He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus  —  An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response.

Herald drafted a suit seeking ALF records.  DeSantis aide pressured law firm not to file it  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' general counsel called a representative of the Miami Herald's law firm seeking to quash a public records lawsuit that would force the state to divulge the names …

White House rejects bailout for U.S. Postal Service battered by coronavirus  —  The pandemic has pushed USPS to the brink, but Trump and Mnuchin shot down emergency aid  —  Through rain, sleet, hail, and even a pandemic, mail carriers serve every address in the United States …

Trump administration has many task forces — but still no plan for beating covid-19  —  The Trump administration still has no clear plan for ending the coronavirus crisis, but it does have many task forces.  —  There is the official task force led by Vice President Pence that meets daily …

The odds on who Joe Biden will pick as his female vice president candidate  —  With Sen. Bernie Sanders out of the race, the Joe Biden campaign is now moving into the fraught and delicate process of choosing a running mate.  —  Biden, at age 77, would be the oldest president ever elected …

WikiLeaks boss Julian Assange fathered two children inside the Ecuadorian embassy with lawyer, 37, who fell in love with him while helping his fight against extradition to the US  —  Julian Assange secretly fathered two sons while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Texas to Ease Coronavirus Lockdown Under Executive Order to ‘Restore Livelihoods,’ Governor Says  —  Republican governor of Texas Greg Abbott said he plans to allow businesses to reopen with an executive order that would lift the coronavirus lockdown in a “safe” way.

New signs suggest coronavirus was in California far earlier than anyone knew  —  A man found dead in his house in early March.  A woman who fell sick in mid-February and later died.  —  These early COVID-19 deaths in the San Francisco Bay Area suggest that the novel coronavirus had established itself …

Stanley Chera, titan of NYC retail, dies of coronavirus  —  Crown Acquisitions founder built one of city's most prominent property portfolios; was key figure in Trump's rise  —  Stanley I. Chera, who parlayed his father's Brooklyn department store business into one of New York real estate's …

How a stockpile of 39 million masks was exposed as fake  —  A powerful California union that claimed to have discovered 39 million masks for healthcare workers fighting the novel coronavirus was duped in an elaborate scam uncovered by FBI investigators, the U.S. attorney's office said Friday.

We Are All Living in the 19th Century Right Now  —  It's not the 19th century.  It just feels like it.  —  It's been a hundred and two years since the last major pandemic swept America: the 1918 flu pandemic (known as the Spanish flu because Spain was the only country to accurately report it).

Trump Administration Tells Employers Not To Worry About Recording COVID-19 Cases  —  Only health care facilities and select other employers will have to figure out if infections happened at work.  Safety advocates are beside themselves.  —  The Trump administration announced Friday afternoon …

Why Ron DeSantis' popularity has taken a hit since the pandemic started  —  The approval ratings of most governors have soared during the crisis.  DeSantis has seen his support plummet amid a confusing, conflicting response.  —  TALLAHASSEE — From New York to Ohio to California …

Experts fear ‘national naivete’ on COVID optimism  —  After an unprecedented month of strict social distancing and an economic lockdown that has cost tens of millions of jobs and untold billions in damage, Americans saw the faintest glimmers of hope last week that the worst of the coronavirus crisis may be passing.

Conservative Operatives Float Plan to Place Retired Military, Police Officers as GOP Poll Watchers on Election Day  —  On Election Day in November, some polling places could be patrolled by off-duty police officers and veterans, according to a plan hatched by Republican operatives.

Trump leaves trail of unmet promises in coronavirus response  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — For several months, President Donald Trump and his officials have cast a fog of promises meant to reassure a country in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.  Trump and his team haven't delivered on critical ones.

Life and Death as Hospitals Fight the Coronavirus in the Bronx  —  “If people saw this, they would stay home.”  What the war against the coronavirus looks like inside two Bronx hospitals.  —  This is not a time to die.  —  Terror, pain and loneliness mingle in the air with the coronavirus in the …

Coronavirus In Five States  —  The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation produces the coronavirus model that currently seems to be getting the most attention.  For now, IHME is sticking with its projection of 61,545 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by August 4.

As feds play ‘backup,’ states take unorthodox steps to compete in cutthroat global market for coronavirus supplies  —  Rushing to stave off a shortage of medical-grade protective gear to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Minnesota officials leaned on a local company's global connections …

Trump's Socially Distanced Campaign Backed by a new loyalist press secretary, the president's coronavirus briefings have replaced reelection rallies.  —  We're committed to keeping our readers informed. … Donald Trump glances up at the TVs on the wall or down at the newspapers on his desk.

The Costly Toll of Not Shutting Down Spring Break Earlier  —  People got sick — and some died — after attending crowded parties and theme parks in Florida as the coronavirus spread.  —  MIAMI — You could find Beatriz Diaz at this spring's Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach, giving out hand sanitizer.

Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic  —  With restaurants, hotels and schools closed, many of the nation's largest farms are destroying millions of pounds of fresh goods that they can no longer sell.  —  In Wisconsin and Ohio, farmers are dumping thousands …

With Each Briefing, Trump Is Making Us Worse People  —  There has never been an American president as spiritually impoverished as Donald Trump.  And his spiritual poverty, like an overdrawn checking account that keeps imposing new penalties on a customer already in difficult straits …

Whoosh!  That Car That Just Soared by Might Be Heading for the Coast  —  With far less traffic thanks to coronavirus-induced quarantines, drivers are pushing down hard on their accelerators.  Tickets, and records, are the result.  —  NOVATO, Calif. — A white 2019 Audi A8 L sedan …

Cruz Slams Feinstein: Trying To Send Millions To Iran, While Blocking Relief To American Businesses  —  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz unloaded on his Democratic colleagues on Friday in response to Sen. Dianne Feinstein sending a letter to President Trump declaring that she is “disappointed” …