TOP STORIES

‌

Thursday, May 14

‌

'NOT ACCEPTABLE': TRUMP UNDERCUTS FAUCI President Donald Trump urged schools to reopen “as soon as possible” as the coronavirus continues to spread, dismissing infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci’s calls for caution. “He wants to play all sides of the equation,” the president said of Fauci. “I was surprised by his answer,” Trump added, “because you know it’s just to me, it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.” Trump was referencing Fauci’s testimony to the Senate warning lawmakers that reopening the country too soon could lead to “suffering and death that could be avoided.” [HuffPost]

‌

WHO WARNS: COVID-19 'MAY NEVER GO AWAY' New coronavirus clusters have surfaced around the world as nations struggle to balance reopening with preventing a second wave. Authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan reportedly pressed ahead to test all 11 million residents for the virus within 10 days after a handful of new infections were found. In Lebanon, authorities reinstated a nationwide lockdown for four days. “This virus may never go away,” top WHO official Dr. Michael Ryan said. Without a vaccine, he said, it could take years for the global population to build up sufficient immunity. [AP]

‌

KENTUCKY GOV. DEMANDS PROBE OF BREONNA TAYLOR KILLING Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is calling for an investigation into the police killing of a Black first responder shot dead in her own home. Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot eight times by Louisville Metro police officers on March 13 after they entered her apartment with a drug warrant looking for someone else. “The commonwealth’s attorney, the U.S. attorney and the Kentucky attorney general should carefully review the results of the initial investigation to ensure justice is done at a time when many are concerned that justice is not blind,” Beshear said. [HuffPost]

• The strange origins of Trump's hydroxychloroquine obsession.
• This face mask sock hack is so simple -- but is it effective?
• 10 photos that show how restaurants around the world are social distancing.
• Matt Damon says his daughter Alexia had coronavirus, but "got through it fine."
• Zoom and FaceTime are the new normal, but they're making me sick.
• How California is preparing for wildfire season amid a pandemic.
• "Our dreams are dead": India's migrant workers just want a shot at survival now.
• How Europe is getting people back to work.
• Canada will be "very, very careful" about reopening border with America.

Get the latest coronavirus updates on our dedicated page

WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT BLOCKS STAY-AT-HOME ORDER Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ administration overstepped its authority when it extended the governor’s stay-at-home order through the end of May, the state Supreme Court ruled. Evers issued a stay-at-home order in March that closed schools and nonessential businesses. The closures battered the state economy, but Evers argued they were necessary to slow the virus’ spread. The order was supposed to lift on April 24, but Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Andrea Palm, an Evers appointee, extended it to May 26. [AP]

‌

TRUMP CITES VIRUS AS REASON TO EXPEL MIGRANT YOUTHS The young migrants and asylum seekers swim across the Rio Grande and clamber into the dense brush of Texas. Many are teens who left Central America on their own; others were sent along by parents from refugee camps in Mexico. They are as young as 10. Under U.S. law they would normally be allowed to live with relatives while their cases wind through immigration courts. Instead, the Trump administration is quickly expelling them under an emergency declaration citing the coronavirus pandemic, with 600 minors expelled in April alone. [AP]

‌

WHITE SUPREMACIST REP. STEVE KING CLAIMS GOP HOUSE LEADER WILL GIVE HIM 'EXONERATION' Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) claims he and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) have agreed to a process that will see King reinstated to committee seats he lost last year as punishment for making remarks condoning white supremacy. “On April 20, Kevin McCarthy and I reached an agreement that he would advocate to the steering committee to put all of my committees back, all of my seniority,” King said at a Monday debate with his Republican primary opponents, according to the Sioux City Journal. [HuffPost]

‌

FBI SEIZES GOP SENATOR'S CELLPHONE IN VIRUS TRADING PROBE FBI agents took the cellphone of Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, in their investigation into whether some lawmakers tried to profit from closed-door coronavirus briefings. Burr and three other senators sold investments after they were warned of the impending threat. [HuffPost]

WHAT'S BREWING

‌

PURGED VIRUS WHISTLEBLOWER TO TESTIFY THAT TRUMP WAS UNPREPARED FOR COVID-19 Rick Bright, the recently ousted government vaccine official, will testify before Congress on Thursday that the Trump administration was unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic and that the U.S. may soon face its “darkest winter in modern history.” “The world is confronting a great public health emergency which has the potential to eclipse the devastation wrought by the 1918 influenza which globally claimed over 50 million lives,” Bright says in his prepared remarks. [HuffPost]

‌

JUDGE WEIGHS HOLDING FLYNN IN CONTEMPT The federal judge overseeing the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn is considering holding him in criminal contempt for perjury and has appointed a former judge to argue against the Trump administration’s attempt to drop the case against him. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan exercised his “inherent authority” to appoint former judge John Gleeson to present arguments in opposition to the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case against the former Trump administration official. [HuffPost]

‌

OBAMA SPEAKS OUT AGAIN Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged a better government response to the coronavirus pandemic, just days after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told him he “should’ve kept his mouth shut” about the issue. McConnell also called Obama “classless” for criticizing President Donald Trump. Obama hasn’t publicly criticized Trump by name and didn’t do so on Wednesday. Instead, he urged “better policy decisions” to fight the infections and protect people from the economic fallout as he shared a Vox report with expert ideas on countering the COVID-19 virus. [HuffPost]

‌

KUSHNER WALKS BACK ELECTION POSTPONEMENT COMMENTS 

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, clarified his comments causing speculation that the White House may try to push back the November election. By law, the general election must take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and the president ― let alone a single staffer ― does not have sole authority to change that. It would require an act of Congress. But Kushner raised eyebrows with his comments in a video interview released Tuesday about the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus in America. [HuffPost]

‌

BIDEN CALLS FOR RENT FORGIVENESS Joe Biden believes rent and mortgage payments should be forgiven during the coronavirus pandemic, he said in an interview, though his campaign was sparse on details. Asked by journalist Peter Hamby whether it was possible for there to be “some kind of federal rent bailout,” Biden replied: “Absolutely ... There should be rent forgiveness and there should be mortgage forgiveness now in the middle of this crisis.. Forgiveness. Not paid later, forgiveness. It’s critically important to people who are in the lower-income strata.” [HuffPost]

‌

SENATE REJECTS BID TO PREVENT WARRENTLESS INTERNET SURVEILLANCE The Senate narrowly defeated a measure seeking to prevent Americans’ internet browsing and search histories from warrantless surveillance by the federal government. The vote was 59 in favor, 37 opposed ― short of the necessary 60 votes needed for adoption. “Is it right at this unique time when millions of law-abiding citizens are at home, for the government to be able to spy on their internet searches and web browsing without a warrant?” asked Sen Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “That’s exactly what the government has the power to do without our amendment.” [HuffPost]

‌

GOP FLIPS KATIE HILL'S OLD HOUSE SEAT Republican Mike Garcia defeated Democrat Christy Smith in Tuesday’s special election for a vacant congressional seat in a swing district in the Los Angeles suburbs. Garcia, a defense industry executive, and Smith, a state assembly member, were competing to replace former Rep. Katie Hill, a Democrat who resigned last year amid a scandal. Garcia will complete the rest of Hill’s term and will face Smith again in November in a general election for the term that begins in January 2021. Although votes are still being counted, Smith conceded on Wednesday. [HuffPost]

• In a first, renewable energy is poised to eclipse coal in the U.S.
• Black light video shows speed of COVID-19 spread.
• Lessons from Slovakia -- where leaders where masks.
• How a global industry told us a lie about sleep.
• "My boss wants to cut my hours, but keep my workload."
• We are living in the age of the Black-panic defense.
• Cats can transmit the coronavirus to each other, but they probably won't get sick from it.
• The U.S. would be first to get a French drugmaker's vaccine if it works, and France is not happy.

Illustrated PSA

The world is trying to cope with the coronavirus, from the serious to the mundane. We’re dealing with jamming full lives into one apartment or house, and trying to stay calm about a world full of an invisible virus. We’re trying to learn how to homeschool our kids, or to make bread for ourselves. It’s a whole new world, and HuffPost is launching a new illustrated series about how to live in it.

‌

Each week, we’ll feature an artist offering their vision for how to handle the world as it is today. We hope they make you think, make you smile, or just offer something to do other than staring wistfully out the windows.

‌

Click on the image to see a full-size version. See previous entries in the series here.

Illustration by Erik Carter

BEFORE YOU GO

Everyone deserves accurate information about COVID-19. Support journalism without a paywall — and keep it free for everyone — by becoming a HuffPost member today.