Here is the latest news from The Associated Press at 11:40 p.m. EST

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Scrambling to keep the coronavirus at bay, officials have ordered a cruise ship to stay back from the California coast until some of the 3,500 people aboard can be tested. A passenger on an earlier voyage of the ship died of the disease, and at least two others became infected. A military helicopter delivered test kits Thursday to the Grand Princess, which is anchored off Northern California. The results are expected Friday. Meanwhile, the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has reached 12. All but one of the victims have been in Washington state.

CAMP MURRAY, Wash. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence has pledged the full support of the Trump administration to Washington state officials as the coronavirus death toll there continues to mount. The Seattle area has been the hardest hit by coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., with at least 70 confirmed infections and 11 dead. Pence toured the state's emergency response center and told workers, “We know you're the front line." Earlier, Pence called on members of the public to hold off on buying face masks unless they're sick, saying health professionals need the masks more. And he said the U.S. has made “real progress” in addressing a shortage of coronavirus test kits.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — President Donald Trump defended his administration's response to the coronavirus and his confrontational style of name-calling political opponents as he fielded questions from the public in his first TV town hall of the 2020 election cycle. Trump regularly calls his top Democratic presidential opponents “Sleepy Joe" and “Crazy Bernie." Asked whether he could deliver his message without the controversial rhetoric, the president replied: “When they hit us, we have to hit back ... You can't turn your cheek.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has sharply rebuked Attorney General William Barr's handling of the special counsel's Russia report. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton says Barr made a “calculated effort" to spin the investigation's findings in favor of President Donald Trump and showed a “lack of candor." He delivered the criticism in a 23-page ruling in which he said he would review an unredacted version of the Mueller report before deciding what additional information from the document should be publicly disclosed. Walton says he needs to review the document itself because he cannot trust that the Justice Department's redactions of the report were made in good faith.

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — A man convicted as an accomplice in the 2004 shooting deaths of three police officers in which another man pulled the trigger has been executed in Alabama. Authorities said 43-year-old Nathaniel Woods was pronounced dead at 9:01 p.m. CST Thursday after a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore. Woods was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of the Birmingham officers. Though evidence showed his convicted co-defendant did the shooting, prosecutors said Woods was an accomplice and deserved to die for the killings. Supporters including Martin Luther King III argued that executing Woods was unjust. No execution date has been set for Woods' co-defendant, Kerry Spencer.

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