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.
President Donald Trump’s election donors receiving coronavirus loans early, protective gear for medical workers running low, the Trump administration’s push to get all schools to reopen in the fall, charges against Ghislaine Maxwell and shootings during the Fourth of July weekend make up this week’s five national stories.
Trump donors among early recipients of coronavirus loans
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. 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 before securing the aid, according to the Associated Press review of data released Monday.
Read More: Small business
Protective gear for medical workers begins to run low again
Personal protective gear is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs. A national nursing union is concerned gear has to be reused, a doctors association warns physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies and Democrats in Congress are pushing the Trump administration to devise a national strategy in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall.
Read More: Virus Outbreak
DeVos rejects part-time reopening for schools amid pandemic
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday assailed plans by some local districts to offer in-person instruction only a few days a week and said schools must be “fully operational” even amid the coronavirus pandemic. Anything less, she says, would fail students and taxpayers. DeVos made the comments during a call with governors as the Trump administration launched an all-out effort to get schools and colleges to reopen.
Read more: Betsy DeVos
Maxwell moved to NY for Epstein-related sex abuse charges
Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidante Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred Monday to a New York City jail as she faces charges that she recruited girls, one as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse. Maxwell, 58, the daughter of the late British publishing magnate Robert Maxwell, was the former girlfriend and longtime close associate of Epstein, who killed himself at a federal jail in Manhattan last August while he awaited trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Read More: Ghislaine Maxwell
‘Senseless crime’: The victims of July Fourth shootings
From San Francisco to South Carolina, a spate of shootings claimed the lives of people celebrating or just taking a drive over the Fourth of July weekend. Chicago saw one of its bloodiest holiday weekends in memory, with 17 killed and 70 wounded by gunfire. The incidents come amid fears the coronavirus pandemic, protests against racism, rising gun sales and an election year could make for a particularly deadly summer.
Read more: Shootings
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