WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to reassure the American public, President Donald Trump said Saturday there was “no reason to panic” as the new coronavirus claimed its first victim inside the U.S. The White House also announced new restrictions on international travel to prevent its spread. Trump, speaking only moments after the death in Washington state […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 85,000 people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it. The latest figures, based on WHO and national counts: — Mainland China: 2,835 deaths among […]

TACOMA (AP) – The governor of Washington declared a state of emergency Saturday after a man died there of COVID-19, the first such reported death in the United States. More than 50 people in a nursing facility are sick and being tested for the virus. Gov. Jay Inslee directed state agencies to use “all resources […]

New York (JTA) – A Jewish firefighter from New York has sued his ex-boss allegedly for using anti-Semitic language against him in the work environment. Jonathan Cummings alleges that in 2017, Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Michael Durkin of the Bureau of Fire Investigation sent a text message to someone in the department referring to Cummings […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal jail in New York City where wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein took his own life is on lockdown as authorities try to determine whether someone smuggled a gun inside one of the most secure federal jails in the country, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Officials have […]

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s choice of Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the nation’s response to the new coronavirus threat is bringing renewed scrutiny to the former governor’s handling of an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana when he was governor. Pence reluctantly agreed to authorize a needle exchange program in Scott County in […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Schools across the United States are canceling trips abroad, preparing online lessons and even rethinking “perfect attendance” awards as they brace for the possibility that the new coronavirus could begin spreading in their communities. Districts have been rushing to update emergency plans this week after federal officials warned that the virus, […]

VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Residents of a Northern California community are at the epicenter of what officials are calling a turning point in the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, as investigators try to retrace the steps of a hospitalized patient they believe to be the first in the U.S. to be infected without traveling […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Fear of the spreading coronavirus has led to a global run on sales of face masks despite medical experts’ advice that most people who aren’t sick don’t need to wear them. Many businesses are sold out, while others are limiting how many a customer can buy. Amazon is policing its site, […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials confronted tough questions and doubts Thursday about testing to intercept the fast-spreading virus, with scrutiny focused on a four-day delay in screening an infected California woman despite her doctors’ early calls to do so. The questions are global: not just who, when and how to test for the illness, […]