Politics slows flow of US virus funds

As the novel coronavirus began to spread through Minneapolis this spring, Health Commissioner Gretchen Musicant tore up her budget to find funds to combat the crisis. Money for test kits. Money to administer tests. Money to hire contact tracers. And yet even more money for a service that helps tracers communicate with residents in dozens of languages.

While Musicant diverted workers from violence prevention and other core programs to the COVID-19 response, state officials debated how to distribute $1.87 billion Minnesota received in federal aid.

As she waited, the Minnesota Zoo got $6 million in federal money to continue operations, and a debt collection company outside Minneapolis received at least $5 million from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, according to federal data.

It was not until Aug. 5 — months after Congress approved aid for the pandemic — that Musicant’s department finally received $1.7 million, the equivalent of $4 per Minneapolis resident.

“It’s more a hope and a prayer that we’ll have enough money,” Musicant said.

130º temperature to be confirmed

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — An automated measuring system in California’s Death Valley reported a temperature of 130 degrees amid a blistering heat wave on Sunday, a reading that would be among the highest ever recorded globally if it is confirmed.

The temperature was recorded at 3:41 p.m. at Furnace Creek near the park’s visitor center, the National Weather Service said in a statement that described the measurement as preliminary and not yet official.

“If verified, this will be the hottest temperature officially verified since July of 1913, also at Death Valley. As this is an extreme temperature event, the recorded temperature will need to undergo a formal review,” the statement said.

The location holds the world record for highest temperature ever recorded — 134 degrees — set on July 10, 1913. That record, however, remains in dispute.

The World Meteorological Organization said in a tweet

that it also will work to verify Sunday’s measurement.

“This would be the hottest global temperature officially recorded since 1931,” it said.

That temperature was 131 degrees recorded in Kebili, Tunisia, on July 7, 1931, and it also is disputed.

Death Valley, an austere landscape in the desert of southeastern California, includes Badwater Basin, which at 282 feet below sea level is the lowest point in North America.

Summer heat is so routinely extreme that tourists are warned to drink at least a gallon of water each day, carry additional water in their cars, stay close to their vehicles and watch themselves and others for dizziness, nausea and other symptoms of potentially deadly heat illness.

States uncommitted to jobless aid boost

President Donald Trump’s plan to offer a stripped-down boost in unemployment benefits to millions of Americans amid the coronavirus outbreak has found little traction among the states, which would have to pay a quarter of the cost to deliver the maximum benefit.

An Associated Press survey finds that as of Monday, 18 states have said they will take the federal grants allowing them to increase unemployment checks by $300 or $400 a week. The AP tally shows that 30 states have said they’re still evaluating the offer or have not said whether they plan to accept the president’s slimmed-down benefits. Two have said no.

The uncertainty is putting some families’ finances in peril.

Tiana Chase, who runs a community game room and store in Maynard, Mass., said the extra $600 she and her partner had been receiving under the previous federal benefit helped keep them afloat after the pandemic caused many businesses to shutter.

For the past few weeks, she’s been getting less than $300 in unemployment. If that’s boosted by another $300, “it’s going to be a lot tighter, but at least I can vaguely manage,” she said. “I can cover my home expenses.”

Nursing home cases up nearly 80 percent

WASHINGTON — COVID -19 cases in U.S. nursing homes jumped nearly 80 percent earlier this summer, driven by rampant spread across the South and much of the West, according to an industry report released Monday.

“The case numbers suggest the problem is far from solved,” said Tamara Konetzka, a research professor at the University of Chicago, who specializes in long-term care. She was not involved with the study.

Long-term care facilities account for less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, but more than 40 percent of COVID-19 deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

The situation is a politically sensitive issue for President Donald Trump, who is scrambling to hold on to support from older voters as polls show disapproval of his administration’s response to the pandemic.

The White House announced in late July the release of $5 billion for nursing homes, while launching a program to equip each of some 15,000 facilities with a fasttest machine to screen residents and staff for the coronavirus.

1M in California could lose power

SAN FRANCISCO — Up to 1 million homes and businesses in California were expected to lose power Monday as part of rolling blackouts to ease pressure on the state’s electric grid as a dayslong heat wave engulfing the West Coast creates an energy shortage.

The California Independent System Operator said it would likely order utility companies to turn off power later Monday as demand for electricity to cool homes soars during the hottest part of the day beyond the power available in the grid.

“I know that that’s going to be highly disruptive to people. I truly, truly wish there were other options that we had at hand,” California ISO CEO and President Steve Berberich said.

However, the number of affected customers dropped dramatically from 3.3 million to 1 million because “expected demand has been decreasing due to slightly lower temperatures and consumer conservation,” the grid operator said.

Those affected can expect to lose power for about two hours. Berberich didn’t say where the outages might occur, a decision that is up to the state’s utilities. As of 5 p.m., the grid operator had not ordered the utilities to power down.

Universities work to deal with outbreaks

North Carolina’s flagship university canceled in-person classes for undergraduates just a week into the fall semester Monday as college campuses around the U.S. scramble to deal with coronavirus clusters linked in some cases to student housing, off-campus parties and packed bars.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said it will switch to remote learning on Wednesday and make arrangements for students who want to leave campus housing.

“We have emphasized that if we were faced with the need to change plans — take an offramp — we would not hesitate to do so, but we have not taken this decision lightly,” it said in a statement after reporting 130 confirmed infections among students and five among employees over the past week.

UNC said the clusters were discovered in dorms, a fraternity house and other student housing.

Before the decision came down, the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, ran an editorial headlined, “UNC has a clusterf--k on its hands,” though without the dashes.

National Zoo awaits birth of panda cub

WASHINGTON — Zookeepers at Washington’s National Zoo are on furry blackand-white baby watch after concluding that venerable giant panda matriarch Mei Ziang is pregnant and could give birth this week. It’s a welcome bit of good news amid a pandemic that kept the zoo shuttered for months.

“We need this! We totally need this joy,” said zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson. “We are all in desperate need of these feel-goods.”

Although so-called “phantom pregnancies” are common with pandas and other large bears, Baker-Masson said an ultrasound scan revealed a “really strong-looking, fantastic fetus” that could be delivered this week.

“The image was great. She is absolutely pregnant. But things could still happen, just like in a human pregnancy,” BakerMasson said.

The zoo posted a video from the ultrasound on Instagram. “Keep your paws crossed!” the zoo posted, reporting that the fetus was “kicking and swimming in the amniotic fluid.”

Trump mulls funeral at White House

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is eyeing a White House funeral service later this week for his younger brother, Robert, who died over the weekend in a New York hospital.

“We’re looking at Friday. And we may do just a small service right here at the White House,” Trump told reporters Monday as he departed Washington on a trip to the Midwest.

The president said such a service would be a “great honor” for his sibling.

“I think he’d be greatly honored. He loves our country. He loved our country so much. He was so proud of what we were doing and what we are doing for our country,” Trump said.

Robert Trump, a businessman, died Saturday after being hospitalized in New York. He was 71.

President Trump announced his brother’s death in a statement Saturday that referred to his sibling as “my best friend” and promised they “will meet again.”

Trump had visited his brother in the hospital on Friday; White House officials had described him as seriously ill. The cause of death has not been released.

Trump discussed his brother’s death during a nationally broadcast interview Monday.

“This was not a great weekend. It’s very hard. You knew it was going to happen, but still when it happens it’s a very tough thing,” the president said on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.” “He was a great guy. He was a tremendous guy. He was my friend. I guess they say best friend, and that’s true. And losing him, not easy.”

Trump said Robert Trump had always supported him and there was no rivalry between them.

“There was not an ounce of jealously . . . he was my biggest fan,” Trump said.