San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
$14 billion earmarked for farmers virus aid
The federal government will give farmers an additional $14 billion to compensate them for losses they have experienced selling their crops, milk and meat because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says its plan will provide “financial assistance that gives producers the ability to absorb increased marketing costs associated with the COVID19 pandemic.“
The additional payments illustrate the importance of farmers as a voting block to President Trump’s reelection.
Agriculture groups applauded the additional money, much of which will come in direct payments for crops that meet a specified threshold of price decline. Farmers can begin signing up for the money on Monday.
In April the administration rolled out a $19 billion program, most of which was in the form of direct farm payments. That followed $28 billion the federal government gave farmers to compensate for two years of disruptions caused by Trump’s tariff battles with trading partners.
IDAHO
State maintains restrictions
Idaho will remain under current restrictions of the final stage of
Gov. Brad Little’s economic reopening plan for at least another two weeks. The governor says intensive care unit hospitalizations of those infected remain too high.
Little says Idaho residents have done well in their precautions, such as wearing face coverings, but virus infections have continued.
RHODE ISLAND
Outbreak hits college campus
The president of Providence College announced the school will move to remoteonly learning for at least two weeks after a surge of coronavirus cases among students.
More than 80 students tested positive in just two days, the private Catholic university’s president, Rev. Kenneth Sicard, wrote in a message to the community. The school has 106 positive student cases among about 4,800 students.
Students who live off campus cannot leave their apartments, and students who live on campus will be tested and can’t leave campus, Sicard said. Students who violate the rules face suspensions.
FLORIDA Hemingway haunt reopens
Sloppy Joe’s, the Key West bar that Ernest Hemingway frequented during the 1930s, has reopened after closing six months ago because of the pandemic.
Besides operating the bar at 50% capacity, management is maintaining strict social distancing and requiring patrons to wear face coverings except when seated to eat or drink.