VIRUS OUTBREAK-FLORIDA

Doctor: Miami becoming ‘epicenter’ of coronavirus outbreak

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A top doctor is warning that Florida’s rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases is turning Miami into the “epicenter of the pandemic,” and an epidemiologist says the region’s situation “extremely grave.” Their assessments come as Florida recorded more than 12,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases Monday after a record-setting weekend. The spike partly reflects the larger number of tests being performed but also a high percentage of those returning positive. The state set a national daily record of more than 15,000 cases reported Sunday. The state added another 35 deaths Monday, with the one-week average remaining at 71 per day.

RACIAL INJUSTICE-FLORIDA

Florida man charged with setting store on fire after protest

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man has been arrested on charges that he helped start a fire that engulfed a building housing a Champs Sports store in Tampa during unrest that followed a protest over the death of George Floyd in May. Federal authorities said Monday that Terrance Lee Hester surrendered in Oswego, New York, last week and is facing a charge of damaging or destroying by fire a building used in interstate commerce. According to a criminal complaint, the 20-year-old Tampa man was identified in surveillance video as throwing a flaming piece of cloth into the Champs store through a broken window.

FATAL APARTMENT FIRE

Firefighters find woman’s body inside burning apartment

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Firefighters say they found the body of a woman inside an abandoned apartment building in Delray Beach. Firefighters say the building caught fire early Monday. The agency reported on Twitter that crews found the woman’s body when they went into the apartment shortly after 6 a.m. Her body was taken to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The state fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire. No additional detail were immediately available. Delray Beach is in Palm Beach County.

AP-US-TRUMP-RUSSIA-PROBE

Judge seeks more details on Trump’s clemency for Roger Stone

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is demanding more information about President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime ally Roger Stone. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the parties provide her with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stone’s sentence. She also asked for clarity about the scope of the clemency, including whether it covers just his 40-month prison sentence or also the two-year period of supervised release that was part of his sentence. Hours after the judge’s directive, the Justice Department submitted to the court a two-page order making clear that the clemency extended to both Stone’s prison sentence and his supervised release.

FATAL FIRE-RETIRED FIREFIGHTER

Retired Miami firefighter dies in South Florida house fire

COOPER CITY, Fla. (AP) — Officials say a retired Miami firefighter died in a South Florida house fire. Broward Sherriff’s officials say the fire broke out Sunday afternoon in the home in Cooper City, which is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Fire Chief Michael Cane says the home was already engulfed in flames when crews arrived. Kane says a neighbor pulled the man from the home and covered him with a tarp before firefighters arrived. Kane says the man was in his late 70s or early 80s and had been retired for many years. He says the state fire marshal is investigating the fire’s cause

BC-VIRUS OUTBREAK-GLOBAL

As US grapples with virus, Florida hits record case increase

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — With the United States grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, Florida hit a grim milestone Sunday, shattering the national record for a state’s largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases. Meanwhile, countries in Eastern Europe are facing rising waves of coronavirus infections, leading to riots in Serbia, mandatory face masks in Croatia and travel bans or quarantines imposed by Hungary. The new restrictions come as the World Health Organization reports that daily global infections hit over 228,000 last week, and the U.S. confirmed over 66,600 new cases on Friday, another record.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-FLORIDA

Florida reports largest, single-day increase in COVID cases

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in positive coronavirus cases in any one state since the beginning of the pandemic. According to state Department of Health statistics released Sunday, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases. California had the previous record of daily positive cases — 11,694, four days ago. New York had 11,571 on April 15. The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week in Florida, with about 500 fatalities. On Sunday, 45 more deaths were reported. Throughout May and into June, the state reopened much of its economy with some restrictions.

MARS MISSIONS

Look out, Mars: Here we come with a fleet of spacecraft

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth — big time. The U.S., China and the United Arab Emirates are sending spacecraft to Mars in quick succession beginning this week. It’s the most sweeping effort yet to seek signs of ancient microscopic life at Mars while scoping out the place for future astronauts. The most enticing rock samples will be collected by NASA for return to Earth in about a decade. The United Arab Emirates is up first with a Martian orbiter set to launch from Japan on Wednesday, local time. China is targeting a liftoff around July 23 for its rover and orbiter. The U.S., meanwhile, aims to launch its rover, Perseverance, on July 30.

ELECTION 2020-WATCH

2020 Watch: How many more Americans will die from COVID-19?

These are among the darkest days of President Donald Trump’s presidency. Coronavirus infections are exploding, the economic recovery is in jeopardy and Trump may have undermined his own “law and order” message by commuting the prison sentence of his friend and political adviser. Emboldened Democrats are trying to guard against overconfidence, even as they see real opportunities to expand Joe Biden’s path to the White House in states like Georgia, Iowa and Ohio. Meanwhile, there’s less time for Republicans to turn things around than they’d like. Early voting across several swing states is set to begin in little more than two months.

AP-US-ELECTION-2020-GOP-CONVENTION

It’s Trump’s call on what the GOP convention will look like

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is slowly coming to accept that the Republican National Convention won’t be the four-night infomercial for his reelection that he’d anticipated. Already the late August event has moved from North Carolina to Florida, and now coronavirus cases are spiking and there’s an economic recession. Trump aides and allies are increasingly questioning whether the convention will be worth the trouble. Some are advocating that it be scrapped altogether. They reason that conventions are meant to lay out a candidate’s vision for the coming four years, not spark months of intrigue over the health and safety those who attend. Ultimately, the call on whether to move forward will be Trump’s alone.