| Trump claims he always took coronavirus seriously, but the record says otherwise Posted: 18 Mar 2020 07:01 AM PDT  The president said he "felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic," but the record shows he downplayed it for weeks.
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| Coronavirus: State Department tells Americans: 'Do not travel' abroad, come home if overseas Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:14 PM PDT  The U.S. State Department is set to issue its highest advisory for Americans traveling abroad Thursday, urging them to return home because of the coronavirus.
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| US jails begin releasing prisoners to stem Covid-19 infections Posted: 19 Mar 2020 12:43 PM PDT  High profile inmates like ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen are among those who have asked for early release.
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| For the 1st time since coronavirus outbreak began, China reports no new local infections Posted: 18 Mar 2020 08:01 PM PDT  On Thursday, China announced that there were no local COVID-19 coronavirus infections reported in the country on Wednesday, for the first time since the outbreak started late last year.There were 34 infections diagnosed, but all involved people who came to China from other countries, China's National Health Commission said. Of those infections, 21 cases were in Beijing.After originally mismanaging the outbreak — residents complained of food shortages and a lack of hospital beds and test kits — and even punishing doctors who tried to spread the word, China enforced quarantines, shut down factories, and kept people out of cities they didn't live in. There are 80,928 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in mainland China, with the death toll at 3,245.More stories from theweek.com Lindsey Graham is reportedly trying to talk Trump out of coronavirus relief checks for Americans 7 funny cartoons about coronavirus hoarding Senate GOP prioritizes business tax cuts in coronavirus stimulus package
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| Is spring break over? Local Florida officials close beaches after gov refuses to. Posted: 19 Mar 2020 10:24 AM PDT  At the height of the spring break rush, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he would not order the beaches closed.
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| Detained US veteran released on medical furlough in Iran: Pompeo Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:37 AM PDT  A US military veteran imprisoned in Iran was freed Thursday for medical reasons on condition that he stay in the country, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Michael White has been transferred for medical examinations to the Swiss embassy, which represents US interests in Tehran in the absence of diplomatic relations, Pompeo said. "The United States will continue to work for Michael's full release as well as the release of all wrongfully detained Americans in Iran," he added.
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| Two cruise ships turned away in Honolulu despite no positive coronavirus cases onboard Posted: 19 Mar 2020 07:58 AM PDT  Two cruise ships won't be allowed to disembark in Honolulu after being turned away by other ports, even with no positive cases of coronavirus on either vessel, officials said Wednesday.
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| 2 cruise ships not allowed to disembark in Honolulu Posted: 18 Mar 2020 12:00 PM PDT  Two cruise ships won't be allowed to disembark in Honolulu after being turned away by other ports, even with no positive cases of coronavirus on either vessel, officials said Wednesday. State and cruise line officials previously said passengers would disembark at Honolulu Harbor.
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| 'Well-connected' go first on coronavirus tests, Trump acknowledges: 'That's been the story of life' Posted: 18 Mar 2020 12:02 PM PDT  Amid a federal shortage of tests for the coronavirus, President Trump acknowledged the apparent unfairness in who had been able to receive them so far, saying, "That's been the story of life."
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| The Inevitable Shoe Drops: DOJ Dismisses Mueller’s Charges against Russian Businesses Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:30 AM PDT  More than an investigation, the Mueller probe was the wellspring of a political narrative. That becomes clearer as time goes by and more information ekes out . . . such as new confirmation that, months before Mueller was appointed in May 2017, it was already well understood in Justice Department circles that there was no case of criminal "collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia.Never was that made more obvious than by the Justice Department's quiet announcement late Monday, under the five-alarm noise of the coronavirus scare, that it has dropped the special counsel's indictment of Russian companies -- an outcome I predicted here at National Review nearly two years ago.A little refresher is in order.As detailed here many times, one of the biggest problems confronting those weaving the collusion tale was the inability to prove that Russia hacked the Democratic email accounts. As Ball of Collusion outlines, that's not the only fundamental problem. There is also the fact that the Democratic emails, in which Hillary Clinton was not an active correspondent, did not actually hurt her campaign at all -- certainly not the way her own email scandal did (a scandal for which there was no way to blame Moscow). There is also the dearth of evidence that the Trump campaign was even aware of, much less complicit in, Kremlin intelligence operations. Still, very basically, it would be impossible to prove that Trump had conspired in Russia's hacking unless prosecutors could first establish that Russia had done the hacking.Let me repeat something else I said several times: This is not to say that Russia is innocent. Again, I accept the intelligence agencies' conclusion on this point (though a number of others, including some former U.S. intelligence officials, do not). But the point is that Mueller could never have proved it beyond a reasonable doubt under courtroom due-process standards. Any competent defense lawyer would have had a field day with the Obama Justice Department's failure to have the FBI take possession and conduct its own forensic examination of the servers that were hacked. And what fun defense counsel would have had with DOJ's delegation of that rudimentary investigative task to a DNC contractor with close ties to the Clinton campaign. (Yes, the forensic conclusions blaming Russia were paid for by the same folks who brought you the famously dodgy Steele dossier.)Speaking of dodgy, recall that Team Mueller and the Justice Department dodged every case that would have called for proving Russia's cyber theft. Even when they indicted WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange, the very Ground Zero of "collusion," they resisted charging him with the Russian hacking scheme. Given that prosecutors and the FBI spent years investigating the president of the United States for this crime of the century, it should seem astonishing that they passed on charging the guy they've told us is the central conspirator with this crime. But you weren't astonished if you were reading National Review . . . because you knew they were not going to charge any crime that called for proving Russia's culpability in court. Their evidence is shaky and, if there were ever an acquittal, the Trump-Russia political narrative would be kaput, while the Putin regime celebrated a huge propaganda coup.So why did Team Mueller publicly file an indictment against Russians?Because they figured it was a freebie. The prosecutors assumed that they would never have to . . . you know . . . prove the case. The Russian defendants were in Russia. There was no way Putin would ever extradite them for an American criminal trial. The prosecutors knew that. What they wrote was not meant to be a real indictment. It was meant to be a press release. It was meant to be what Team Mueller was best at: the spinning of a narrative. I explained it this way at the time:> When prosecutors are serious about nabbing law-breakers who are at large, they do not file an indictment publicly. That would just induce the offenders to flee to or remain in their safe havens. Instead, prosecutors file their indictment under seal, ask the court to issue arrest warrants, and quietly go about the business of locating and apprehending the defendants charged. In the Russia case, however, the indictment was filed publicly even though the defendants are at large. That is because the Justice Department and the special counsel know the Russians will stay safely in Russia. Mueller's allegations will never be tested in court. That makes his indictment more a political statement than a charging instrument. To the extent there are questions about whether Russia truly meddled in the election, the special counsel wants to end that discussion.It all seemed so well choreographed. The indictment was, of course, reported as gospel-truth by the anti-Trump media -- the same folks who tell you, whenever a Democrat is charged with a crime, that an indictment is merely an allegation, that nothing is proven until it's proven in court.Alas, Team Mueller made a mistake. A reckless bet, the kind made by people under the misimpression that they are playing with the house's money. To quote from my column nearly two years ago:> [Team Mueller] charged not only Russian individuals but three Russian businesses. A business doesn't have the same risks as a person. A business can't be thrown in jail. And while members of Mueller's prosecutorial stable have a history of putting real businesses out of business, a business that is run by a Putin crony and serves as a front for Kremlin operations is not too worried about that either.Since they had no concerns about being imprisoned or bankrupted by prosecution and fines, there was nothing to discourage these businesses from doing what Team Mueller blithely assumed no Russian defendant would ever do: retaining lawyers to show up in federal court, demanding the trial to which American law entitled the companies, and demanding all the discovery to which American due process guaranteed them access.It was a debacle.First, the prosecutors tried to get the case and all pretrial discovery postponed on the ground that the businesses in question, Concord Management and Concord Consulting (each controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a food-supply oligarch said to be a Putin crony), had not been properly served with the indictment. This was absurd. Service of process is the way you get a business to come to court; these businesses were already in court, demanding to proceed with the prosecution that Team Mueller had chosen to start.The businesses then pressed the government to provide them with all the evidence and other discovery the law requires prosecutors to disclose. Team Mueller countered that they couldn't do that because it would harm national security. That's ridiculous. Imagine if I were prosecuting a mafia hitman and refused to make discovery, reasoning that the mafia might find out what's in my files. The judge would hold me in contempt, or dismiss the case -- or both. As a prosecutor, if you're worried that the security implications of disclosure are too great a risk, you don't charge the case. But if you file charges, there is no getting around disclosure obligations.Being forced to make disclosure did not go well for Team Mueller and his Justice Department successors. As they had to concede, there was no evidence that the Russians who carried out the troll farm scheme were directed by the Russian government. Stopping short of such an allegation, the indictment claimed the defendants were backed by Prigozhin -- which was quite the comedown from the Justice Department's drum-beating about Russia's "information warfare."Moreover, as the trial judge groused, the troll-farm indictment was "difficult to follow." Team Mueller's evidence was not even strong enough to allege that the defendants were actual Russian agents. Prosecutors thus crafted, shall we say, a creative theory: The defendants had "defrauded the United States" by failing to disclose their Russian identities and affiliations, which purportedly undermined the ability of U.S. bureaucracies to maintain a registry of foreign agents and enforce the campaign-finance laws. Except . . . it was unclear that the defendants had a legal duty to report information in the first place. How do you establish the criminality of concealment if there is no requirement to disclose?Finally, despite all the huffing and puffing about Russia's purportedly massive effort to influence the election through social-media ads, the grudgingly surrendered discovery indicated that many of the ads violated no American laws and cost pennies. Assuming for argument's sake that at least some of the candidate ads and rallies fell under Federal Election Commission reporting requirements, the defense contended that total expenditures for such activities amounted to less than $5,000.With the judge trying to push the case to trial this spring, the possibility of humiliation loomed. This past Monday, when no one was watching, the Justice Department finally -- inevitably -- pulled the plug. The cases against the companies were dropped. The sympathetic New York Times reported the prosecutors' fig leaf: The defense was "weaponizing" the case "to gain access to delicate information." It's the kind of claim the Times would ridicule were the paper not so invested in the Trump-Russia narrative. In point of fact, the defendants were demanding the legal right to discovery that Mueller's prosecutors automatically (if unwittingly) triggered when they decided to file an indictment.Not to say, "I told you so" (of course not!), this is exactly what these columns said would happen. From nearly two years ago:> The surest way to put an end to this unwelcome turn of events would be to dismiss the indictment — or at least drop the charges against the three businesses so Prigozhin and the Kremlin can't use them to force Mueller's hand [i.e., to compel discovery]. Of course, that would be very embarrassing. But as all prosecutors are taught from their first day on the job: Never indict a case unless you are prepared to try the case.There is no exception for "indictments" that are really meant to be political theater.
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| A toilet paper shortage and increased cleaning might have caused a spike in raw sewage spills in California. Other regions are bracing for the same. Posted: 19 Mar 2020 01:57 PM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic has prompted some to panic buy toilet paper, leaving stores sold out. Flushing wipes and other items can cause sewage spills.
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| Woman who flew from U.S. to China for coronavirus test faces criminal charges Posted: 18 Mar 2020 10:49 PM PDT  A woman identified by her surname, Li, 37, is under police investigation for allegedly concealing her coronavirus symptoms when she boarded a flight from Los Angeles to Beijing. She could be imprisoned for up to 7 years.
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| Senate GOP unveils massive coronavirus bill that includes checks for Americans Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:09 PM PDT  The Republican proposal also includes emergency aid for small businesses and industries such as airline companies.
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| Japan has a remarkably low number of coronavirus cases that experts worry may lead to a 'false sense of security' Posted: 19 Mar 2020 12:34 PM PDT  An expert on viral pathogens says that Japan may have more cases of coronavirus than thought. It just hasn't tested enough people to find out.
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| Coronavirus: Bangladesh mass prayer event prompts alarm Posted: 19 Mar 2020 05:20 PM PDT  The religious leader who organised the event said it would offer people protection from the virus.
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| In images: effects of COVID-19 on landmarks around the world Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:04 AM PDT |
| Hannity, With a Straight Face, Claims He Has ‘Always Taken the Coronavirus Seriously’ Posted: 18 Mar 2020 07:41 PM PDT  After spending weeks downplaying and minimizing the threat of the new coronavirus that has now resulted in a worldwide pandemic, Fox News host Sean Hannity declared on Wednesday night that he has "always taken the coronavirus seriously" and never referred to it as a "hoax."Hannity, who recently changed his tune on the viral outbreak once President Donald Trump began exhibiting a sense of urgency about the crisis, complained about the amount of criticism the media has thrown at him and Fox News over their earlier COVID-19 coverage. Taking aim at his critics, the pro-Trump host insisted they were "politicizing" the pandemic with their "hysteria" and "neverending" lies about the president.After playing a montage of cable news rivals blasting Fox News and Trump, with one commentator stating that Fox has "been getting people killed for years," Hannity mockingly retorted: "We've been getting people killed for years, I had no idea I was doing that.""You know what, if it wasn't so serious, it was pretty sick and you could probably laugh at it but nothing to laugh at here," he continued. "By the way, this program has always taken the coronavirus seriously and we have never called the virus a hoax."Hannity went on to say that "we call what they're doing—trying to bludgeon the president—out," apparently addressing comments he made nine days prior on his show. While hosting Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) on March 9, who had at that time self-quarantined after coming in contact with an infected individual, Hannity groused about fears of the virus being overblown."We gotta be very real with the American people, I don't like how we're scaring people unnecessarily," he said. "And that is that unless you have an immune system that is compromised, and you are older, and you have other underlying health issues you're not going to die 99% from this virus, correct?""I mean they're scaring the living hell out of people," Hannity added. "And I see them again as like oh, okay, let's bludgeon Trump with this new hoax."Last week, amid mass cancellations and tanking stock markets but before the president shifted his tone on COVID-19, Hannity cited a far-right QAnon conspiracist to suggest that perhaps the "deep state" was using the virus to hurt the economy and push "mandated medicines." The Fox host also spent weeks comparing coronavirus to the seasonal flu. That is until top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci schooled him on the dangers of COVID-19 and said Hannity had to "make sure" his audience knew the mortality rate for coronavirus was at least 10 times greater than the flu. Kellyanne Conway Spars With Reporters Over 'Kung-Flu' Coronavirus SlurRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Italy reports 475 new coronavirus deaths in just 1 day Posted: 18 Mar 2020 07:16 PM PDT  Wednesday saw the biggest increase in coronavirus deaths in Italy, with 475 infected people dying.Nearly 3,000 people have died in the country since the first cases of COVID-19 coronavirus were reported there in late January. There are now 35,713 confirmed cases, and Italian health officials say more than 4,000 patients have fully recovered, BBC News reports.Italy is the hardest-hit country after China, where 3,245 people have officially died from the virus since the outbreak began in December; globally, at least 8,758 people are dead from COVID-19. To combat the spread of the new coronavirus, Italy has been on lockdown for close to two weeks, with people told they can only leave their homes if they must go to work, see a doctor, or get groceries.Restaurants, shops, bars, and gyms are all closed, and police are stopping people they see on the streets; so far, authorities have charged more than 40,000 people with violating lockdown, including a priest who was performing a funeral.More stories from theweek.com Lindsey Graham is reportedly trying to talk Trump out of coronavirus relief checks for Americans 7 funny cartoons about coronavirus hoarding Senate GOP prioritizes business tax cuts in coronavirus stimulus package
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| Spring breakers vacationing in Miami are taking the coronavirus outbreak lightly, saying they won't let it 'stop me from partying' Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:12 PM PDT  "If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying," one partier said in a widely viewed video.
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| Chicago area's top prosecutor wins the Democratic nomination Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:06 AM PDT  Kim Foxx, the Chicago area's top prosecutor, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday against three challengers who zeroed in on her handling of the Jussie Smollett criminal case.
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| Senate Republicans propose $1,200 cash payments in coronavirus economic rescue package Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:03 PM PDT  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid out the outlines of a major assistance package for families and businesses hurt by the coronavirus.
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| California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the coronavirus could infect more than 60,000 of the state's 100,000-plus homeless population in the next 8 weeks Posted: 19 Mar 2020 11:52 AM PDT  Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement comes as the number of confirmed cases in the state hit 917, with 17 reported deaths.
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| Police use DNA, genealogy to arrest suspect in 1985 slaying Posted: 19 Mar 2020 08:21 AM PDT |
| The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of an infant and a teenager Posted: 19 Mar 2020 04:00 AM PDT  The coronavirus outbreak has largely spared children, but two new medical reports document the first infant and first teenager to die of COVID-19.
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| Lindsey Graham is reportedly trying to talk Trump out of coronavirus relief checks for Americans Posted: 19 Mar 2020 01:31 PM PDT  The freedom dividend's resurgence may be over before it even began.During a Senate GOP lunch on Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-N.C.) told his colleagues he was trying to talk President Trump out of supporting individual coronavirus relief checks for Americans, Politico reports. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was also trying to get Trump on Graham's side, per Politico.Mandatory quarantines in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak have already left many Americans without jobs, at least until the businesses they work for reopen. And the economic effects of the new coronavirus' spread may leave some people more permanently unemployed. That's led to bipartisan lawmakers proposing issuing individual checks to all Americans; some proposals have limited them by income bracket, but others are universal. Even Trump has said he'd support individual payments, but Graham has publicly come out against issuing them to every American indiscriminately.Still, just after the meeting, Graham tweeted a clip of his Thursday appearance on Fox News, during which he said the phase three package would provide people "income to get through this." He'd support supplementing traditional unemployment payments by providing "75 percent of people's income up to $80,000."Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was among the first congressmembers to propose issuing $1,000 checks to every American to support them during the COVID-19-induced economic turmoil — an idea that looked an awful lot like former 2020 candidate Andrew Yang's signature policy proposal.More stories from theweek.com 7 funny cartoons about coronavirus hoarding Senate GOP prioritizes business tax cuts in coronavirus stimulus package Trump briefing notes show he replaced 'coronavirus' with 'Chinese virus' in Sharpie
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| A Look at the U.S. Navy Hospital Ships Sent to Battle the Coronavirus Posted: 18 Mar 2020 03:12 PM PDT  The Comfort and Mercy will provide support to land hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.
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| India political activist arrested for selling cow urine to combat virus Posted: 18 Mar 2020 05:06 PM PDT  An activist with India's ruling party has been arrested after a volunteer fell ill from drinking cow urine at a party to combat the novel coronavirus, police said Wednesday, as interest grows in home remedies amid the pandemic. Narayan Chatterjee, a Bharatiya Janata Party activist, was arrested by West Bengal state police late Tuesday for "organising the cow urine consumption event and compelling a civic volunteer to drink cow urine", Kolkata police chief Anuj Sharma told AFP. Many in the Hindu-majority nation of 1.3 billion consider cows sacred and believe drinking cow urine is a panacea for all manner of ailments, from arthritis and asthma to cancer and diabetes.
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| Italy’s Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses That of China Posted: 19 Mar 2020 10:57 AM PDT  The death toll from Wuhan coronavirus in Italy has surpassed the number of reported deaths in China, marking a new milestone in the coronavirus pandemic.Italy reported 427 new deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, with a total of 3,405 to China's 3,245, according to Reuters.Italy now has 41,035 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The country remains on lockdown with travel restrictions between provinces as authorities struggle to contain the spread of the illness.Most of Italy's cases are centered in the country's northern Lombardy region, home to the city of Milan. Videos shot by townspeople in Bergamo, near Milan, showed Italian soldiers arriving in a column of military vehicles to remove the bodies of coronavirus victims. Bergamo's cemeteries did not have the capacity for all the bodies.Italy's government is considering further measures to reduce the amount of time spent outside their homes."I hope there will soon be measures to restrict people jogging or going out for walks," said Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region neighboring Lombardy. "I'm sorry about that but the alternative is intensive care, hospitalization and contagion."Meanwhile, China on Thursday reported zero new cases of the coronavirus in the outbreak's epicenter of Wuhan. However, the country's number of reported cases has come under scrutiny as the Chinese Communist Party has restricted foreign and domestic journalists in their coverage of the outbreak.On Wednesday China announced the expulsion of all American reporters for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The U.S. National Security Council slammed the move."The Chinese Communist Party's decision to expel journalists from China and Hong Kong is yet another step toward depriving the Chinese people and the world of access to true information about China," the NSC said in a statment posted on Twitter. "The United States calls on China's leaders to refocus their efforts from expelling journalists and spreading disinformation to joining all nations in stopping the Wuhan coronavirus."
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| Greek anti-terrorism squad finds artillery, secret tunnel Posted: 19 Mar 2020 06:07 AM PDT |
| 25 Best Cleaning Products and Supplies to Keep Your Home Clean As Can Be Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:00 PM PDT |
| California governor tells the state's National Guard to prepare as coronavirus cases in the state hit 740 Posted: 18 Mar 2020 08:10 AM PDT  The action is not a mobilization order but instead directs troops to prepare in case of activation into local communities.
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| Cigarette Butt Leads Cops to Killer in 1985 Slaying of Young Mom: Police Posted: 19 Mar 2020 11:29 AM PDT  For 35 years, the family of Tonya Ethridge McKinley anxiously waited for authorities to track down the man who murdered the gregarious 23-year-old, dumping her body on the side of a Florida highway.On Wednesday evening, that day finally arrived with the arrest of Daniel Leonard Wells, 57, who was tied to the young woman's 1985 slaying thanks to DNA recovered from the butt of his cigarette. His arrest marks the beginning of the end of the oldest cold case in Pensacola history."She was the best sister a girl could ask for," her older sister, Renee Ethridge, told The Daily Beast. "God is good. I can't believe this day has finally arrived."Wells was charged Wednesday evening with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual battery for the January 1, 1985, murder of McKinley, according to the Pensacola Police Department. He is currently being held without bond at Escambia County Jail. Police Arrest Two Louisiana Men in 39-Year-Old Cold Case Murder of TeenMcKinley was last seen alive celebrating New Year's Eve around 1:30 a.m. at Darryl's Bar & Grille in Pensacola, while her 18-month-old son was waiting for her at home. Four hours later, a family taking their dog to the vet found her body in an empty lot a block from a highway. The 23-year-old, who was found only partially clothed, had been strangled and sexually assaulted, police said. Investigators collected physical evidence at the scene and on McKinley's body—including semen and hair—but they were never able to identify a suspect or make any arrests in the case. They also failed to match DNA found at the scene with samples from a national database."Despite having a good bit of physical evidence and dozens of interviews, over time, the trail went cold," the Pensacola Police Department said in an emotional statement posted on Facebook Thursday. "In the meantime, a baby boy grew up without a mother, parents buried their daughter without knowing justice, and a killer was walking around free."Her case went cold, but Pensacola police remained committed to catching McKinley's killer, and her case was passed around to several detectives over the last 30 years.Police May Have Solved the 1999 Cold-Case Murder of Kassie Federer. And the Suspect Is Already on Death Row."It seems that every couple of years a new lead would pop up and we would drop everything to run it down. We did this time and time again," the department said in their statement. "When detectives retired, Tonya's case was passed along to the next generation again and again. As technology advanced, the case was brought back to the forefront. Detectives laid fresh eyes on all of the evidence, new theories were presented, and hopes of catching Tonya's killer were renewed."Over the last couple of years, police have been comparing DNA profiles left behind at old murder scenes with open-source genealogy databases that have become popular among families hoping to find long-lost relatives. Using a database, Pensacola authorities were able to match DNA evidence found near McKinley's body with several different people believed to be Wells' distant cousins. After the hit, authorities constructed a family tree, starting with the distant relatives to determine possible offenders. Eventually, authorities said, the tree led them to identify Wells as a suspect. The Pensacola Police Department said they followed Wells and were ultimately able to match DNA from a cigarette butt he'd discarded to the evidence they'd collected 35 years ago. 5-Year-Old A.J. Freund Died From Repeated Blows to the Head in Fatal Beating, Coroner Says"Today, the evil that took Tonya from her friends and family was arrested for her brutal murder," the department said. "The reasons why this happened, how evil crossed Tonya's path, may never be answered and in the end may not be important. What is important is that no one forgot Tonya."According to court records obtained by the Pensacola News Journal, Wells has had previous run-ins with Pensacola authorities, including a 1987 arrest for alleged battery and witness tampering. He pleaded no contest to the first charge, and the second was eventually dropped. A year later, Wells was arrested for alleged solicitation of prostitution, but it's unclear how the case ended.Timothy Davidson Jr., McKinley's 35-year-old son, told The Daily Beast that while he is grateful for the arrest, he will only feel "complete when there is a conviction and justice has been served.""It's still kind of unbelievable—like I'm dreaming," Davidson Jr. said, adding that his mother "can finally Rest in Peace."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Tulsi Gabbard ends presidential campaign, backs Joe Biden Posted: 19 Mar 2020 12:55 PM PDT  Gabbard struggled to capture attention in a field that included higher-profile contenders and placed distantly in early primary states.
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| The First U.S. Company Has Announced an Upcoming Home COVID-19 Test Posted: 18 Mar 2020 05:58 PM PDT  Direct-to-consumer testing company Everlywell will make its COVID-19 test available on Mar 23
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| No new domestic coronavirus transmissions for 1st time since start of outbreak Posted: 19 Mar 2020 05:43 AM PDT  China has reported no new local coronavirus infections for the first time, raising hopes that strict containment efforts to stop the spread of the virus are working.
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| Italy passes China's virus deaths and braces for long lockdown Posted: 19 Mar 2020 12:27 PM PDT  Italy on Thursday overtook China's coronavirus death total and braced for an extended lockdown that could see the economy suffer its biggest shock since World War II. China has officially registered 3,245 deaths since reporting its first infections to the World Health Organization at the end of December. All of Italy's fatalities came over a chaotic four-week span that began with only a smattering of cases around Milan and eventually led to the entire nation living through its deadliest disaster in generations.
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| Vietnam's capital advises people to stay home in coronavirus fight Posted: 18 Mar 2020 09:51 PM PDT  Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, has advised its residents to self-isolate at home until at least the end of March, after Vietnam recorded the biggest daily increase of the coronavirus, the city's ruling body said on Thursday. Weeks after declaring the recovery of all 16 of its coronavirus sufferers, Vietnam has confirmed 76 cases of the virus, ten of which emerged on Wednesday, after authorities announced a surge in infections from overseas. Schools and entertainment venues have been closed in the capital of the communist-led country, but the Hanoi People's Committee said it was bracing for a wave of new infections.
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| One chart shows different countries' current coronavirus death rates, based on the known number of cases and deaths Posted: 18 Mar 2020 11:59 AM PDT  A country's coronavirus death rate can depend on how widely it's testing people. As of Wednesday, March 18, Italy's death rate was the highest.
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| Africa sees 'extremely rapid evolution' of pandemic, UN says Posted: 19 Mar 2020 03:48 PM PDT  More African countries closed their borders Thursday as the coronavirus' local spread threatened to turn the continent of 1.3 billion people into an alarming new front for the pandemic. Africa is seeing an "extremely rapid evolution," the World Health Organization's regional chief, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters. Thirty-six of Africa's 54 countries now have cases, with the total over 720.
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| Calls grow for ICE to release immigrants to avoid coronavirus outbreak Posted: 19 Mar 2020 02:05 AM PDT  "Can you imagine if you get an outbreak in these detention facilities? It's going to spread like wildfire," a former head of ICE told CBS News.
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| OAN Reporter Asks Incredibly Bonkers Softball Question at Trump Coronavirus Presser Posted: 19 Mar 2020 10:44 AM PDT  Towards the end of President Donald Trump's coronavirus press conference on Thursday, the president took some truly ridiculous questions from far-right cable news channel One America News that allowed him to rant against the media and suggest news outlets are doing "state propaganda" for China.Over the past couple of days, the president has taken to calling COVID-19 the "Chinese Virus," sparking outrage that he may be encouraging the racist targeting of Asian-Americans. Trump, meanwhile, has insisted he uses the term to retaliate against some Chinese officials blaming the U.S. military for the viral outbreak.OANN White House correspondent Chanel Rion, therefore, on Thursday decided to set the president up with a ridiculous question to give him a path to rant about the media and claim he's not encouraging racism.Kellyanne Conway Spars With Reporters Over 'Kung-Flu' Coronavirus Slur"Mr. President, do you consider the term 'Chinese food' to be racist because it is food that originated from China?" Rion leadingly asked."I don't think that's racist at all," Trump gleefully responded."On that note, major left-wing media, even in this room, have teamed up with Chinese communist party narratives, and they are claiming you are racist for making these claims about 'Chinese virus,'" Rion continued, before serving up a truly bonkers question: "Is it alarming that major media players, just to oppose you, are siding with foreign state propaganda, Islamic radicals, and Latin gangs and cartels and they work right here out of the White House with direct access to you and your team?""It amazes me when I read the things that I read," Trump replied with a grin, before going on a tirade about all the media outlets he feels have been critical of him."I don't think anybody has done as much as I have done in three years," he noted at one point. "This administration has done a great job. But the press is very dishonest."Rion, meanwhile, interjected to exclaim that "they are siding with state propaganda," prompting Trump to agree that "they are siding with China."It should be noted that many of the outlets that Trump claimed are "siding with China"—such as the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times—have recently had their press credentials revoked by China and their reporters booted out of the country.Rion, who was recently promoted as the network's chief White House correspondent, has a history of conspiracy-mongering and over-the-top Trump sycophancy. Besides being a Seth Rich truther and helping to peddle Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani's most insane Ukraine narratives, Rion recently helped push a wild conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was created in a North Carolina lab.Trevor Noah Destroys Trump Admin's 'Kung-Flu' Coronavirus Racism From His CouchRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| A New York neurosurgeon has coronavirus. This is what he wants people to know. Posted: 19 Mar 2020 09:34 AM PDT  Ezriel Kornel, a neurosurgeon in New York, doesn't know where he got coronavirus from, but he knows what it feels like in the early stages.
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| Canceling a cruise due to coronavirus? Here’s a list of updated policies Posted: 19 Mar 2020 01:35 PM PDT  Following the COVID-19 outbreak, cruise lines like Disney, Norwegian and Viking are implementing strict travel restrictions to protect passengers and crew members.
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| China says admonishing doctor and coronavirus whistleblower Li Wenliang was 'improper,' calls for punishing local officials Posted: 19 Mar 2020 10:29 AM PDT  An investigation into the death of the doctor found that local authorities mishandled the case and followed "improper" law-enforcement procedures.
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| U.S. called on to close immigration courts, release some detainees Posted: 19 Mar 2020 05:14 AM PDT  "COVID-19 does not discriminate between a DHS trial attorney, private counsel, the respondents or court employees," one union representative said.
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