The mayor of Portland, Oregon, was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents late Wednesday as he stood at a fence erected to protect a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of the agents sent by President Donald Trump to quell the city’s ongoing unrest. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said it was the first time he’d been tear gassed. He put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front and continued to take gas as the protest raged — with demonstrators lighting a large fire between the fence and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.

Three out of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, favor requiring people to wear face coverings while outside their homes, a new poll finds, reflecting fresh alarm over spiking coronavirus cases and a growing embrace of government advice intended to safeguard public health. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that about two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling the outbreak, an unwelcome sign for the White House in an election year shaped by the nation’s battle with the pandemic. More than four months after government stay-at-home orders first swept across the U.S., the poll spotlights an America increasingly on edge about the virus.

The viral pandemic’s resurgence caused the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits to rise last week for the first time in nearly four months, evidence of the deepening economic pain the outbreak is causing. The increase in weekly jobless claims to 1.4 million served to underscore the outsize role the unemployment insurance system is playing among the nation’s safety net programs — just when a $600 weekly federal aid payment for the jobless is set to expire at the end of this week. Last week’s pace of unemployment applications — the 18th straight time it’s topped 1 million — was up from 1.3 million the previous week. Before the pandemic, applications had never exceeded 700,000.

Two babies in Israel contracted a rare strain of bacterial meningitis in the past two weeks after the parents neglected to have them vaccinated. The babies were infected with the Haemophilus influenza b bacteria, which once was one of the most common causes of meningitis in Israel but has become extremely rare since babies began to be routinely vaccinated for it in the 1990s. The father of one of the sick babies told Channel 12 News: “We didn’t vaccinate our 8-month old twins because I was exposed to information that opposed vaccines. Now I’m sorry I didn’t vaccinate her. It wouldn’t have happened if she had been vaccinated.” The father said that his baby developed a fever and they were given antibiotics by the doctor for an ear infection but the fever didn’t abate.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama stepped up their attacks on President Donald Trump and defended their time in the White House in a new video showing their first in-person meeting since the coronavirus outbreak began. The 15-minute video, posted online Thursday, is the latest maneuver to get the former president involved in the 2020 campaign for his former vice president, as Biden tries to rebuild Obama’s winning coalition in November. The former president and vice president used the interview-style conversation to amplify Biden’s arguments against Trump, with Obama emphasizing Biden’s experience and personal attributes.

The New York State Senate and Assembly have passed a bill to end the suspension of driver’s licenses based on the failure to pay traffic ticket fines or fees. The legislation also creates a payment plan system for drivers. The bill must be signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo to become law. The new legislation creates a payment plan for drivers. If a person doesn’t pay for a ticket or fine due to traffic debt, the plan consists of 2% of a person’s monthly income or $10 a month, whichever option is greater. The reform also reinstates licenses to those who currently have a suspended license due to traffic debt.

A 29-year-old man from Tzfat was indicted on Thursday for threatening to assassinate Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel Police stated. “I’ll shoot him,” the man had written on a Facebook post this week. “He just needs to fall into my hands.” The police said they detained the man for questioning following his post. Earlier this month, a 39-year-old man from Be’er Sheva was indicted for also threatening to harm Netanyahu on social media as well as the prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu. In June, a man from Ashkelon was indicted for threatening both Netanyahu and his son Yair on social media and in the same month, a man in the north was arrested for threatening Netanyahu on social media. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Following the Knesset’s approval of a bill on Wednesday banning licensed psychologists from practicing conversion therapy in Israel, furious Chareidi MKs threatened to walk out of the coalition due to individual coalition members’ support of the bill despite the coalition’s instructions to vote against it. Public Security Minister Likud MK Amir Ohana (who is gay) voted for the bill and several other Likud MKs absented themselves from the vote. Furthermore, Blue and White members voted for the bill despite the coalition’s opposition as well as Labor Party members, one of whom, Minister of Labor, Social Welfare and Social Services Itzik Shmuli, is also gay.

This Sunday, July 26th (5 Av), you can make history!   Take part in a program that can help bring the Geulah and strengthen achdus and ahavas yisrael! Yeshivat Hakotel presents a third worldwide unprecedented achdus Torah learning program. Sar HaTorah, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, has given his bracha to the program which features introductory remarks from Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, rosh yeshiva of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America and Rav Asher Weiss, rosh kollel of Machon Minchas Osher L’Torah V’Horaah.

The White House reluctantly dropped its bid to cut Social Security payroll taxes Thursday as Republicans unveil a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package, yielding to opposition to the idea among top Senate allies. “It won’t be in the base bill,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking on CNBC about the payroll tax cut, killing the idea for now. The cut in the tax that finances Social Security and Medicare has been a major demand of President Donald Trump. “The president is very focused on getting money quickly to workers right now, and the payroll tax takes time,” Mnuchin said at the Capitol.