Viral News: Worldwide cases of the coronavirus are reaching a new daily peak, nearly double what it was two months ago. The average daily number of new infections around the world is about 800,000.

  It’s the opposite here in the US where new cases are down in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

  With India in a Covid-19 meltdown, the US has imposed a travel ban from that country to begin on Tuesday. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that the move comes on advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

  With deaths at about 3,000 a day in India and new variants circulating, the CDC fears a new wave could be exported to the US. Some anecdotal evidence suggests that people in India who’ve already been vaccinated are getting sick.

  The travel restrictions will not apply to US citizens or lawful permanent residents.

  The White House says that in the past 24 hours, the US military has made its first deliveries of emergency supplies,  including oxygen cylinders, regulators, pulse oximeters, rapid diagnostic tests, and about 84,000 N-95 masks,.

The Sexual Assault Beat: A New York judge ruled yesterday that disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein can be removed from an upstate prison and sent to California to face further charges of rape and sexual assault. 

  Down in the big city, New York’s comptroller is losing political endorsements in his bid to become mayor after he’s been accused of sexual assault. A woman who’s now a political lobbyist says that back in 2001, Scott Stringer groped her and made unwanted advances when she worked on his campaign for the state assembly.

  And finally, Marilyn Manson, the singer of indeterminate sexual identity, is being sued by an actress accusing him of sexual assault and sexual battery. The accuser, Esmé Bianco, appeared in the saga “Game of Thrones.” 

The Spin Rack: At least five Americans are reported to be among the 45 dead in that stampede early yesterday morning at an Orthodox Jewish religious festival in northern Israel. — Police and immigration officials notified by a 911 caller found about 90 migrants packed into a Houston suburban home. Some showed signs of Covid-19. So-called “stash houses” are becoming increasingly common. — With some snow still lingering in the hills, firefighters in New Mexico, Arizona and California are already fighting spring wildfires. — As expected, the Biden administration cancelled border wall construction being  paid for with about $10 billion  diverted from military construction accounts and counter narcotics programs. — West Virginia’s Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says he will not support statehood for the District of Columbia without a constitutional amendment, which pretty much kills it for now. 

The Obit Page: Eli Broad, who made billions in home building and financial services before becoming one of the country’s most prominent philanthropists in the arts, sciences, and education with a particular impact on Los Angeles, has died at age 87.

  Broad created what is KB Home, a home-construction giant, and SunAmerica, a subsidiary of the insurance giant AIG.

  He and his wife became fervent philanthropists, their foundations giving away or pledging about $4 billion by the time he retired from public life in 2017.

  Broad sought to make Los Angeles “one of the four cultural capitals of the world,” alongside New York, London, and Paris. He injected $100 million into Los Angeles museums and cultural facilities.

  He was generous, but bruising. Broad liked to get his way and titled his memoir “The Art of Being Unreasonable.” He used to say, “I didn’t train in the diplomatic corps.” 

Free Britney: In the continuing saga over the conservatorship placed on pop star Britney Speers after her 2007 breakdown, a new documentary by the BBC reveals that the singer’s father, Jamie Speers, checked the “dementia” box on his application for control of her estate.

  There are two separate conservatorships – one for Britney as a person and one for her estate. Her father was originally in charge of both. He has since relinquished control as her personal conservatorship, but still controls her estate with a financial management company.

  The situation has spawned a “Free Britney” movement among her fans, but Speers herself has not moved to free herself from outside control, which she could do. She doesn’t talk to the press about it and no one on the outside really knows what she thinks.

  That could change. Earlier this week, Britney’s lawyer announced the singer had requested to “address the court directly” at a hearing in June. 

   Steven McIntosh, the BBC’s own culture reporter, writes of the new documentary and others about Speers that they “generally hover around the edges, examining the surrounding circus more than the story at the center of it.”

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