Lasting Damage: Another 2,981,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week, bringing the pandemic total to 36 million lost jobs. The unemployment rate is 15.7 percent and probably worse because a lot of people have been unable to get through to file a claim

 Stocks took a swan dive yesterday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the economic downturn is “without modern precedent” and will permanently damage the economy if the government doesn’t do something dramatic to protect it.

  This is counter to President Trump’s rosy predictions of a big recovery. He’s also pushing for a return to work over the advice of his own medical experts.

  Powell suggested that the amount of money injected into the country by congress so far is just enough to keep the economy on life support during the coronavirus shutdown.

  “The recovery may take some time to gather momentum,” Powell said during a virtual event held by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery,” he said.

  While the House Democrats are proposing another $3 trillion in stimulus spending, Senate Republicans are worried about the ballooning federal deficit and President Trump is waiting to see the effect of the trillions already distributed.

The Stat Board: This morning, a total of 84,136 Americans have died of the coronavirus as deaths continue to outpace projections. We may hit 100,000 by the end of the month. At least 1,747 people died in the past 24 hours.

  President Trump, who doesn’t like the numbers, has claimed that they are inflated, contrary to the opinion of epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci who said “Almost certainly its higher.”

  Dr. Rick Bright, who was fired by the Trump administration from the office that planned for response to a pandemic, is scheduled to testify before congress today. Bright is expected to say that, “Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities.”

  Bright’s prepared testimony says, “Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be darkest winter in modern history.”

Pandemic Politics: As the pandemic wears on, it’s become a political matter of public health vs. personal freedom. Yesterday the Wisconsin Supreme Court on rejected the extension of a stay-at-home order by Gov. Tony Evers, siding with Republicans who challenged it. 

  Evers is a Democrat who had extended his  prohibition of most travel and nonessential businesses until May 26. In a 4-to-3 ruling, the conservative-leaning court said the state’s order exceeded the authority of his top health official. In a 4-3 ruling the justices said, “An agency cannot confer on itself the power to dictate the lives of law-abiding individuals as comprehensively as the order does without reaching beyond the executive branch’s authority.” 

  In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the protests in the state’s capital against coronavirus safety measures make it more likely that the state will have to keep restrictions in place longer. Gun-toting right wingers protesting at the capitol have made legislators afraid to go to work.

Remote to Schooling: Harvard Medical School and the entire California State University system announced that they will hold only online classes next fall. 

  Despite that, President Trump is pushing for the re-opening of schools in what has become a public disagreement with epidemiologist Dr. Anthony Fauci who said in congressional testimony that classrooms full of kids could spur the pandemic.

  At the White House yesterday Trump said, “To me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.” He continued,  “Now where you have an incident, one out of a million, one out of 500,000, will something happen? Perhaps.” He said, “But, you know, you can be driving to school and some bad things can happen, too. We’re going to open our country. We want it open.”

The Bulletin Board: FBI agents seized the cell phone of North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr as part of an into suspicious stock trades related to the coronavirus crisis. —

President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released from prison to home confinement in Northern Virginia because of the coronavirus pandemic. — Five surfers in the Netherlands died after a thick layer of sea foam made it impossible for rescuers to reach them. — Broadway actor Nick Cordero has awakened from a weekslong coma caused by a severe case of Covid-19, according to his wife. Cordero, who starred in Bullets Over Broadway and A Bronx Tale,  had to have his right leg amputated. — The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles is cancelling its summer concert season for the first time in the venue’s season.

In the Headlines: “Florida woman arrested for beating husband with Mother’s Day flowers”

  Possibly there’s more to the story.

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