Viral News: Japan and the Olympic Games managers will allow Japanese residents to attend the summer games in Tokyo, ending the possibility of athletes performing to a silent stadium if the games go on.

  Opening day is July 23d.

  The games have been delayed a year because of the pandemic and overseas spectators have been banned in an effort to let the games go on. Crowds will be limited to 50 percent of a venue’s capacity, at the most, 10,000 people in the track and field stadium.

  Athletes will be tested regularly for the coronavirus. Fans will be required to wear masks and will be banned from shouting.

  Japan is lagging in vaccinations. Only about 18 percent of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine. Just 7.3 percent is fully vaccinated, The NY Times  reports.

In Transition: As more people identify themselves, the trans gender phenomenon is becoming increasingly normalized and accepted.

  New Zealand weight lifter Laurel Hubbard is set to become the first transgender person to compete for a medal in the Olympics. She’s been in transition since 2013, before the Olympics had any rules regarding trans gender athletes.

  Here in the US, American Chelsea Wolfe is going as an alternate on the BMX bicycle team.

  And in a major development, the Veterans Administration says it will pay for transition surgery, known as “gender confirmation,” for as many as 4,000 trans gender veterans at a cost of about $100,000 each.  The VA estimates that there are a as many as 134,000 transgender veterans. 

  Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said, “We’re making these changes not only because they are the right thing to do, but because they can save lives.”

Grounded: As the pandemic fades, millions of Americans are returning to air travel and American Airlines can’t handle it yet. 

  Facing labor and supply troubles, American is canceling hundreds of flights through at least mid-July. On Saturday, American cancelled 120 flights and the company is projecting 50 to 80 flight cancelations per day for a while, according to a spokeswoman.

On Deadline: After a police raid and seizure of its assets, the pro-democracy Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily will cease publication Friday if its board decides it can’t continue to operate, the newspaper said an internal memo. 

  Police raided the newspaper last week in a national security investigation, in which senior Apple Daily executives were arrested for alleged “collusion with a foreign country” and assets of three companies linked to the newspaper were frozen. 

  “The Board will decide on Friday whether (the newspaper) will continue to operate,” Apple Daily said in its memo to staff, which has not been released publicly but was obtained by Reuters news agency.

The Spin Rack: — Thirteen people were killed in a multi-vehicle crash Saturday in Alabama. Eight were kids travelling in a foster home’s bus. A man and his baby died in another vehicle.  — My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell told The Daily Beast he lost $7 million making millions of surgical masks for the pandemic. “I can’t give them away,” he said, “No one wants the things anymore.” Check the pillow stuffing. — President Biden’s 13-year old German Shepherd “Champ” died over the weekend.— Amazon’s billionaire founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who’s reputed to be a brutal capitalist boss, is planning on taking a flight to space next month on his new Blue Origin rocket. At least 41,000 people have signed petitions demanding he be stopped from returning to Earth.

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