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VIRUS OUTBREAK-TEXAS
Texas coronavirus cases include more than 80 infants
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A health official on the Texas Gulf Coast says 85 infants have tested positive for the coronavirus. Corpus Christi Nueces County Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez said Friday that the 85 infants are each younger than 1, but offered no details and did not return messages for comment Saturday from The Associated Press. Texas health officials reported more than 10,000 new cases for a fifth consecutive day and said 130 more people have died due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
COMMERCE SECRETARY
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross hospitalized, 'minor' issues
WASHINGTON (AP) — A department spokesperson says Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been hospitalized for “minor, non-coronavirus related issues." The spokesperson says in a statement that the 82-year-old Ross is “doing well" and is expected to be released from the hospital soon. The department hasn't immediately responded to a request for additional details. Ross is a former banker known for acquiring and restructuring failed companies. He was confirmed as commerce secretary in February 2017.
RACIAL INJUSTICE-PORTLAND
Oregon sues feds over Portland protests as unrest continues
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s attorney general is seeking an order to stop federal agents from arresting people in Portland as the city continues to be convulsed by nightly protests that have gone on for seven weeks and have now pitted local officials against the Trump administration. Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and some wearing dark Homeland Security uniforms, used tear gas at least twice to break up crowds late Friday night. Demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality have happened daily in Oregon’s largest city since Minneapolis police killed George Floyd on May 25. President Donald Trump has decried the disorder, and Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf blasted the protesters as “lawless anarchists.”
AP-US-ELECTION-2020-VOTING-BALLOT-POSTAGE
Cost, hassle of stamps questioned as mail-in voting surges
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — As more states embrace mail-in balloting, an often overlooked detail has emerged as a partisan dividing line: postage. Questions over whether to require postage for absentee ballot applications and the ballots themselves, who pays for it and what happens to envelopes without stamps are the subject of lawsuits and statehouse political brawls. Lawsuits in Florida, Georgia and other states argue that stamps constitute a monetary requirement akin to a poll tax. Voting-rights groups say they're just another impediment to voting. The debate has become vehement in Ohio, where legislation would explicitly prohibit the state’s elections chief from pre-paying postage.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-CONGRESS
No end in sight, Congress confronts new virus crisis rescue
WASHINGTON (AP) — When Congress approved the eye-popping $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill in March, it was the biggest rescue of its kind in U.S. history. Now, with the pandemic worsening, it's clear that package was only the start, and Congress returns to work Monday to try to draft another one. The current round of aid is running out. Extra employment benefits expire and so does a federal eviction freeze. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is poised to roll out his $1 trillion-plus proposal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi already has pushed through a more sweeping $3 trillion effort. Big spending that Congress hoped to avoid now seems inevitable.
EUROPE-SUMMIT
EU leaders extend summit as they haggle over budget, virus
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have extended their summit for an extra day on Sunday in the hope they are finally closing in on a deal for an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund. Agreement appears still far off, but several key nations say negotiations are at least heading in the right direction despite anxieties that are running high after months of battling the pandemic. The 27 leaders are debating how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attached. Austria's chancellor says the talks are tough going but adds that “things are moving in the right direction.” The EU executive has proposed a 750 billion-euro fund of loans and grants to be sent to the EU countries hardest hit by the pandemic.
TRADER JOE'S-LABEL CHANGE
Petition urges Trader Joe's to change ethnic food labels
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In the latest call to re-name racially charged brands and logos, nearly 1,000 people have signed an online petition urging Trader Joe's to stop labeling its international food products with ethnic-sounding names. The petition says labeling Chinese, Mexican or Italian food under the labels “Trader Ming's,” “Trader Jose,” or “Trader Giotto's” is racist because it exoticizes other cultures. In response, the grocery store chain said it decided several years ago to use only the Trader Joe’s name on its products and has been in the process of updating the ethnic-sounding labels. The company said it will soon complete the work.
BELIZE AMBASSADOR NOMINATION
Trump nominates former SC official for Belize ambassadorship
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Donald Trump has nominated South Carolina’s former lieutenant governor to be the next ambassador to Belize. News outlets report the White House announced Friday that Andre Bauer’s nomination still needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before it’s official. The ambassador’s post has been vacant since the term of the previous ambassador, Carlos Moreno, concluded with the end of the Obama administration. Bauer served as former Gov. Mark Sanford’s second-in-command from 2003 to 2011. He also ran unsuccessful bids for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010 and for the state’s 7th Congressional District in 2012.
AP-US-OBIT-LEWIS-A-LIFE
Remembering John Lewis, rights icon and `American hero'
WASHINGTON (AP) — John Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, has died. He was 80. Lewis was the last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was best known for leading 600 protesters in the 1965 Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Lewis was knocked to the ground and beaten by state troopers. Televised images forced the country’s attention on racial oppression. A Democrat from Atlanta, he won his U.S. House seat in 1986.
MISSING DOG-OLD HOME
Kansas dog makes 50-mile trek to her old home in Missouri
LAWSON, Mo. (AP) — A dog named Cleo who disappeared from her home in Kansas earlier this month turned up a few days later at her old home in Missouri, about 50 miles away. Colton Michael told television station KMBC this week that the 4-year-old Labrador retriever-border collie mix showed up on his family’s front porch in Lawson, Missouri. He says she was scared at first and wouldn't let anyone near her, but he eventually gained her trust and had her checked for a microchip. It showed that she belonged to the family that had owned his home before he bought it nearly two years ago. They were amazed when he called with the good news.
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