10 things you need to know today: June 13, 2020

(Image credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

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1. CDC 'strongly encourages' protesters and rally attendees wear masks
2. Cuomo signs New York police reform bills
3. Trump reschedules Tulsa rally planned for Juneteenth
4. Trump administration finalizes rollback of transgender health care protections
5. Beijing re-tightens restrictions after 53 coronavirus cases linked to market emerge
6. Bolton's book will accuse Trump of more 'Ukraine-like transgressions'
7. 'Near-universal' majority of Americans support changes to policing
8. Academy to introduce new 'representation and inclusion standards' for Oscars eligibility
9. Gunman injures 8 in San Antonio bar shooting
10. Warner Bros. delays Tenet release by 2 weeks

published 13 June 2020

1. CDC 'strongly encourages' protesters and rally attendees wear masks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest guidelines introduced Friday recommend organizers of large events "strongly encourage" participants to wear cloth masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The guidance comes as protests against police brutality and systemic racism continue nationwide, and as President Trump prepares to hold campaign rallies again starting next week. Before heading to a big event, the CDC recommends everyone evaluate how many people they'll be around, how close they'll be to those people, and for how long — all of those factors can increase one's risk of contracting COVID-19, the CDC says.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Friday signed a package of bills aiming to reform aspects of policing in the state, including banning chokeholds and repealing a decades-old state law that has kept police disciplinary records secret. The bills also include measures making it easier to sue people who call police on others without good reason. The changes come amid nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice, which have prompted discussion and actions on how to reform policing in the United States. Cuomo now has 10 days to act on other bills passed by state lawmakers this week such as legislation prohibiting police from using racial profiling. A top New York City police union criticized the bills, arguing the new measures will make their jobs more difficult.

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President Trump on Friday evening tweeted he is rescheduling a rally that was set to take place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 19. Juneteenth, the commemoration of end of the slavery in the United States, takes place that day, and the president said many of his African-American "friends and supporters" suggested changing the date "out of respect for this holiday." The rally will be moved back a day to June 20. Trump had received criticism for scheduling the rally on Juneteenth, but it wasn't just the date that people found objectionable. Tulsa was the site of a massacre of hundreds of African Americans in 1921, and Trump's critics said the decision to hold a rally there "is disrespectful to the lives and community" that were lost.

The Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services finalized a rule on Friday that will roll back health care protections for transgender people. The rule, established along with the Affordable Care Act, prevents health care providers from denying transgender patients health care by banning discrimination on the basis of "gender identity." When HHS announced its plans to scrap this policy, advocacy groups and lawmakers alike began criticizing the move as damaging to a vulnerable group of Americans. The new policy will allow health care providers to further lean on religious exemptions. In its announcement, HHS said the move "will eliminate mass confusion that was unleashed by the Obama-era decision." The nonprofit Human Rights Campaign quickly announced a legal challenge to the rule.

Beijing authorities shut down the largest wholesale food market in the Chinese capital Saturday, as well as residential communities in the surrounding area, after more than 53 people tested positive for the coronavirus in the city. Nearly every infected person had worked or shopped at the Xinfadi market, where the virus was reportedly detected on cutting boards for imported salmon. Of the 53 cases, 46 — all market employees — were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. The outbreak comes more than 50 days since Beijing saw its last reported local coronavirus case, and the city had slowly been returning to normal. Now, Beijing is tightening traffic controls into and out of the city, paramilitary police reportedly stand guard outside the market, and plans to relax some restrictions have been reversed. Officials said they will set up temporary open-air trading posts so fruit and vegetables remain available.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton's forthcoming book will detail more "Ukraine-like transgressions" by President Trump, the book's publisher said on Friday. Bolton's book The Room Where It Happened is set for release later this month, and Simon & Schuster said he "argues that the House committed impeachment malpractice by keeping their prosecution focused narrowly on Ukraine when Trump's Ukraine-like transgressions existed across the full range of his foreign policy." He will reportedly detail "exactly what those were" and describe how he and others raised alarms. Bolton did not testify during the House's impeachment inquiry, which focused on Trump pushing Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and ended with Trump's acquittal in the Senate. The White House has been trying to prevent Bolton's book from being published.

A "near-universal" majority of Americans support at least some changes to policing, according to a survey by HuffPost/YouGov released Friday. However, fewer than a third of Americans support defunding the police, as opposed to other reforms like banning police chokeholds, which is backed by 73 percent of the population. Importantly, there is a lack of clarity around what it means to "defund the police." Most respondents agreed the phrase means "significantly decreasing the size of police forces and the scope of their work," but some interpret the phrase as "completely abolishing" police forces. Americans are nearly evenly split on "budgeting less money for your local police department and more for social services," which is what some say is the goal of "defund the police" activists.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday announced plans to implement "new representation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility." While the Academy didn't specify what these requirements might entail, The New York Times notes the Oscars could emulate the British Film Institute, which started requiring entrants in some categories meet diversity standards. "While the Academy has made strides, we know there is much more work to be done in order to ensure equitable opportunities across the board,” Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said. The Academy has long faced criticism over the lack of diversity of its Oscar nominees. The new standards are to be decided by an Academy task force by July 31, though they won't affect 2021's show.

A man shot and injured at least people in a parking lot Friday night after he was turned away from a bar in San Antonio, Texas, police said. The gunman reportedly fled the scene, and police are still searching for him, though San Antonio Police Chief William McManus does not believe there is any risk in the area. The shooter was reportedly part of a group, all of whom were told to leave at the door because they were "inebriated," and claimed to be a "UFC fighter from California" before going to retrieve a rifle from a car. The victims reportedly took themselves to local hospitals, where they reportedly are in stable condition.

Warner Bros. announced on Friday that Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which was set to be the first big blockbuster movie released in theaters after they widely reopen following coronavirus closures, is being delayed by two weeks, with a new release set for July 31. Tenet had been scheduled to open July 17, and the studio didn't push it from that date even as other big summer films abandoned their releases when theaters closed. It thus became the blockbuster that would welcome audiences back to theaters should theaters actually be able to widely reopen by mid-July after closing due to the pandemic, though in recent weeks, questions swirled about whether that timeline was feasible and whether Warner Bros would be forced to abandon the date.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.