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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump expressed no concerns Friday about a rapid coronavirus test that the White House has been relying on to ensure his safety, despite new data suggesting the test may return an inordinate share of false negatives. Trump expressed his confidence in the test from Abbott Laboratories after a preliminary study by New York University researchers reported problems with it. Trump and his deputies have promoted the 15-minute test as a "game changer" and have been using it for weeks now to try to keep the White H...
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) John Cook, George Mason University; Sander van der Linden, University of Cambridge; Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol, and Ullrich Ecker, University of Western Australia (THE CONVERSATION) The conspiracy theory video "Plandemic" recently went viral. Despite being taken down by YouTube and Facebook, it continues to get uploaded and viewed millions of times. The video is an interview with conspiracy theorist Judy Mikovits, a...
BETHEL, Alaska (AP) — A gravel barge that floated without a crew down an Alaska river after breaking free from ice has been recovered. The rogue barge was brought under control and towed to the Port of Bethel May 9 after its trip along the Kuskokwim River, Alaska's Energy Desk reported Thursday. The barge traveled more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, cargo transportation company Alaska Logistics LLC said. The barge was headed to Red Devil in October before the river froze and trapped the ship near Aniak, the S...
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two weeks into the reopening of Texas, coronavirus cases are climbing. New outbreaks still crop up. And at Guero's Taco Bar in Austin, which offers the occasional celebrity sighting, a log of every diner and where they sat is begrudgingly in the works. "It seems like a huge invasion of privacy," said owner Cathy Lipincott, who is nonetheless trying to comply with Austin's local public health guidelines by asking, but not requiring, customers to give their information. Few states are rebooting quicker than Texas, where s...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Republican-controlled Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval Friday to two separate measures designed to boost funding for the state's Medicaid program. The House narrowly approved a bill that will increase a fee that hospitals pay from 2.5% to 4% that would generate about $134 million annually to help fund the state's share of Gov. Kevin Stitt's proposed Medicaid expansion, dubbed Soonercare 2.0. Stitt wants to take advantage of a block-grant-style Medicaid expansion offered by the Trump administration that would g...
DETROIT (AP) — Tesla has picked Austin, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, as finalists for its new U.S. assembly plant, a person briefed on the matter said Friday. The person says company officials visited Tulsa in the past week and were shown two sites. It wasn't clear if there were any other finalists in the mix. The person, who didn't want to be identified because the site selection process is secret, said no final decision has been made. The new factory will be Tesla's biggest so far. The electric car maker has said it wants the factory to be i...
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — A social media post that called Norman Mayor Breea Clark a vulgar name and lamented that "politicians don't get hung in public anymore" was not a direct threat to the mayor and is protected free speech, Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said Friday. Norman police launched an investigation Thursday after Clark reported the post on a "Re-Open Norman" Facebook page. It read: "Mayor (expletive), needs to be pulled out of office and tried on the court house lawn...the problem with politicians, they don't get h...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma reopened bars on Friday and allowed weddings, funerals and organized sports to resume under the next phase of Gov. Kevin Stitt's statewide reopening plan. Stitt said earlier this week that data supports moving forward, including a continuing decline in hospitalizations for COVID-19 and a steady decline in the percentage of positive tests since the state started to reopen on April 24. "I want Oklahoma to be the first state in the nation to get its wings back and serve as an example," Stitt said. Phase two of the g...
MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Data on COVID-19 infections that had been trending downward, leading Kansas to begin reopening its economy, is beginning to fluctuate and flatten, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said Friday. "It demonstrates that the disease is still spreading in our communities," Kelly said one day after slowing the reopening of the state's economy by ordering bars and bowling alleys to remain closed at least through the end of the month. She said she hoped to stick with the state's reopening plan as much as possible. "But," she added, "I h...
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Linda MowBray admits she's uneasy as communities ease restrictions meant to stop the coronavirus spread, luring people back to restaurants, businesses and normal life. She gets it that the economy needs to be up and running again. But MowBray worries that as that happens nursing home workers could contract the virus and bring it into a facility without knowing. "I'm scared to death of what's going to happen," MowBray, president of the Kansas Health Care Association, a nursing home advocacy group, told The Kansas City S...
NFL teams can begin reopening their facilities on Tuesday if state and local governments will allow it. In a memo sent to the 32 teams Friday by Commissioner Roger Goodell and obtained by The Associated Press, he stressed that the clubs must be "in compliance with any additional public health requirements in their jurisdiction, and have implemented the protocols that were developed by (league medical officer) Dr. (Allen) Sills and distributed to all clubs on May 6." Facilities have been closed since late March due to the coronavirus pandemic....
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first three years of his presidency, Donald Trump did not publicly utter the words "pandemic" or "preparedness." Not in speeches, rallies or his many news conferences, planned and impromptu. But on Friday, the White House pointed to extensive planning exercises the administration conducted and reports it wrote warning of the threat in 2018. Still, Trump has repeatedly said that the blame for the federal government having inadequate stockpiles of crucial supplies and machines needed to cope with an outbreak lay with h...
