Coronavirus has hit Capitol Hill, as the first members of Congress have tested positive for the virus.
Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Ben McAdams (D-Utah) announced diagnoses late Wednesday. Diaz-Balart’s office said he had developed symptoms Saturday evening and was notified Wednesday of a positive test. Both had voted on the House floor as recently as Saturday morning, to pass the coronavirus relief bill.
Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah (Left), Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. (Right)
At least five other members of Congress are quarantining because they had contact with the lawmakers, including Rep. Steve Scalise, the second-highest ranking Republican in the House.
Some lawmakers had been pushing for ways to vote remotely, particularly since congressional members are disproportionately in higher-risk categories for coronavirus complications. Forty-eight senators are over the age of 65, the age at which some states have recommended individuals to stay inside their homes.
Senator Dick Durban (D-Ill.) has said “it’s time for the Senate to wake up to the 21st century and make sure we’re using technology that allows us to communicate with each other without any danger or risk to public health.”
An autopsy commissioned for George Floyd’s family found that Floyd died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression when a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes and ignored his cries of distress, the Floyd family’s attorneys said Monday.
Facebook employees are using Twitter to register their frustration over CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to leave up posts by President Donald Trump that suggested protesters in Minneapolis could be shot.
Federal health authorities have received reports of nearly 26,000 nursing home residents dying from COVID-19, according to materials prepared for the nation's governors. That number is partial and likely to go higher.
Leslie Ricard Chambers, deputy executive counsel for Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, talked to Cheddar Monday morning, as cities across the country woke up after another night of unrest.
President Donald Trump is deriding the nation’s governors as “weak” and demanding tougher crackdowns on protesters in the aftermath of more violent protests in dozens of American cities.
President Donald Trump spent time in a White House bunker during Friday night's protests outside the executive mansion. Secret Service agents rushed him there as some of the demonstrators were throwing rocks and tugging at police barricades.
America’s cities boarded up windows, swept up glass and covered graffiti Sunday as the country's most significant night of protests in a half-century spilled into another day of unrest fueled by killings of black people at the hands of police.
