Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Spread of coronavirus accelerates in U.S. jails and prisons
Sean Hernandez says he covers his mouth and nose with a t-shirt or towel when he leaves his cell, the only defense he can improvise against the coronavirus outbreak now sweeping through New York’s Rikers Island jail system. Inmates have no access to gloves or proper masks and have only cold water to wash their hands, said Hernandez, who was convicted of attempted murder and has served eight years. He said inmates watched on Thursday as a guard coughed, her cheeks turned red and she collapsed to the ground.
On Oklahoma plains, an island of near normality in a pandemic
On red cobbled Main Street in Guymon, the biggest town in Oklahoma's panhandle, Jesus Ruiz gives "high and tight" hair cuts as a red, white and blue barber's pole turns lazily outside. About half the customers in the barber shop work at the busy pork processing plant in Guymon, a majority Hispanic/Latino community which rises like an island in a sea of corn and grass. Ruiz hopes this remoteness protects it from the coronavirus encroaching on all sides.
With eye on election, Trump in high-stakes balancing act over coronavirus response
By Jarrett Renshaw and James Oliphant WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump offered a preview of his re-election campaign playbook last year when he visited the building site of a multi-billion-dollar cracking unit in western Pennsylvania, hailed as one of the largest construction projects in the country.
Exclusive: Amazon entices warehouse employees to grocery unit with higher pay
Amazon.com Inc is offering higher pay to recruit its own warehouse employees to pick and pack Whole Foods groceries amid rising demand and a worker shortage, according to an internal document reviewed by Reuters. This move, known as labor sharing, highlights how the ecommerce giant is reallocating some of its vast workforce to handle a spike in online sales of groceries, as millions of American are stuck at home amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Tornado wrecks buildings, tosses cars in Jonesboro, Arkansas
A large tornado struck the city of Jonesboro in Arkansas on Saturday, wrecking buildings and flipping cars, according to local media and images posted online. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was killed or injured by the tornado, which hit the city of about 75,000 people in the northeast of the state at around 5:20 p.m.
Your COVID-19 questions, answered
There is a lot of misinformation circulating about the coronavirus, so we took to Instagram, Twitter and Reddit to see what questions have been bugging you, our readers.Below are answers from several healthcare experts who have been following the outbreak. Please note that there is much we still don’t know about the new virus, and you should reach out to your own healthcare provider with any personal health concerns. LIVING UNDER LOCKDOWN
As virus threatens, U.S. embraces big government, for now
It may, as House Majority Leader and Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer said on Friday, be out of love that the United States agreed to shut down much of its economy to stop a viral epidemic and save lives. It may, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, be out of necessity that the federal government agreed to foot the bill.
Trump struggles with tone in virus crisis, aides urge more empathy
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing President Donald Trump to show empathy to console Americans under siege, and it's not easy for a brash leader more accustomed to bellicose politics. Trump, who initially dismissed the pandemic as "under control," is having to adjust his messaging to fit grim times, and some of his allies are pushing him to show more heart.
America's civil rights leader Joseph Lowery dies, aged 98
The Reverend Joseph Lowery, a key ally of Martin Luther King in the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, died late on Friday at the age of 98, his family said in a statement. "Our beloved, Rev. Dr. Joseph Echols Lowery, made his transition peacefully at home at 10 p.m., Friday, March 27, at the age of 98. He was surrounded by his daughters," Lowery's family said.
Trump floats New York lockdown to contain virus; governor says idea is 'anti-American'
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he might prohibit travel in and out of the New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus from its U.S. epicenter, but the state's governor dubbed the idea "anti-American" and said he would not cooperate. As the U.S. death count crossed 2,000, doubling in three days, Trump said he might impose a quarantine on New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut to protect other states that have yet to bear the brunt.
