Today’s News
Big stick: Lindor focused on season, not future in Cleveland
CLEVELAND — Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor is religiously following baseball's COVID-19 protocols — social distancing, masks, temperature checks, you name it. He's making sure others do the same. So fter taking batting practice earlier this week at Progressive Field, Lindor urged manager Terry Francona to clean his hands — with pine tar. Lindor pranked his manager by switching a spray bottle of hand sanitizer with one filled with the adhesive hitters use to better grip [...]
Latino, black neighborhoods struggle with test disparities
PHOENIX (AP) — A Latino cook whose co-worker got COVID-19 waited in his truck for a free swab at a rare testing event in a low-income neighborhood in Phoenix. A Hispanic tile installer queued up after two weeks of self-isolation while his father battled the coronavirus in intensive care. He didn't know his dad would die days later. As the pandemic explodes in diverse states like Arizona and Florida, people in communities of color who [...]
Columbus law firm first to back new ‘racial justice’ work group
A local law firm has accepted the challenge to make justice fairer for black Columbus residents and other minority members. Carlile Patchen & Murphy LLP has pledged the initial contribution to the local Legal Aid Society and the Ohio State Legal Services Association’s joint effort to develop a Racial Justice Work Group. With a goal of raising $75,000, the Racial Justice Challenge calls on other law firms, businesses and individuals to join Carlile Patchen in [...]
Wanderlust woes? Decor ideas for the housebound traveler in age of pandemic
If your actual travel plans are on hold, you can soothe your wanderlust with a few home décor change-ups or additions. Whether you're wishing you were at a wilderness cabin, the beach or an exotic passport destination, designers and retailers are offering clever ways to bring the world into your quarantined home space. Can't stroll the real streets of Italy? You can clad floors or walls in a kitchen, bath or family room with a [...]
Trump, Biden fight for primacy on social media platforms
WASHINGTON (AP) — On an average day, President Donald Trump sends about 14 posts to the 28 million Facebook followers of his campaign account. His Democratic rival, Joe Biden, delivers about half that many posts to an audience of just 2 million. The numbers are similarly skewed in other spheres of the social media landscape. On Twitter, Trump's 82.4 million followers dwarf Biden's 6.4 million. The president has spent years cultivating a ragtag digital "army" [...]
Trump donors among early recipients of federal coronavirus business loans
WASHINGTON — As much as $273 million in federal coronavirus aid was awarded to more than 100 companies that are owned or operated by major donors to President Donald Trump's election efforts, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data. Many were among the first to be approved for a loan in early April, when the administration was struggling to launch the lending program. And only eight businesses had to wait until early May [...]
Hiring soared in May as mass layoffs eased
WASHINGTON (AP) — The job market took a big step toward healing in May, though plenty of damage remains, as a record level of hiring followed record layoffs in March and April. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that the number of available jobs rose sharply as well, but remained far below pre-pandemic levels. The figures, from the government's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, or JOLTS, illustrate the whiplash the economy has experienced since the [...]
Coast Guard alters training for incoming class due to virus
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) —Ellie Hiigel was expected to arrive Wednesday for training in advance of her first year at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, but her experience won’t be the same as that of new cadets of years past. The school in Connecticut, like other service academies and military training centers, has made major changes because of the coronavirus pandemic. That means the eight weeks of boot camp for new cadets, known as "Swab [...]
Republican Party worries Trump’s divisive June imperils Senate control
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's June began with his Bible-clutching photo op outside a church after authorities used chemicals and batons to scatter peaceful demonstrators. It never got less jarring or divisive. By the time it ended, he was downplaying a coronavirus pandemic upsurge that was forcing Western and Southern states to throttle back their partial reopening of businesses. And Republican strategists already straining to retain Senate control in November's elections were conceding that Trump's [...]
Amid pandemic, fewer students seek federal aid for college
The number of high school seniors applying for federal college aid plunged in the weeks following the sudden closure of school buildings this spring — a time when students were cut off from school counselors, and families hit with financial setbacks were reconsidering plans for higher education. In the first weeks of the pandemic, the number of new applications fell by nearly half compared to last year's levels, fueled by a precipitous decline among students [...]
Legal News
High court sparks new battle over church-state separation
The Supreme Court elated religious freedom advocates and alarmed secular groups with its Tuesday ruling on public funding for religious education, a decision whose long-term [...]
Supreme Court ruling lifts ban on state aid to religious schooling
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it easier for religious schools to obtain public funds, upholding a Montana scholarship program that allows [...]
Proposed bill would give municipalities greater ability to change speed limits
A bicycle and pedestrian advocate last month came out in support of a Democrat plan that would allow communities to have greater say in the [...]
Business News
Social media firms face revenue hit from boycotts
Verizon's decision to join the growing boycott against Facebook and Twitter risks hurting the social media giants where it hurts most: their advertising revenue. Advertising [...]
Retail sales up a record 17.7% in a partial rebound
BALTIMORE (AP) — retail sales jumped by a record 17.7 percent from April to May, with spending partially rebounding after the coronavirus had shut down [...]
Local medical supplier adds PPE kits to its product line
A longtime Columbus medical supplier known for the wooden splints used by emergency medical first responders has incorporated personal protection equipment kits to its roster. [...]
Real Estate
OSU study: Columbus green spaces handier to wealthier neighborhoods
Residents of Columbus’ wealthier neighborhoods have more access to parks, trails and green spaces than poorer residents of the metro area, a new Ohio State [...]
Local home sales reel in wake of virus
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the local housing market having even fewer homes for sale and fewer homes sold last month, according to new [...]
Mortgage rates fall again; 30-year loan at all-time low 3.15 percent
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long-term mortgage rates fell last week as the key 30-year home loan marked an all-time low for the third time in the [...]
Politics
Federal government signals it will resist freeing detained migrant families
HOUSTON (AP) — The federal government said Wednesday it should not have to automatically release immigrant parents detained with their children — including some infants [...]
Drive-up citizenship eases backlog, but new threat looms
DETROIT (AP) — A 60-year-old U.K. citizen drove into a Detroit parking garage on a recent afternoon, lowered the window of her SUV to swear [...]
Democrats fight for relevance in red-state Nebraska
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — It's never been easy to be a Democrat in Nebraska, but somehow it keeps getting even harder. The 29 percent of [...]
