Source: The New York Times

LYNCHBURG, Va. — As Liberty University’s spring break was drawing to a close this month, Jerry Falwell Jr., its president, spoke with the physician who runs Liberty’s student health service about the rampaging coronavirus.

“We’ve lost the ability to corral this thing,” Dr. Thomas W. Eppes Jr. said he told Mr. Falwell. But he did not urge him to close the school. “I just am not going to be so presumptuous as to say, ‘This is what you should do and this is what you shouldn’t do,’” Dr. Eppes said in an interview.

So Mr. Falwell — a staunch ally of President Trump and an influential voice in the evangelical world — reopened the university last week, igniting a firestorm, epidemiologically and otherwise. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggest Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. Another eight were told to self-isolate.

“Liberty will be notifying the community as deemed appropriate and required by law,” Mr. Falwell said in an interview on Sunday when confronted with the numbers. He added that any student returning now to campus would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/liberty-university-brings-back-its-students-and-coronavirus-too/ar-BB11Svap?li=BBnbcA1

Source: CNN

(CNN)Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the high-profile freshman from New York, is leaving open the option of forcing House members to return to Washington to cast a vote on the $2 trillion stimulus package barreling through Congress.

The New York Democrat has expressed her frustration with reports of the stimulus deal, suggesting it's too tilted towards corporations. The deal was reached between senators from both parties -- including the senior Democratic senator from her state, Chuck Schumer, and the White House.

On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez told CNN she is not ruling out asking for a recorded vote, which would force lawmakers to return to Washington and vote in-person, something that most members of Congress are eager to avoid amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ocasio-Cortez said she hadn't seen the final bill text yet, "but I'm open" to asking for a recorded vote "if necessary."


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-coronavirus-package-vote/index.html

MIAMI — Joe Biden lauded seven governors — drawn from both parties — by name on Monday, praising their leadership during the coronavirus crisis.

On Wednesday, he singled out one for sharp criticism: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In doing so, Biden managed to highlight both the crucial role Florida plays in the presidential race, and the equally critical role it occupies in the national debate over responding to the coronavirus crisis.

After images of drunken spring-breakers partying amid a contagion were broadcast nationally, DeSantis — a protege of President Trump — was thrust into the vanguard of Republican governors balking at issuing a broad shelter-in-place order to limit the spread of the virus.

More: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/biden-trump-florida-rally-149262

Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel

A Miami Beach police report about an apparent drug overdose in a Miami Beach hotel room overnight Thursday says that one of the three men present in the room was Andrew Gillum along with three small plastic bags containing suspected crystal meth.

One of those involved, named Gillum, is 40, the police report states, the same age as the 2018 gubernatorial nominee.

The police reports that officers responded to a room at 1100 West Ave., which is the address of the Mondrian South Beach. Police found fire rescue treating a man for a possible drug overdose.

Police found two other men in the room, including Gillum, described as an “involved other.”

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-ne-andrew-gillum-miami-beach-drugs-20200313-3plsrtuvdnhcpglfo34ojrehvu-story.html

According to reports at Middle East Eye, Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini, a local imam, addressed a Dearborn rally in Arabic on Saturday, encouraging support for Sanders.

US Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was endorsed at a recent rally on Saturday by an imam who has previously claimed that ISIS atrocities benefit “Zionists,” and claimed falsely that Israel was never targeted by ISIS.

According to reports at Middle East Eye, Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini, a local imam, addressed a Dearborn rally in Arabic on Saturday, encouraging support for Sanders.

More: https://m.jpost.com/Diaspora/Bernie-Sanders-endorsed-by-Imam-who-said-ISIS-is-arm-of-the-Zionists-620439

PHOENIX — Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has officially endorsed Joe Biden for president.

“I am voting for former Vice President Joe Biden—a pragmatic, practical leader best positioned to get things done for everyday families. We certainly don't agree on every issue; I always vote for Arizona first. Vice President Biden is authentic, genuine, and has a track record of building bipartisan coalitions to achieve results. Not all candidates in this race represent those Arizona values. Joe Biden does.”

Joe Biden on Twitter announced the 125 elected officials and leaders who have endorsed his campaign.

Along with Sinema, Mark Kelly has also endorsed Biden for president.

More: https://www.abc15.com/news/state/arizona-senator-kyrsten-sinema-endorses-joe-biden-for-president

American Alan Gross, a prisoner in Cuba for five years during the Obama administration, is accusing Sen. Bernie Sanders of commending the communist country when he came to visit him behind bars.

Sanders visited Cuba as part of a congressional delegation in 2014, along with Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Jon Tester.

During the one-hour meeting, Sanders told the prisoner that he didn't understand why others criticized Cuba, Gross said in an interview with NPR.

"He said, quote: 'I don't know what's so wrong with this country,' " Gross recalled.

More: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/04/811729200/former-prisoner-recalls-sanders-saying-i-don-t-know-what-s-so-wrong-with-cuba

Source: Jerusalem Post

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu succeeded in winning 60 seats for his bloc of right-wing and religious parties in Monday’s election, one less than he needed for a majority in the Knesset, according to exit polls on the three television networks.

The first polls indicated that Netanyahu’s Likud won 36-37 seats. Its allies in Shas, UTJ and Yamina won 9, 7-8 and 6-7 respectively. The polls showed Blue and White with 33 seats, its ally Labor-Gesher-Meretz 6-7, the Joint List 14-15 and Yisrael Beytenu 6-8.

When Channel 13 updated its numbers at around 1 a.m. Israel time, Gantz gained one seat to 34 and the blocs shifted slightly, leaving the right-wing with only 59 seats.

Channel 12 also updated its numbers, giving Likud 37 seats, Blue and White 32, Arab Joint List 15, Shas 9, Yisrael Beytenu 7, UTJ 7, Labor-Gesher-Meretz 7 and Yamina 6.

Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Benjamin-Netanyahus-Right-bloc-wins-majority-exit-polls-619513/amp