It could be days before the full scope of damage from flooding in Central Michigan that submerged houses, washed out roads and threatened a Superfund site is apparent, authorities warned Thursday, as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressed hope the president will soon sign a federal emergency declaration. Some of the floodwaters from heavy rains that overtook two dams retreated, but much remained underwater, including in Midland, the headquarters of Dow Chemical Co. And floodwaters continued to threaten downstream communities. “The damage is truly devastating to see how high the water levels are, to see roofs barely visible in parts of Midland, and to see a lake that has been drained in another part,” said Whitmer, who toured Midland County on Wednesday.

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President Donald Trump won at least a temporary reprieve from the Supreme Court earlier this week in keeping secret grand jury materials from the Russia investigation away from Democratic lawmakers. The president and his administration are counting on the justices for more help to stymie other investigations and lawsuits. The high court is weighing Trump’s bid to block subpoenas for his tax, banking and financial records. It will soon be asked by the administration to kill a lawsuit alleging that Trump is illegally profiting from his luxury hotel near the White House. And a dispute over Congress’ demand for the testimony of former White House counsel Don McGahn also could find its way to the justices before long.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work. More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said. That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million, a job-market collapse unprecedented in its speed. The number of weekly applications has slowed for seven straight weeks. Yet the figures remain breathtakingly high — 10 times higher than normal before the crisis struck.

Efforts to forecast the U.S. economy’s path to recovery from the current deep downturn face “a whole new level of uncertainty,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday. Not only is there the difficulty predicting how the coronavirus pandemic will play out, it is also unclear how American workers and consumers will react as lockdowns aimed at limiting the spread of the virus are lifted, Powell said in an address to a virtual Fed conference. Successfully restarting the economy will depend in large part on the public’s confidence that the loosening of the stay-at-home orders will not trigger a resurgence of the virus, he said. “The pain of this downturn is compounded by the upending of normal life, along with great uncertainty about the future,” he said.

One person was injured in a partial collapse of a building under construction in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. It happened at around 8:00PM at 376 Flushing Ave near Franklin Ave. Sources tell YWN that the collapse involved freshly poured concrete. Dozens of emergency personnel from the FDNY and NYPD responded. One civilian with moderate injuries has been transported to a local hospital. All other construction workers are accounted for. The NYPD says that Flushing Avenue from Kent Avenue to Franklin Avenue is closed. The Building Department is on the scene investigating. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A federal judge on Thursday agreed to impose financial sanctions against the Trump administration for failing to produce hundreds of documents during litigation over whether a citizenship question could be added to the 2020 census. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said in a ruling that the Trump administration’s failure to produce the documents “may well have been inadvertent, but is nevertheless unacceptable for any litigant, and particularly for the Department of Justice.” The judge in New York ordered the administration to pay some of the costs and fees of nonprofit advocacy groups that had sought the sanctions. “To be sure, this was not DOJ’s finest hour,” Furman wrote, referring to the Department of Justice.

Like Wednesday morning, Israel’s Health Ministry failed to provide updated data on the number of coronavirus infections and fatalities on Thursday morning. As Israel’s economy opens up, the government also approved the reopening of museums but no hands-on activities or exhibits are allowed and each person entering the museum must be allowed 15 square meters of space. Interior Minister Aryeh Deri announced on Wednesday that he has approved the return of 400 foreign workers to Israel for work in nursing homes or the homes of the elderly or disabled. The workers, who have been stranded abroad due to coronavirus travel restrictions and closed borders will be required to self-quarantine in Israel for 14 days before beginning work.

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A sharply divided Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence on Thursday, with Democrats refusing to support the nomination over fears that he will politicize the intelligence community’s work under President Donald Trump. All Democrats opposed Ratcliffe, making him the first DNI to be installed on a partisan vote since the position was created in 2005. The tally was 49-44. Ratcliffe will take over the agency at a tumultuous time. The nation faces threats from Iran and North Korea, Russian disinformation campaigns to interfere in the U.S. elections and tensions with China over rising competition and the spread of the coronavirus. At the same time, Trump has viewed the intelligence agencies with distrust and ousted or fired multiple officials.