In response to the youth vaping epidemic and growing concerns about lung disease, President Trump — at the urging of first lady Melania Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump — announced he wanted to ban candy, fruit, and mint e-cigarettes. His outlook changed after White House and campaign officials warned him such a ban could cause him to lose the votes of people who own vape shops and those who use the products, The Washington Post and The New York Times report.
A Trump adviser told the Post on Sunday that on Nov. 4, Trump refused to sign a "decision memo" about the ban because he was worried about the repercussions. A news conference had been set for the next day, with officials prepared to say the flavored e-cigarettes would be off the market within 30 days, but Trump was reportedly spooked by what he heard from his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, who said a ban could hurt his chances in battleground states.
"He didn't know much about the issue and was just doing it for Melania and Ivanka," a senior administration official told the Post. It's unclear if he will come up with a new policy.
After Trump first mentioned the ban, angry vapers took to social media, tweeting their thoughts on the matter along with the hashtag #IVapeIVote. While the move may please pro-vaping advocacy groups, anti-tobacco activists aren't ready to give up just yet. "If the federal government doesn't take strong action, it's clear now the states will," Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told the Post. "There's a crisis that needs to be addressed." Catherine Garcia
As COVID-19 spreads throughout the city, New York has seen ridership on its MTA system drop by more than 90 percent. But trains and buses are still running, and that's led to 50 MTA workers contracting and dying from the new coronavirus so far, MTA Chairman Pat Foye said Friday.
So far, nearly 1,900 MTA workers have tested positive for the new coronavirus, and the number of quarantined workers recently hit a peak of 6,000. A total of 50 MTA employees have died of the disease; they're dying at a much higher rate than the rest of the city. Most of those workers who'd died had worked on the city's buses and subways.
To combat disease spread, the MTA is now taking the temperature of everyone who reports to work and sending those with a fever back home. About 1,800 MTA workers who'd self-quarantined after potential exposure to the virus have since returned to work, Foye added. But staffing shortages have still caused over 800 subway delays and led to 40 percent of trips being canceled in a single day, per The New York Times.
Ridership is dramatically down across the entire MTA system, Foye also said. Subway ridership has fallen 93 percent since the coronavirus crisis began, Long Island Railroad traffic has plunged 97 percent, and Metro-North commuter rail has seen ridership drop 95 percent. That resulting deep dive in revenue will surely be a problem for the aging transit system that was struggling to stay afloat even before a global pandemic hit. Kathryn Krawczyk
The recorded global death toll for COVID-19 neared 100,000 on Friday afternoon, with confirmed worldwide cases at more than 1.6 million. The numbers reflect an alarming jump since April 2, a little more than a week ago, when global deaths were still around 50,000, NPR reports.
Italy has the highest number of deaths of any country in the world, with over 18,000, followed by the United States, which has more than 16,500, and Spain, with more than 15,800. New York remains the center of the U.S. outbreak, and on Friday Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced the state had recorded its highest single-day death toll yet, at 779. "That is so shocking and painful and breathtaking, I don't even have the words for it," he said. Jeva Lange
A federal disaster loan program offering up to $2 million in relief is now capping out at $15,000 — and is leaving some borrowers wondering if they'll even get that.
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, an offshoot of the Small Business Administration's emergency funds system, has faced an unprecedented number of requests amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and is having trouble keeping up and following through with promised loan amounts, The New York Times reports.
Several applicants reportedly said SBA representatives told them funding for the program was running out. Deb Wood-Schade, a chiropractic wellness business owner, told the Times she had been approved for a nearly $25,000 loan, but was given documents on Wednesday telling her the loan had been cut to less than a third of that amount.
As part of the $2 trillion relief bill signed by President Trump last month, applicants to the program were also supposed to be made eligible for a $10,000 advance in the form of a grant that would not have to be repaid, and the money was reportedly supposed to be distributed within three days of applying. According to the Times, that money has yet to be dispensed.
"I'm afraid I won't see a penny," Virginia Warnken Kelsey, an opera singer who applied on March 29, told the Times.
The sudden onslaught of requests caused by the virus has handed the SBA a "historic influx of loan applications," The Washington Post reports, leading to a major applicant backlog. The $10 billion in federal funding provided by the CARES act would cover the $10,000 advances of around one million businesses. But in three days, the program reportedly received more than three million applicants.
Lawmakers in Washington are still negotiating over a bill that would inject more money to small businesses, with Democrats blocking the latest attempt by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and demanding double the amount. Marianne Dodson
This video perfectly demonstrates the power of social distancing with ping-pong balls and mousetraps
If the U.S. learned anything from Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin, it's that in-person voting doesn't work in a pandemic.
Yet even though COVID-19 and its mandatory stay-at-home orders will likely last for a while, many Republicans lawmakers have deemed efforts to expand voting by mail a partisan ploy designed to help elect Democrats. There are a few problems with that theory though, beginning with the fact that voting by mail is already incredibly common, even in solidly red states.
Democrats have held out on approving the next phase of coronavirus relief because, among other things, they want increased funding for expanding and securing vote-by-mail for the general election in November. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) claimed Democrats were doing this because they thought it "gives you some political benefit. That's disgusting to me." President Trump has baselessly called voting by mail "very dangerous" and "corrupt," and said it would mean "you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again," even though he votes by mail himself.
Tell that to Utah, which is among five states where mail ballots are automatically sent to every registered voter. Its governor, senators, and three of its four representatives are Republicans. Voters can request a mail ballot in every other state in the nation — albeit in some places they must provide an excuse — and most of them have had no problem electing Republicans. As recently as Thursday, New Hampshire's Republican Gov. Chris Sununu declared everyone in the state could vote absentee this fall if the coronavirus is still a major factor, even though he's objected to widespread vote-by-mail before. Kathryn Krawczyk