Andrews will ‘regret an awful lot from Victoria’s hotel quarantine fiasco’

Liberal Senator Jane Hume says she expects Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will “regret an awful lot of decisions around this hotel quarantine situation”. The state’s hotel quarantine has been blamed for the recent outbreak of the coronavirus in the state after it was revealed more than 50 cases could be linked back to the system. After Premier Andrews previously rejected military assistance, Senator Hume said “I’m very pleased that he has now finally accepted, asked for the assistance of the federal government”. “Obviously those offers have been on the table for some time and have been inexplicably ignored,” she said. Senator Hume described Victoria’s hotel quarantine failures as “our Ruby Princess moment”, in reference to the fiasco which saw hundreds of cruise ship passengers allowed into NSW without being tested for the virus. The Victorian-based Senator called for an inquiry into the hotel quarantine system, saying authorities needed to “get to the bottom of it” in order to prevent it from happening again. Image: News Corp Australia

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‘Who?… I don’t know him’

Premier League: Everton coach Carlo Ancelotti is left confused after being asked about the decision to release 11-year Toffee Luke Garbutt. His response sums up why they’ve released him.

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Future of The Block confirmed

Despite COVID-19 almost derailing this year’s production, it’s been confirmed The Block will return next year in a brand new location. Here’s what we know so far.

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Futuristic home with car lift wins top award

The monolithic mansion dubbed the Floating House has wowed the jury of a prestigious architecture award thanks to its unique design and abundant light-filled spaces.

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FOX NEWS: Pompeo urges United Nations to extend Iran arms embargo

Pompeo urges United Nations to extend Iran arms embargo



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seized on a U.N. report confirming Iranian weapons were used to attack Saudi Arabia in September and were part of an arms shipment seized months ago off Yemen's coast; State Department correspondent Rich Edson reports.

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FOX NEWS: Trump calls Supreme Court ruling a 'historic win for families who want school choice'

Trump calls Supreme Court ruling a 'historic win for families who want school choice'



Earlier this month, Trump called school choice the civil rights issue “all-time in this country.”

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FOX NEWS: Sen. Tim Scott on battle over police reform in Congress, threatening voicemails received by his office

Sen. Tim Scott on battle over police reform in Congress, threatening voicemails received by his office



Democrats walked away from opportunity to offer changes to GOP police reform bill, says South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Republican member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

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FOX NEWS: Rep. James Clyburn on debate over statues in US, future of police reform on Capitol Hill

Rep. James Clyburn on debate over statues in US, future of police reform on Capitol Hill



House Majority Whip James Clyburn joins Martha MacCallum with insight on 'The Story.'

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FOX NEWS: Joe Biden hits President Trump over Russian bounty reports, coronavirus response

Joe Biden hits President Trump over Russian bounty reports, coronavirus response



Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden publicly takes questions for first time in months; Doug McKelway reports.

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FOX NEWS: Supreme Court OKs tax credits for religious education

Supreme Court OKs tax credits for religious education



In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of several mothers in Montana who were suing for the right to use scholarship money attached to a tax credit to pay tuition at a Christian school; chief legal correspondent and 'Fox News @ Night' anchor Shannon Bream reports.

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FOX NEWS: NY Gov. Cuomo announces LGBTQ veterans denied honorable discharge can apply to have state vet benefits restored

NY Gov. Cuomo announces LGBTQ veterans denied honorable discharge can apply to have state vet benefits restored



New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this week that LGBTQ veterans who were denied honorable discharges due to their sexual orientation can now apply to have their state veterans’ benefits restored.

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FOX NEWS: Pompeo: If UN lets Iran arms embargo expire, it will 'betray' ideals of peace, security

Pompeo: If UN lets Iran arms embargo expire, it will 'betray' ideals of peace, security



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the United Nations Security Council Tuesday in another attempt to persuade the international security group to extend the arms embargo against Iran.

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FOX NEWS: Defunding police will lead to crime increase similar to late 80s: David Webb

Defunding police will lead to crime increase similar to late 80s: David Webb



Fox News contributor David Webb says the New York City Council needs to be held accountable for the crime increase that will come with defunding the police.

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FOX NEWS: DHS deploys special federal unit to protect monuments over July 4 weekend amid vandalism fears

DHS deploys special federal unit to protect monuments over July 4 weekend amid vandalism fears



The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is deploying a special federal unit across the country for the July 4 weekend in order to protect federal monuments and statues from a possible fresh wave of vandalism. 

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Australia's Oil Search slashes 34% workforce

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Aeromexico begins voluntary process of Chapter 11 restructuring

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Allegedly Fraudulent Crypto Exchange Shut Down by UK High Court

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Mexican president visit to Trump middle of next week: sources

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Brazil Senate approves main text of bill governing fake news

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TransferWise granted permission to offer investment services in UK

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UK employers demand action now to survive COVID crisis

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European exchanges oppose shorter stock trading day sought by London firms

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Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

EXCLUSIVE: DHS deploys special federal unit to protect monuments over July 4 weekend amid vandalism fears

06/30/20 4:09 PM

Huntsman at risk of shocking defeat in Utah

After a decade away from Utah politics and a weeks-long fight with the coronavirus, the former governor is locked in a tight race for his old job.

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Greta Thunberg accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of lining up to take a selfie with her just to 'look good'

Thunberg castigated Angela Merkel and other world leaders at the UN summit as stealing her dreams, but they still craved an Instagram moment with her.

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CanSino's COVID-19 vaccine candidate approved for military use in China

China's military has received the greenlight to use a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics <6185.HK> after clinical trials proved it was safe and showed some efficacy, the company said on Monday. The Ad5-nCoV is one of China's eight vaccine candidates approved for human trials at home and abroad for the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.

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Trump’s jaw-dropping calls with foreign leaders threaten national security, CNN report claims

A bombshell report by CNN late Monday claims President Donald Trump is so unprepared and abusive on phone calls with foreign leaders that he poses a national security threat.

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Arson at Glenelg

Police are investigating the cause of a Glenelg fire. They believe the blaze was deliberately lit.

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WHO remains hopeful that a vaccine for COVID-19 can be developed

Supplied video obtained Tuesday, June 30, 2020, of Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, speaking during a press briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr Ryan says in the absence of a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 the best way to suppress the disease is by breaking the chains of transmission. (AAP VIDEO/Supplied/World Health Organisation)

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Storm could be stuck in Queensland

Melbourne's timely escape to the Gold Coast has helped the NRL avoid the fixtures chaos enveloping other codes as COVID-19 continues to spike in Victoria. (AAP Video)

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US starts paring back HK’s special status

The United States has begun eliminating Hong Kong's special status under US law, halting defence exports and restricting the territory's access to high technology products as China prepares new Hong Kong security legislation.

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Cyclist, 16, dies in WA’s southwest

A 16-year-old cyclist has died when his bike and a car collided in the South West region of Western Australia.

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Virus surges in US, states shut down again

Arizona's Republican governor has shut down bars, movie theatres, gyms and water parks and leaders in several US states have ordered residents to wear masks in public in a dramatic course reversal amid an alarming resurgence of coronavirus cases nationwide.

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Nats leader backs helping regional airline

Nationals leader Michael McCormack has defended government support for Rex as the regional airline prepares to muscle in on lucrative capital city routes.

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WA search for man swept off rocks into sea

A search is underway after a man was swept into the ocean in Western Australia's South West region.

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Two men stabbed during NSW home invasion

A man has been hospitalised after being stabbed eight times in the back and neck during a home invasion on the NSW mid-north coast.

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Consumer sentiment dips on virus case rise

Consumer confidence has deteriorated in the last week on worried that social restrictions could return following the spike in coronavirus cases in Victoria.

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FOX NEWS: Dr. Marty Makary says US faces critical two months in coronavirus fight

Dr. Marty Makary says US faces critical two months in coronavirus fight



We do not want to go into the second wave with 250,000 COVID cases in the country, says Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marty Makary, professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University of Public Health.

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FOX NEWS: Swine flu strain with 'human pandemic potential' found in more Chinese pigs, scientists say

Swine flu strain with 'human pandemic potential' found in more Chinese pigs, scientists say



Chinese researchers have reportedly identified a new strain of the swine flu that has the potential to become a pandemic.

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Asia stocks set to rise on upbeat data, focus on China PMI

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Column: What would private equity funds in 401(k)s mean for retirement savers?

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Fund giant BlackRock 'warming up' to European assets

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How to control college costs in the age of COVID-19

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Canada federal court dismisses drugmakers' plea challenging drug price rules

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Japan's jobless rate rises to 2.9% in May: government

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Exclusive: Postmates revives IPO plans amid food delivery deal boom

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76 coronavirus cases have been linked to one Michigan bar

Health officials urged anyone who visited the establishment between June 12 and June 20 to self-quarantine for 14 days.

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Trump news: President praises ‘great people’ shouting ‘white power’ as Pelosi brands his alleged inaction over Russia-Taliban reports ‘as bad as it gets’

Donald Trump has praised “great people” in footage he shared of furious protesters clashing over his presidency outside a Florida retirement home, in which one apparent supporter repeatedly shouts “white power” from a golf buggy.The only black Republican senator Tim Scott urged him to remove the “indefensible” footage, which he later did. The White House claimed he did not hear the racist chant.

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"India's George Floyds": Father-son death in police custody sparks outrage

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Pakistan army says Indian spy drone shot down in Kashmir

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Trump visits private golf course as US battles rapid surge in coronavirus cases

US president heads to Virginia a day after saying he’d stay in Washington DC to ‘make sure law and order is enforced’ amid ongoing anti-racism protests * Coronavirus in the US – follow live updatesDonald Trump visited one of his own private golf courses in Virginia on Saturday as America continued to see fallout from a rapid surge in coronavirus cases. The trip came a day after the US president said he would stay in Washington DC to “make sure law and order is enforced” amid ongoing anti-racism protests.The president has been frequently criticized for the scale of his golfing habit while in office. CNN – which tallies his golfing activities – said the visit to the Trump National course in Loudon county, just outside Washington DC, was the 271st of his presidency – putting him at an average of golfing once every 4.6 days since he’s been in office. His predecessor, Barack Obama, golfed 333 rounds over the two terms of his presidency, according to NBC.The visit comes as the number of confirmed new coronavirus cases per day in the US hit an all-time high of 40,000, according to figures released by Johns Hopkins on Friday. Many states are now seeing spikes in the virus with Texas, Florida and Arizona especially badly hit after they reopened their economies – a policy they are now pausing or reversing.Trump has been roundly criticized for a failure to lead during the coronavirus that has seen America become by far the worst hit country in the world. Critics in particular point to his failure to wear a mask, holding campaign rallies in coronavirus hot spots and touting baseless conspiracy theories about cures, such as using bleach.On Friday night Trump tweeted that he was cancelling a weekend trip to his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course because of the protests which have rocked the capital, including taking down statues of confederate figures.“I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced. The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped,” he tweeted.Trump’s latest visit to the golf course put him in the way of some opposition. According to a White House pool media report: “A small group of protesters at the entrance to the club held signs that included, ‘Trump Makes Me Sick’ and ‘Dump Trump’. A woman walking a small white dog nearby also gave the motorcade a middle finger salute.”It is not yet known if Trump actually played a round of golf. But a photographer captured the president wearing a white polo shirt and a red cap, which is among his common golfing attire.

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Hong Kongers march in silent protest against national security laws

The proposed national security laws were discussed by the National People's Congress Standing Committee on Sunday in Beijing at a three-day meeting.

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Jefferson Davis descendent: State flag should represent population

Bertram Hayes-Davis, a descendent of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and resident of Mississippi, reacts as Mississippi lawmakers come closer to a historic vote on changing the state flag, the last in the US to include the Confederate emblem.

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Walmart stops displaying Mississippi state flag in stores

Walmart has stopped displaying the Mississippi state flag — which includes the Confederate battle flag — in stores. Walmart said the decision to no longer display the Mississippi flag is in line with its 2015 policy ending sales of all merchandise featuring the Confederate flag.

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Boeing can begin test flights of the 737 Max, FAA says

Boeing has received clearance to begin test flights of its troubled 737 Max jet, a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday. The test flights of could begin as early as Monday.

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Student who ‘inspired’ Chris Lilley character

A former Tongan schoolboy who was the subject of a 2004 ABC documentary series has claimed that Chris Lilley based his controversial Jonah character on him – and says he feels “angry and exploited”.

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House sells 3 times in 5 years, jumps $1.8m

This three-bedroom home might look unassuming on the outside, but it’s delivered steady profits in the three times it’s sold since 2015. Here’s why.

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NC-NN-REC/NEWS.COM.AU HOME TECHNOLOGY MODULE (171523)

NC-NN-REC/NEWS.COM.AU HOME TECHNOLOGY MODULE (171523)

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Mississippi moves to remove ‘racist’ Confederate symbol from flag

Mississippi is poised to change its flag due to racist connotations after weeks of civil unrest. State legislators are expected to vote to remove a Confederate emblem on the flag which was used to represent the South during the Civil War. Image: AP

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Weather Explained

WATCH: Sky News Meteorologist Rob Sharpe explains how climate change impacts rain.

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FOX NEWS: Beyoncé to release new visual album 'Black Is King' on Disney+

Beyoncé to release new visual album 'Black Is King' on Disney+



In a surprise, Disney Plus announced a new visual album from Beyoncé — “Black Is King,” inspired by “The Lion King” — is coming to the streaming service next month.

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FOX NEWS: Hulu removes 'Golden Girls' episode with blackface joke, sparking criticism

Hulu removes 'Golden Girls' episode with blackface joke, sparking criticism



"Golden Girls" fans aren't happy with Hulu after the streamer pulled an episode of the show for referencing blackface.

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FOX NEWS: Jaden, Jada Pinkett Smith slam YouTuber Shane Dawson, saying he was 'sexualizing' Willow Smith when she was 11

Jaden, Jada Pinkett Smith slam YouTuber Shane Dawson, saying he was 'sexualizing' Willow Smith when she was 11



The Smith family is unhappy.

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FOX NEWS: Adele shows off weight loss in new photos, discusses upcoming music release

Adele shows off weight loss in new photos, discusses upcoming music release



Adele is having fun in quarantine.

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Transnational Cybercrime Group Co-Founder Who Amassed $568M Pleads Guilty

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Dustin Johnson hangs on to win Travelers Championship

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Decred Co-Founder Calls PayPal and Crypto 'An Odd Combination'

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SoftBank to repurchase $1.9 billion of corporate bonds

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Wright Decision & Paypal Allowing Crypto: Bad Crypto News of the Week

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Toronto cop convicted in beating of Black man who lost eye

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Florida Smirked at New York's Virus Crisis. Now It Has Its Own.

In late April, as new coronavirus cases in Florida were steadily decreasing, Gov. Ron DeSantis began crowing how his state had tamed the pandemic.He credited his decision to impose a state-specific quarantine on New York, then the epicenter of the nation's outbreak. The move earned him praise in the White House and the ire of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York.Months later, Cuomo has clearly not forgotten."You played politics with this virus and you lost," Cuomo said Thursday when asked in an interview about DeSantis' earlier boasts.With infections now rapidly spreading in Florida while they retreat in New York, the two states have come to reflect the rapidly shifting course of the coronavirus pandemic.New York still has the country's highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths, but the day-to-day numbers have been steadily falling: At its peak, the virus claimed 1,000 deaths a day in the state; on Thursday, the state recorded 17 deaths. Florida, among the states not mandating masks, rushed to reopen and on Friday reported its highest number of new cases in one day, with close to 9,000.And in their divergent political responses to the outbreak, Cuomo, a Democrat, and DeSantis, a Republican, also mirror the divide over the virus among states and regions around the country.The two brash, telegenic governors both embraced the increased visibility that the virus provided. Cuomo delivered daily sober updates on the virus, the state's aggressive lockdown strategy and its cautious approach to reopening. DeSantis eagerly advanced a narrative pushed by President Donald Trump, seeing the economic damage as a greater risk than a virus that had, for months, largely spared his state.The strain of the pandemic has frayed the ties between New York and Florida, two states that normally enjoy a more symbiotic relationship, even allowing for the occasional hints of schadenfreude.On Wednesday, Cuomo ordered his own quarantine on travelers from states with high-infection rates -- a group of eight that included Florida -- to protect New Yorkers who now have low infection rates. The reversal of fortune was too much to pass up."Your hospital beds are filling up," Cuomo said Thursday. "It means more people are getting sick. That's what's happening. And it's now undeniable."Despite the virus' spread, DeSantis has given no indication that he would order the shutdown of any of the businesses already opened. But on Friday, in an unexpected move, the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation abruptly announced that on-premises alcohol consumption would be suspended at bars, effective immediately.DeSantis acknowledged that the trend in infections had shifted. "Our peak before was much lower than a lot of the other states -- in the Northeast, for example," he said on Thursday during a news conference in Tampa. "Really, the whole Sun Belt is seeing this."DeSantis said the state, which has lost 3,327 lives to the virus, was prepared for the rise in cases. He did not address Cuomo's remarks or the quarantine of Floridians traveling to New York. A spokeswoman for DeSantis, Helen Aguirre Ferre, said Cuomo was "sadly mistaken if he thinks this pandemic is a political contest."Even before the pandemic, New York and Florida engaged in some interstate rivalry, competing for residents and businesses. Florida has overtaken New York in population in recent years, a trend driven in part by the migration to the state of New Yorkers, census figures show.But in their responses to the coronavirus, the differences between the two states have never been clearer.Cuomo in April mandated all New Yorkers to wear masks when they could not stay 6 feet apart. DeSantis has declined to do the same, even after his own state surgeon general issued an advisory recommending masks in any setting where social distancing is not possible.New York leaders, after a halting early response to the pandemic in March, mostly followed the recommendations of state public health officials, including requirements for widespread testing and contact tracing before reopening. Florida has moved to open its businesses faster, and without the same infrastructure for tracking down the close contacts of the infected.In large part, the different approaches reflect the different experiences with the virus. New York state saw more than 18,000 hospitalizations a day during the worst period of the outbreak, back in April.The state's nursing homes were particularly hard-hit: 6,200 residents have died, and Cuomo has been criticized by DeSantis and others for an executive order that forbade nursing homes from turning away patients arriving from hospitals solely because they had the coronavirus. A Cuomo spokesman recently responded by saying DeSantis does not know how to wear a mask properly.DeSantis received praise for the state's more limited response to the pandemic, including from Trump, who urged the quarantine of New Yorkers going to Florida. DeSantis believed harsh restrictions would result in citizens refusing to follow the rules.He has also attacked the news media, which he said has been overly concerned about contagion in Florida's reopened beaches and not worried enough about virus spread in the New York subway.In early May, Florida began reopening business, and quickly: The state's first phase of reopening included restaurants, gyms, barbershops and large spectator sporting events, with restricted occupancy. In New York, reopening began more haltingly, with manufacturing and construction businesses.And when the White House called, DeSantis traveled to Washington to highlight the state's progress next to Trump."When you look at some of the most draconian orders that have been issued in some of these states and compare Florida," DeSantis said from the Oval Office in late April, including New York in a litany of several states, "Florida has done better."And so the National Basketball Association said it would hold the rest of its season at Walt Disney World. The Republican National Convention relocated its big speeches to Jacksonville, Florida. NASCAR raced at the Homestead-Miami Speedway earlier this month, with DeSantis as its honorary starter.Cuomo has made his own bid for sports, coaxing the Mets and the Yankees to return to New York from their spring training camps by suggesting Florida was no longer safe. (He exempted the teams from the new quarantine, saying they had their own health protocols.)While Cuomo did not explicitly target his quarantine order to apply to Florida, he signaled in the days before making the announcement that the state's recent treatment of New Yorkers was very much on his mind."Well, wouldn't that be karma?" Cuomo said when asked about a quarantine in New York on MSNBC.Florida's quarantine affecting New Yorkers is still in effect: As of Tuesday, New Yorkers arriving at Miami International Airport were still being met by the National Guard and state health officials, told to head straight for their lodgings and ordered to quarantine there for two weeks.But as the course of the coronavirus outbreak has turned in recent weeks, the flow of travelers has reversed: People are now jetting out of Florida and back to the relative safety of New York. Such an exodus would have been unimaginable three months earlier.Epidemiologists said Florida's quarantine of New Yorkers made sense at the time, just as New York's for Floridians does now. "There is more virus in that environment," said Dr. Amanda D. Castel, a professor of epidemiology at George Washington University.Right now, New York was looking like a safer bet to Evan Friedman, a White Plains, New York, resident who had been staying in his second home in Boca Raton, Florida, since March.In recent weeks, Friedman, 58, had begun to worry that Florida residents were not taking the virus seriously enough. A barber not wearing a mask rattled him. So did the man in the bagel shop who prepared a platter without a mask or gloves.Many New Yorkers he knew in Florida had gone back north, and he planned to go early next month.But when Cuomo announced that the new quarantine would take effect at midnight Wednesday, Friedman rushed to pack his bags. He found the flights to New York were all booked, so he got a ticket to Connecticut and rented a car to get back to New York."I have the luxury of being able to be up North or in the South," he said. "I want to be where there are the smallest amount of cases."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

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A Major GOP Nightmare Moves a Step Closer to Reality

Legislation to make the District of Columbia a state is poised to pass the House on Friday, a major advance from the last time the measure came before Congress 27 years ago and 40 percent of Democrats joined with all but one Republican to defeat D.C. statehood. After decades of benign neglect, the movement to make D.C. the 51st state has gained new life with Black Lives Matter and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s heightened profile. President Trump’s efforts to use federal force to dominate streets around the White House exposed the subservient status of a city that must answer to Congress for how it spends money while its 706,000 residents are without full voting representation in the House or Senate. Republicans appear unmoved by pleas for equality. Republican Sen. Tom Cotton took to the Senate floor to denounce the Democrats’ move in a racially tinged speech depicting D.C. as an elitist conclave of the “deep state” and Mayor Bowser as someone who could not be trusted to keep the city and its statues safe. “Yes, Wyoming is smaller than Washington by population,” he tweeted, “but it has three times as many workers in mining, logging, and construction, and 10 times as many workers in manufacturing. In other words, Wyoming is a well-rounded working-class state."Opinion: I Fixed Tom Cotton’s Op-EdThe bill to rename D.C. “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” is going nowhere in Mitch McConnell’s Senate. But if the Democrats win the White House and flip the Senate, statehood becomes imaginable, since statehood requires only a vote of Congress. “Trump says Republicans would have to be stupid to support D.C. statehood and that’s what the battle is about these days, maybe that’s what it’s always been about,” says Michael Brown, D.C.’s non-voting “shadow senator.” Actually, Trump said Republicans would have to be “very, very stupid” to support statehood for D.C. because it would add two Democratic senators, which McConnell would never let happen. “But it’s about more than McConnell,” Brown told the Daily Beast. “We can’t get one Republican (in the Senate), and there are still six (Senate) Democrats who are not on the bill.” In the modern Senate, 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster and proceed to a vote on legislation of any significance. The exception is judges, where Republicans exercised what is known as the “nuclear option” to confirm two Supreme Court judges and 200 lower court lifetime judges with a simple majority. Democratic leader Harry Reid opened this dangerous door by striking the filibuster for Executive Branch confirmations that McConnell was blocking. Several Democrats who ran for president, including Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Pete Buttigieg, favor doing away with the filibuster if Democrats win the Senate. Otherwise, they argue, McConnell (or his successor, should he happen to lose his own race) will obstruct everything Democrats try to do.  The District of Columbia has a population of 706,000, more than Wyoming and Vermont, and D.C. residents pay more in total federal income tax than 22 states. It has long been a sore point that fighting in every war and contributing blood and treasure is not enough to gain more than a symbolic vote in Congress. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has served almost 30 years, has a vote in committee but not on the House floor, and if her committee vote breaks a tie, it doesn’t count. Even that small measure of democratic largesse was taken away by Republicans when they gained control of the House in 1994 and again in 2010. Democrats restored Norton’s limited right to vote when they won the House in 2006 and 2018, and since then Norton has been on a roll when it comes to statehood. She has 226 co-sponsors for the bill, including the No. 2 Democrat in the House, Steny Hoyer from Maryland, who opposed statehood until now. Speaking before the Rules committee Wednesday, Norton explained how the legislation before her colleagues was personal to her own history. “My great-grandfather, Richard Holmes, who escaped as a slave from a Virginia plantation, made it as far as D.C., a walk to freedom but not to equal citizenship,” she said. “For three generations my family has been denied the rights other Americans take for granted.” Opponents of statehood argue that the Founding Fathers didn’t want the District to be a state, but our vaunted forebears also didn’t want women to vote, or Black people to vote, so that argument seems lame. “Whether you’re a textualist or an originalist, I don’t believe the Founding Fathers had any more reason to deny representation to people who pay federal taxes, serve in war and do everything a citizen should—than they would have wanted my neighbor down the hall to have a closet full of AK-47s,” says Ellen Goldstein, who served until recently as a neighborhood advisory commissioner for the Sheridan-Kalorama neighborhood, home to the Obamas, the Kushners, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. “You can unearth the minds of the Founding Fathers to justify anything,” Goldstein told the Daily Beast. “As somebody who has lived here for 50 years, I believe the only reason we’re not a state is because of race.” Race has a lot to do with it, says Brown, a former political consultant whose unpaid position’s main perk is identifying as a senator. The Constitution grants Congress jurisdiction over the District in “all cases whatsoever,” which allowed some committee chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on the District of Columbia to run the city like a plantation. In his recent book Class of 1974, John Lawrence recounts how John McMillan, a South Carolina Democrat and a segregationist, sent a truckload of watermelons to the office of appointed Mayor Walter Washington to let him know how little he thought of the budget Washington submitted in 1967 for the committee’s review. The District couldn’t even elect its own mayor until after Home Rule passed Congress in 1973. For a long time, D.C. pridefully called itself “Chocolate City,” acknowledging its majority Black population. No state has ever come into the union with a majority minority population, says Brown. In 1993, the last time Congress voted on statehood, the city was 56 percent Black, a factor in the outcome despite President Bill Clinton’s advocacy for statehood. During his final weeks in office, Bill Clinton had the newly authorized D.C. license plate with the slogan “taxation without representation” affixed to the presidential limousine. His successor, President George W. Bush, had the plate removed. It wasn’t until after President Obama won re-election in 2012 that he ordered the controversial plate installed on all presidential vehicles. In 2011, the District’s Black population fell below 50 percent for the first time in over 50 years. According to 2017 Census Bureau data, the African-American population is 47.1 percent. Unlike the Clinton-era vote, when Democrats were divided on the political merits of D.C. statehood, a newly awakened Democratic leadership is rallying around the cry for equal rights. “It’s beyond statehood,” says Goldstein, citing congressional meddling in District policies on marijuana legalization, gun regulation, and funding for abortion. “If we decide to do it, they take it away. They take our money and tell us how to spend it.”  Goldstein doubts the House vote will change anything, but in her thinking, modern America cannot continue to deny D.C. is a state any more than Macy’s Department store in the movie classic Miracle on 34th Street could deny Kris Kringle was Santa when bags of letters addressed to him were delivered by the Post Office. Using the same reasoning, Goldstein notes that when she shops online on Amazon and scrolls down, D.C. is a state: “If the Post Office thinks you’re Santa, you’re Santa. And if Amazon thinks we’re a state, then by golly, we’re a state.”Until a miracle happens on Capitol Hill, that will have to do.  Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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