March 2020

President uses wartime act, but GM says it’s already moving fast

DETROIT (AP) — Twelve days ago, General Motors put hundreds of workers on an urgent project to build breathing machines as hospitals and governors pleaded for more in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

But President Donald Trump, claiming the company wasn’t moving fast enough, on Friday invoked the Defense Production Act, which gives the government broad authority to direct companies to meet national defense needs.

Macy’s to furlough majority of its 130,000 workers

NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s will furlough a majority of its 130,000 workers with its stores dark.

The company on Monday said it is transitioning to an ‘’absolute minimum workforce” needed to maintain basic operations.

Online operations won’t be hit as hard.

Employees who are enrolled in health benefits will continue to receive coverage with the company covering 100% of the premium.

“We expect to bring colleagues back on a staggered basis as business resumes,”the company said.

Hundreds at church flout COVID-19 gatherings ban

CENTRAL (AP) — Hundreds of worshippers attended services at a Louisiana church on Sunday, flouting a ban on large gatherings, angering neighbors and seemingly turning a deaf ear to their governor, who once again warned that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed with new cases of the coronavirus.

An estimated 500 people of all ages filed inside the mustard-yellow and beige Life Tabernacle church in Central, a city of nearly 29,000 outside Baton Rouge.

Authorities: Woman who pointed gun at deputy shot in breast

GRETNA (AP) — A Louisiana woman who was shot through her breast by deputies after she pointed a gun at one of them has been charged, authorities said.

Mae Martin was also hospitalized for injuries on her arms Saturday night before she was booked into county jail, The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate reported. Deputies in Jefferson Parish followed Martin to her

Deputies in Jefferson Parish followed Martin to her home after receiving a disturbance call about a woman, later identified to be Martin, from a nearby business.

Tokyo Olympics reschedule for July 23-Aug. 8 in 2021

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics will open next year in the same time slot scheduled for this year’s games.

Tokyo organizers said Monday the opening ceremony will take place on July 23, 2021 — almost exactly one year after the games were due to start.

“The schedule for the games is key to preparing for the games,” Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said. “This will only accelerate our progress.”

Last week, the IOC and Japanese organizers postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

School shutdowns raise stakes of digital divide for students

WINNSBORO, S.C. (AP) — Students struggling to get online in a rural South Carolina county received a boost last week with the arrival of six buses equipped with Wi-Fi, some of the hundreds the state has rolled out since schools were closed by the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump extends guidelines, braces US for big death toll

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bracing the nation for a coronavirus death toll that could exceed 100,000 people, President Donald Trump extended restrictive social distancing guidelines through April, bowing to public health experts who presented him with even more dire projections for the expanding coronavirus pandemic.

It was a stark shift in tone by the Republican president, who only days ago mused about the country reopening in a few weeks. From the Rose Garden, he said his Easter revival hopes had only been “aspirational.”

Dutch museum says painting stolen in overnight raid

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A painting by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh was stolen in an overnight smashand-grab raid on a museum that was closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, police and the museum said Monday.

The Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam said that “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884 “ by the Dutch master was taken in the early hours of Monday. By early afternoon, all that could be seen from the outside of the museum was a large white panel covering a door in the building’s glass facade.

Texas tightens rules on La. over virus

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas is ratcheting up restrictions on neighboring Louisiana, one of the growing hot spots for coronavirus in the U.S., and preparing Dallas’ downtown convention center to house infected patients as Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday announced a sweeping series of moves to both slow and manage the growing pandemic.

Navy hospital ship arrives in NYC to back up health systems

NEW YORK (AP) — A Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds arrived Monday in New York City as officials pressed for more federal help. Mayor Bill de Blasio said President Donald Trump’s suggestion that thousands of medical masks are disappearing from New York City hospitals is “insulting” to front-line medical workers.

The latest coronavirus developments in New York:

HOSPITAL SHIP

A Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds arrived Monday morning in New York City to help relieve the coronavirus crisis gripping the city’s hospitals.