Editor’s Note: This listicle is part of a weekly series by The Ball State Daily News summarizing five stories from across the United States. All summaries are based on stories published by The Associated Press.
The reopening of the New York Stock Exchange, disregard for social distancing rules during the Memorial Day weekend, White House failing to meet its testing goals in nursing homes, the death of black man in Minneapolis and SpaceX’s first-ever launch of NASA astronauts make up this week’s five national stories.
NY Stock Exchange reopens as US closes in on 100,000 dead
The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange reopened Tuesday in a largely symbolic step toward economic recovery, and stocks surged at the opening bell, even as the official U.S. death toll from the coronavirus closed in on 100,000, a mark President Donald Trump once predicted the country would never see. NYSE’s trading floor opened for the first time in two months with plexiglass barriers, masks and a reduced number of traders to adhere to social-distancing rules.
Read More: Business
Memorial Day weekend draws crowds and triggers warnings
The Memorial Day weekend marking the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. meant big crowds at beaches and warnings from authorities Sunday about people disregarding the coronavirus social-distancing rules and risking a resurgence of the scourge that has killed nearly 100,000 Americans. Sheriff’s deputies and beach patrols tried to make sure people kept their distance from others as they soaked up the rays on the sand, at parks and other recreation sites.
Read More: Memorial Day
White House goal on testing nursing homes unmet
Nearly two weeks ago the White House urged governors to ensure that every nursing home resident and staff member be tested for the coronavirus within 14 days. A review by The Associated Press found that at least half of the states are not going to meet White House’s deadline and some aren’t even bothering to try. Only a handful of states, including West Virginia and Rhode Island, have said they’ve already tested every nursing home resident.
Read more: Nursing homes
Video shows officer kneeling on neck of black man who died
A black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis was seen on a bystander’s video pleading that he could not breathe as a white officer knelt on his neck during the arrest and kept his knee there for several minutes after the man stopped moving. The death Monday night after a struggle with officers was under investigation by the FBI and state law enforcement authorities. It drew comparisons to the 2014 case which led to the death of Eric Garner.
Read more: Minneapolis
Weather better for historic SpaceX launch of NASA astronauts
With the weather looking up, SpaceX and NASA officials vowed Tuesday to keep crew safety the top priority for the nation’s first astronaut launch to orbit in nearly a decade. Veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were set to make history Wednesday afternoon, riding SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule to the International Space Station on a test flight. SpaceX was on the cusp of becoming the first private company to put astronauts in orbit.
Read More: SpaceX
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