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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is slowly coming to accept that the Republican National Convention won't be the four-night infomercial for his reelection that he'd anticipated. Already the late August event has moved from North Carolina to Florida, and now coronavirus cases are spiking and there's an economic recession. Trump aides and allies are increasingly questioning whether the convention will be worth the trouble. Some are advocating that it be scrapped altogether. They reason that conventions are meant to lay out a candidate’s vision for the coming four years, not spark months of intrigue over the health and safety those who attend. Ultimately, the call on whether to move forward will be Trump’s alone.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any one state since the beginning of the pandemic. According to state Department of Health statistics released Sunday, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases. California had the previous record of daily positive cases — 11,694, four days ago. New York had 11,571 on April 15. The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week in Florida, with about 500 fatalities. On Sunday, 45 more deaths were reported. Throughout May and into June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The Australian white supremacist who admitting killing 51 worshippers in a mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques has dismissed his lawyers and will represent himself when he is sentenced next month. Brenton Harrison Tarrant had unexpectedly pleaded guilty in March to murder, attempted murder and terrorism. His sentencing hearing was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. It is scheduled to begin in Christchurch on Aug. 24. Tarrant faces life in prison. The judge has some discretion in deciding how many years he must serve before becoming eligible for parole.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that the first federal execution in nearly two decades may proceed as scheduled on Monday. The ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a lower court order that had put the execution of 47-year-old Daniel Lewis Lee on hold. Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday at a federal prison in Indiana. He was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Twenty-one people have suffered minor injuries in an explosion and fire Sunday on board a ship at Naval Base San Diego. The blaze was called in shortly before 9 a.m. on the USS Bonhomme Richard. The cause is under investigation. Officials don't immediately know where on the 840-foot amphibious assault vessel the fire was sparked. San Diego is the Bonhomme Richard’s home port, and it was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire. Officials said about 160 sailors and officers were on board — far fewer than the thousand typically on the ship when it’s on active duty.
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