NAVY FIRES CAPTAIN WHO SOUGHT HELP FOR HIS SHIP

WASHINGTON» The captain of a Navy aircraft carrier facing a growing outbreak of the coronavirus on his ship was fired Thursday by Navy leaders who said he created a panic by sending his memo pleading for help to too many people.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the ship’s commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, “demonstrated extremely poor judgment” in the middle of a crisis.

He said the captain copied too many people on the memo, which was leaked to a California newspaper and quickly spread to news outlets.

Modly’s decision was condemned by members of the House Armed Services Committee, who called it a “destabilizing move” that will “likely put our service members at greater risk and jeopardize our fleet’s readiness.”

Modly told Pentagon reporters during an abruptly called news conference Thursday that Crozier should have gone directly to his immediate commanders, who were moving to help the ship. And he said Crozier created a panic by suggesting 50 sailors could die.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, with a crew of nearly 5,000, is docked in Guam, and the Navy has said as many as 3,000 will be taken off the ship and quarantined by Friday.

More than 100 sailors on the ship have tested positive for the virus, but none is hospitalized.

Democrats, Republicans divided over rescue bill.

WASHINGTON» Fresh data on Thursday that detailed a record avalanche of unemployment claims offered no signs of easing the rift between Democrats and Republicans over the need for new legislation financing infrastructure and other job-creation programs.

Sen. John Cornyn, a senior Republican from Texas, said he was chiefly concerned about making sure the approved $2.2 trillion relief package is being spent efficiently.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she will establish a special House committee with subpoena power to oversee the government’s spending of the $2.2 trillion approved to bolster the economy hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. allowing longer shifts at nuclear plants in pandemic. WASHINGTON» U.S. nuclear plants will be allowed to keep workers on longer shifts to deal with staffing problems in the coronavirus pandemic, raising worries among watchdogs and some families living near reactors that employee exhaustion will increase the risks of accidents.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to allow longer worker shifts temporarily is one way the industry is scrambling to keep up mandatory staffing levels through what will be weeks or months more of the pandemic.

The shift extensions would allow workers to be on the job for up to 86 hours per week. Currently, they’re generally allowed to work up to 72 hours in a seven-day period. As part of the waiver, workers could be assigned to 12hour shifts for as many as 14 days in a row.

Judge won’t delay Wisconsin election but extends voting.

MADISON, WIS.» A federal judge on Thursday declined to postpone Wisconsin’s presidential primary as the coronavirus spreads, but he ordered that people be given an extra six days beyond Tuesday’s election for absentee voting.

U.S. District Judge William Conley’s order essentially extends the election by nearly a week.

He blasted state leaders’ decision not to delay the election to protect people’s health but refused to postpone it himself, saying a federal judge shouldn’t act as the state’s health officer.

Governor defends not issuing shelter-in-place order. NEB.» Gov.

LINCOLN,

Pete Ricketts on Thursday defended his refusal to issue a stay-at-home order for residents, arguing that it isn’t necessary for Nebraska even though 40 other governors have done so to try to keep the new coronavirus from spreading.

Ricketts said he doesn’t plan to deviate from his current approach, which includes a statewide, nonenforceable recommendation that residents avoid gatherings with more than 10 people.

The governor has taken a regional approach as well, ordering bans on 10-person gatherings and forcing restaurants to close their dining rooms in areas where confirmed cases of the virus can’t be traced.

Those bans are now in place in 56 of Nebraska’s 93 counties, accounting for well over two-thirds of the state’s population and virtually all of its population centers.