to complain about potholes or give away an old TV stand.
“3M 1860 N-95 Masks - Very large quantities for Government - please help,” an account in his name posted on the San Jose Nextdoor site on March 21. “Those are the masks that everyone (in the world) is searching for.”
It appears the offer didn’t succeed — California’s Department of Public Health says it has not done any business with him. The Nextdoor post got a skeptical response: “Scam” replied one user. But as we now know, he had better luck a week later when he tweeted at the president.
Damian Dovarganes / AP VERY GOOD DOGS That’s it, that’s the story
As regular readers know, this is a pro-dog newsletter. The editorial board of this publication will never back down from our vigorous support for dogs and their essential goodness. And with that being said, we’re happy to bring you the news of an extremely good pair of golden retrievers.
Buddy and Barley live with their humans Karen Heuwetter and her husband, Mark, who own a microbrewery in Long Island, New York. They’re usually found hanging out at the brewery and its tap room, but with regular business shut down, they’ve become a feature of its new home delivery operation. Meet the brew dogs:
Those are symbolic, empty cans on their collars – customers generally love the dogs, but aren’t in the market for cans of shaken-up beer. Their primary role is to do what golden retrievers do best. "When they go out and make people smile, I think people really like that,” Heuwetter told CBS News. ‘In fact, people need that these days, so when they put a smile on people's faces they're doing their job — which, by nature, is easy for them." Learn from Buddy and Barley and put a smile on someone’s face today, Tom P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (monthly memberships are available worldwide) 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Tom Gara and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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