National News

By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department said Wednesday it wants to dedicate $500 billion to start issuing direct payments to Americans by early next month as the centerpiece of a $1 trillion plan to stabilize the economy as the coronavirus epidemic threatens a body slam …

By LISA MASCARO and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wants the government to send checks to Americans in the next two weeks in an effort to curb the economic cost of the coronavirus outbreak, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday. “The president has instructed me …

Over the next 15 days, Americans should not gather in groups of more than 10 people, schooling should be at home and discretionary travel and social visits should be avoided.

By ANDREW TAYLOR, ZEKE MILLER, JILL COLVIN and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is declaring the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency, as Washington struggles with providing Americans with relief and officials race to slow the spread of the outbreak. Speaking from …

MIAMI (AP) — Theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Paris Resort will be closing through the end of the month, starting at the close of business Sunday, the Walt Disney Company announced.  The company said in a statement Thursday that the decision was made “in …

The World Health Organization declared Wednesday that the global coronavirus crisis is now a pandemic

By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Utah’s scheduled game at Oklahoma City was postponed Wednesday night and the NBA suspended its season a few minutes later after a Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus. The player is star center Rudy Gobert, according to a person …

By JONATHAN MATTISE and MARK HUMPHREY Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tornadoes ripped across Tennessee as people slept early Tuesday, shredding at least 140 buildings and killing at least 22 people. Authorities described painstaking efforts to find survivors in piles of rubble and wrecked basements as the death toll …

By SARA BURNETT Associated Press Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar ended her Democratic presidential campaign on Monday and plans to endorse rival Joe Biden in an effort to unify moderate voters behind the former vice president’s White House bid. She is flying to Dallas and plans to join Biden at his …

By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press Pete Buttigieg, who rose from being a small-town Midwestern mayor to a barrier-breaking, top-tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is ending his campaign. Three people with knowledge of Buttigieg’s decision told The Associated Press he began informing campaign staff on Sunday. They were not …