WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and Senate leaders of both major political parties announced agreement early Wednesday on an unprecedented $2 trillion emergency bill to rush sweeping aid to businesses, workers and a health care system slammed by the coronavirus pandemic. The urgently needed pandemic response measure is the largest economic rescue measure in […]

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump isn’t calling the new coronavirus the “Chinese virus” anymore. Trump had insisted on pointing out the virus’ Chinese origin in appearances over the past few weeks. Asians have said the term is offensive and has put them at risk. Trump didn’t use the term during an hour-long appearance Tuesday on […]

NEW YORK (AP) — A “cacophony of coughing” in packed emergency rooms. Beds squeezed in wherever there is space. Overworked, sleep-deprived doctors and nurses rationed to one face mask a day and wracked by worry about a dwindling number of available ventilators. Such is the reality inside New York City’s hospitals, which have become the […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has a new daily ritual now that the pandemic has put the kibosh on the signature campaign rallies that helped him get elected four years ago: the coronavirus briefing. Standing on the once-abandoned White House briefing room stage flanked by public health experts, Trump holds court with reporters and […]

“Safer at Home.” It’s a slogan of choice for the mandatory confinement measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus. But it’s not true for everyone. As the world’s families hunker down, there’s another danger, less obvious but just as insidious, that worries advocates and officials: a potential spike in domestic violence as victims […]

MARYLAND (JNS) — A Jewish mother in Maryland created an illustrated online book in a PDF format that helps parents explain to preschoolers and toddlers the school closings due to coronavirus. My School is Closed by Meredith Polsky, co-founder of the Jewish organization Matan, is written from the point of view of a child, who […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said it will suspend some of its bank supervisory activities to give banks more leeway in dealing with financially strapped customers. The Fed said it will cease nearly all examinations for banks with less than $100 billion in total assets, except for those reviews “critical to safety and soundness […]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Governors across the nation on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s new accelerated timeline for reopening the U.S. economy, as they continued to impose more restrictions on travel and public life in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The dismissal of Trump’s mid-April timeframe for a national reopening came […]

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County has reported what may be the first confirmed U.S. death of a child from coronavirus. Health officials say the youth lived in the Mojave Desert city of Lancaster located north of Los Angeles. County public health director Barbara Ferrer says it’s a “devastating reminder that COVID-19 infects people of […]

STATEN ISLAND (JTA) — Rabbi Avrohom Hakohen Cohn survived the Holocaust and went on to fight the Nazis in his native Czechoslovakia. He is credited with saving the lives of 56 families during the genocide. In January, Cohn, known as Romi, delivered the opening prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 75th anniversary […]