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'National disaster' if Congress doesn't provide funding to states, N.J. gov. warns Murphy: Congress must fund state aid to avoid a 'national disaster' April 18, 2020 01:31 New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Saturday warned of a "national disaster" if Congress fails to provide funding to states to help make up for dramatic falls in revenue amid the coronavirus outbreak and the costs that states have shouldered in fighting the pandemic. A bipartisan group of governors has called on the federal government to provide states aid. Murphy said he had a "concerning" conversation with Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., about a lack of "momentum right now in Congress to put a significant amount or any amount of money into direct state aid." The governor warned that without federal funding, "We will have layoffs that will be historic" at the state, county and local levels of government. "I don't know how many, but it is big, big numbers," he said. “We need both direct financial assistance to states from a bill passed by Congress and signed by the president, and we will need bonding flexibility in either case." Share this -







Florida man encases arms in concrete in protest of prison conditions during pandemic Protester Jordan Mazurek, 28, who cemented his hands in two 55-gallon plastic drums filled with concrete in the driveway of the Governor's Mansion, sits on the pavement while his vitals are checked by first responders, on April 17, 2020, in Tallahasssee, Fla. Alicia Devine / Tallahassee Democrat via AP A Florida man encased his arms in barrels full of concrete outside the governor's mansion in Tallahassee on Friday in protest of the state's continuing to hold prisoners amid the coronavirus pandemic. Tallahassee police arrested Jordan Mazurek, 28, around 10:30 a.m. after they cut him out of two 55-gallon drums of concrete that were connected by PVC pip. Mazurek wore a surgical mask and sat between the two black drums painted in white letters — one said "stop the massacre," while the other read "free prisoners now" — in protest of the living conditions of those who remain imprisoned amid the pandemic. Read the full story here. Share this -







New Jersey coronavirus cases top 81,000 More than 81,000 people in New Jersey have tested positive for COVID-19, Gov. Phil Murphy said at his daily news conference Saturday. Murphy said in the last 24 hours more than 3,000 residents have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 81,420. The number of deaths in the state is 4,070. "We will do everything in our power to stop the spread of this disease and lose fewer and fewer residents to it," Murphy said. The governor said that over the past week the number of people in intensive and critical care has started to stabilize and he credited social distancing. He also said more people are being discharged from the hospital than entering. Share this -







Laboratory in Wuhan denies claims that the coronavirus originated there Residents wearing masks pass by government propaganda posters featuring Tiananmen Gate in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on April 16, 2020. Ng Han Guan / AP A laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan has broken its silence to deny accusations that the novel coronavirus originated there. Yuan Zhiming, vice director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, that this was a "conspiracy theory" designed to "confuse" people. He also denied the virus was manmade. It is the first time anyone from the institute has spoken publicly. Read the full story here. Share this -







Twenty-five nurses and physicians from the Cleveland Clinic welcomed at NY hospital Share this -







N.J. woman who organized protest charged with violating stay-at-home orders A New Jersey woman who organized a protest of Gov. Phil Murphy's stay-at-home order was charged with violating that same order. The protest took place on Friday outside the Statehouse and at other locations in Trenton, the state's Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said in his daily briefing, calling it a "prohibited event." The woman who organized the protest, Kim Pagan, was charged by New Jersey State Police with violating the governor's emergency orders, which prohibits all gatherings. Share this -







'No excuse now' on marriage with ceremonies by video, NY gov. says New York officials said Saturday they will allow people to get marriage licenses remotely as the coronavirus pandemic continues and marriage bureaus are closed to the public. Clerks will also have the authority to perform wedding ceremonies over video. "Video marriage ceremonies, there's no excuse now when the question comes up for marriage," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "You can do it by Zoom." Share this -







New York Gov. Cuomo says COVID-19 hospitalizations are down 'but it's not over yet' While the rate of coronavirus hospitalizations has declined in New York, the numbers are still high, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a press conference Saturday. Around 2,000 new coronavirus hospitalizations are still taking place in the state daily, suggesting "it's not over yet," according to Cuomo. At least 540 New Yorkers died of coronavirus Friday, the lowest daily death rate the state has seen this week. The rate of infection has also gone down in part thanks to "what we have all done to flatten the curve," Cuomo said. With social distancing, the rate of infection has dropped to 0.9, meaning one person with COVID-19 infects about one other person. Cuomo said that ramping up testing is crucial for reopening the state without increasing the rate of infection. Increasing New York's capacity to do more tests would also help "find people with the virus and trace their contacts," he said. The governor called on the federal government "to oversee the supply chain" in order to help laboratories get what they need to increase testing. He also urged the federal government to improve their efforts to coordinate response efforts with states. Share this -







Photo: India locks down entire population Children wait to receive free food distributed in a slum during a lockdown to check the spread of the new coronavirus in Mumbai, India, on Saturday. As governments around the world try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, India has launched one of the most draconian social experiments in history, locking down its entire population, including an estimated 176 million people who struggle to survive on $1.90 a day or less. Rajanish Kakade / AP Share this -





