National News

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed a $484 billion bill that aids employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy. The bill is the latest effort by the federal government to help keep afloat businesses that have…

Beijing, China (AP) — Chinese envoys have set off diplomatic firestorms overseas with a combative defense whenever their country is accused of not acting quickly enough to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. They belong to a new generation of “Wolf Warrior” diplomats, named after patriotic blockbuster films starring a muscle-bound Chinese commando killing…

NEW YORK (AP) — Unemployment in the U.S. has swelled to levels last seen during the Great Depression, with 1 in 6 American workers thrown out of work by the coronavirus. The government says more than 4.4 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. In all, about 26 million people have now filed…

San Francisco, CA (AP) — Health officials say two people infected with the coronavirus in California died as many as three weeks before the U.S. reported its first death from the disease in late February — a gap that underscored shortcomings in the nation’s surveillance system for detecting outbreaks. The deaths in early and mid-February…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has come out with a plan to start paying hospitals and doctors who care for uninsured COVID-19 patients. Expect Democratic lawmakers and health industry groups to press for more help. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says hospitals and doctors would submit their bills directly to the government…