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San Francisco, ordered to shelter in place, faces uneasy life in lockdown San Francisco’s tourism industry has ground to a halt and some restaurants closed as residents wondered about the future amid orders to “shelter in place.” "Everything is out of our control," Trish Tracey said in her shuttered restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission District. She does not know when it will reopen. San Francisco and surrounding counties are days into the restrictions, which involve millions of people being told to stay home and stay put except for essential needs such as shopping for groceries, getting medications, caring for others and exercising. San Francisco is an early test of what the rest of the U.S. may see in the coming days as mayors and governors curtail daily life to try to slow the spread of the virus. Read the full story here. Share this -







Las Vegas airport tower closed after controller tests positive The air traffic control tower at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport has been temporarily closed after a controller tested presumptively positive for the coronavirus, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. The Las Vegas Terminal Radar Approach Control assumed control of the airspace and the airport remains open, but operations will continue at a reduced rate until the situation is resolved. The air traffic controller tested presumptively positive for the virus, which causes the illness COVID-19, on Wednesday. Presumptively positive is a term often used when a local test comes back positive but before that result is confirmed by the CDC. The presumptive positive at McCarran comes a day after the air traffic control tower at Chicago’s Midway International Airport was closed after several technicians tested positive. That airport remained open but at reduced operations. Share this -







Playboy, citing coronavirus, says next issue last for print this year Playboy magazine says that due to supply challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic, its spring issue will be the last to hit newsstands this year. "Last week, as the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic to content production and the supply chain became clearer and clearer, we were forced to accelerate a conversation we've been having internally: the question of how to transform our U.S. print product to better suit what consumers want today,” Playboy Enterprises CEO Ben Kohn said in an open letter posted online Wednesday. The Spring 2020 Issue, which is set to hit newsstands this week, will be its last printed publication for the year in the United States, Kohn wrote. Kohn said the company will move to a “digital-first publishing schedule" for all of its content. It will publish print materials next year but those were described as new forms like "special editions, partnerships with the most provocative creators, timely collections and much more." Share this -







Movie theaters request stimulus from Congress Faced with a lengthy shutdown due the coronavirus pandemic, movie theaters are requesting relief from the U.S. government. The National Association of Theater Owners, the trade group that represents most of the industry’s cinemas, said Wednesday that it’s asking for immediate federal help for its chains and its 150,000 employees. The theaters are requesting loan guarantees for exhibitors, tax benefits for employees and funds to compensate for lost ticket sales and concessions. The organization said the movie theater industry is “uniquely vulnerable” to the crisis, and needs assistance to weather a near total shutdown of two to three months. John Fithian, president and chief executive of NATO, didn’t give a specific dollar amount for what the industry is seeking but said theaters could be saved for a fraction of what the airline industry is requesting (The White House has proposed $50 billion for the airlines). Share this -







Engaged couple spreads cheer by sharing roses from postponed wedding When Laura Waina and Michael Zoldan decided to postpone their Arizona wedding because of coronavirus fears, they had to figure out what to do with more than 2,000 roses they’d ordered. So they picked up what they could fit in their car and set out to donate dozens and dozens of them. Laura Waina and Michael Zoldan Courtesy Laura Waina With the help of their local news station, the Scottsdale couple learned of at least 150 people who wished to use the flowers, Waina told NBC News. “Just hearing the stories from the people that reached out to us, we feel super blessed and know that it could’ve been so much worse,” she said. The flowers went to three people: a woman whose 42-year-old sister unexpectedly passed away and whose favorite flowers happened to be white roses; a man whose mother had passed away in isolation; and another couple had previously postponed their wedding but went ahead with a two-person ceremony this week. “We felt bad for ourselves the most at first, but after we licked our wounds for two to three days, we realized it could be worse,” Zoldan told NBC News. “It was cathartic to help others that were struggling in very material ways.” Share this -







China reports no new domestic cases for first time since start of epidemic For the first time since the outbreak began, China’s National Health Commission on Thursday morning reported no new domestic cases of the coronavirus illness COVID-19. The numbers from Wednesday on mainland China include 34 new confirmed cases, but the health commission lists those as “newly diagnosed imported cases.” Those were mainly in Beijing, but also in Guangdong, Shanghai, Heilongjiang and Zhejiang. Deaths continued to rise in mainland China, but at a low rate. Only eight deaths were reported, all of which occurred in Hubei province, which is includes the city of Wuhan and where the outbreak began. There have been 3,245 deaths linked to the coronavirus illness in mainland China as of Thursday morning, according to the national health commission. Share this -







President Trump signs coronavirus aid bill into law President Donald Trump has signed a coronavirus aid bill that was approved by the House this week and the Senate on Wednesday, the White House said. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides free coronavirus testing and ensures paid emergency leave for those who are infected or caring for a family member with the illness. It also provides additional Medicaid funding, food assistance and unemployment benefits. The Senate’s action on Wednesday paves the way for lawmakers to turn their attention to a proposal that could include direct payments to Americans. Read the full story here. Share this -





