Most top school districts to open remotely . . . As COVID-19 cases rise in most states, the prospect of in-person learning this fall at the country's major school districts is becoming increasingly remote.

As of late Wednesday, 11 of the top 15 school systems by enrollment were already either planning to start the fall semester online or in a hybrid of in-person and online classes. Still other top districts have shifted school schedules later, hoping for cases to decline or for teachers and administrators to have more time to plan for the school year. USA Today

 

Fauci warns virus may never be eradicated . . . Dr. Anthony Fauci thinks there's little chance that the coronavirus will vanish in the future as other infectious diseases have. "I don't see this disappearing the way SARS 1 did," Fauci said in a Wednesday interview with TB Alliance. "The reason I say that is, it is so efficient in its ability to transmit from human to human, that I think we ultimately will get control of it. I don’t really see us eradicating it.” Washington Examiner

 

Trump official admits US doesn't have enough Covid protective equipment . . . And why not? We’re five months into this pandemic, and the awesome might of US manufacturing has not been committed to producing this stuff. President Trump needs to use the tools at his disposal to force manufacturers to make masks, gloves, surgical gowns, and whatever else we need. We are at war. Nearly 150,000 people have died. We may lose another 150,000 before it’s over. Trump thinks his reelection is about the stock market. Wrong. It’s about doing the basic function of the presidency, which is protecting the American people. White House Dossier

 

Trump says his son and his grandchildren should go to school

 

White House is contact tracing after cafeteria worker tests positive for the virus . . . The White House is conducting contact tracing after a cafeteria worker tested positive for coronavirus. The cafeteria and an eatery in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, or EEOB, were both closed this week after the case was discovered, officials said. It was unclear how long the facility will remain closed, although some staffers were told it could remain shuttered for two weeks. Part of the White House complex, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building sits just across West Executive Ave. from the West Wing. It houses the offices of much of the senior White House staff. NBC News

 

 

AOC refuses apology of lawmaker who allegedly cursed her out . . . Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refused to accept Republican Florida Rep. Ted Yoho’s apology Wednesday after he reportedly confronted her outside of the Capitol building Monday and called her a “fucking bitch” as he walked away. “I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this an apology, and what they should learn to accept,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “Yoho is refusing responsibility.” Yoho apologized Wednesday on the House floor. In his speech, Yoho repeated what his office told the Daily Caller, denying the comments were said but apologizing for how his conversation with Ocasio-Cortez was handled. Daily Caller

 

 

Trump calls on Biden to take cognitive test . . . Joe Biden should take the same cognitive test that President Trump recently took, the president said Wednesday during an interview with Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel “In a way he has an obligation to,” Trump said of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, adding that the presidency requires “stamina” and "mental health.” Trump said he took the test to prove to the media that he was fit to serve in the presidency after reports supposedly questioned his cognitive ability. Trump has used the argument that Biden -- at age 77, three years older than Trump -- is too old to run for president. Fox News

 

 

 

Joint Chiefs vice chairman allegedly called Trump an idiot . . . The Pentagon's No. 2 John Hyten called President Donald Trump 'an idiot' and Melania Trump 'smarter than the president,' according to testimony that was part of a sexual assault case involving the military leader. The Washington Post published a profile Wednesday of Retired Col. Kathy Spletstoser, who's accused Hyten of assault and claims the military is trying to hide records because the testimony could be damaging to the Joint Chiefs vice chairman's career. She revealed part of her testimony to The Post that included Hyten's take on the president and first lady after dining with them in October 2017, nine months after Trump took office. Daily Mail

 

Trump denies he asked for British Open to be moved to his golf course

 

Geraldo hits Biden for calling Trump the first racist president . . . Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera came to the defense of President Trump Wednesday night after 2020 presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden accused him of being the country's first racist president. In an interview on "Hannity" Rivera told the primetime host that if Trump uttered a similarly "unhinged" comment about Biden,  Democrats and the mainstream media would be quick to "blow him up." "He's not a racist. I've known him 45 years," Rivera asserted. "For Biden to say he is the first racist ever elected, that shows how disconnected Joe Biden is. Twelve United States presidents were slaveholders," Rivera argued. Fox News

 

 

Potential Biden VP is obstructing ICE and changing the jail to "wellness" center . . . Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms proudly notes that she has thrown U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of her city and is “transitioning our jail into a community center of health and equity and wellness.” Don’t laugh. This woman could be president in a couple of years, conceivably. These are the kind of people who are going to be running Biden if he becomes president. White House Dossier

 

 

Trump to surge law enforcement to Chicago and Albuquerque . . . President Donald Trump announced plans on Wednesday to surge federal law enforcement units to Chicago and Albuquerque, the latest instance of domestic intervention by the federal government, over the objections of state and local leaders, in cities that have recently been rocked by unrest and violence. The initiative, dubbed “Operation Legend” in memory of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed last month in Kansas City, Mo., will send “hundreds of skilled law enforcement officers” from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Homeland Security to both cities “ to help drive down violent crime,” Trump said from the White House. Politico

 

 

Closed Chinese consulate a hotbed of spying . . . The Chinese consulate in Houston, which Donald Trump forced to close on Wednesday, was a hot bed of spies, according to reports. Trump's decision was made without warning, and without explanation.

Hours before the administration made public its order on Wednesday, consulate employees were seen starting fires in a courtyard of the Houston building, prompting police officers and firefighters to rush to the area. Fire crews were prevented from accessing the compound. 

Diplomats stationed in Texas have been told that operations will cease on Friday. Daily Mail

Hezbollah poised for major attack on Israel . . . The Iranian terror group Hezbollah is laying the groundwork for a large-scale attack on Israel’s northern border, according to new warnings from a former member of the Israel Defense Forces' Intelligence Corps. Hezbollah forces have been building complex tunnels and amassing arms along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon in recent months, generating concerns the Iranian-backed terror group is planning a large-scale attack reminiscent of its 2006 cross-border raid that resulted in the deaths of three Israeli soldiers and the capture of two others. Washington Free Beacon

 

Tesla posts $104M second-quarter profit . . . 

Tesla overcame a seven-week pandemic-related shutdown at its California assembly plant to post a surprising $104 million net profit for the second quarter. It was the electric car and solar panel maker’s fourth-straight profitable quarter. The profit, compared with a $408 million loss a year ago, pushed Tesla’s shares up 5.7% to 1,682.99 in after-hours trading Wednesday. But the company likely would have lost money without $428 million it earned from selling electric vehicle credits to other automakers so they can meet government fuel economy and pollution regulations. Associated Press

 

Portland mayor gets tear-gassed by federal officers . . . Mayor Ted Wheeler was tear-gassed by federal officers along with a large crowd of protesters late Wednesday night after he tried for hours to calm down angry activists demanding police reform from City Hall and calling for federal authorities to withdraw from this mostly liberal, mostly white city. The mayor was caught in a chaotic display of violence and chaos that began around 11:15 p.m., after some protesters threw flaming bags of garbage over a fence protecting the local federal courthouse, prompting the federal officers to fire tear gas at the crowd. Wheeler had spent many hours in the thick of the protest, attempting to answer questions from the crowd, which booed and jeered as he tried to explain a lengthy process for making reforms. At one point, he acknowledged that he's a "white, privileged male." USA Today

 

 

Cop who killed George Floyd charges with tax fraud . . . The fired Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd was charged along with his wife Wednesday with felony tax crimes dating back to 2014 that allege failure to claim more than $460,000 in income — at least $96,000 of that in his off-duty security work. Derek Chauvin and Kellie Chauvin, of Oakdale, were each charged by summons in Washington County District Court with nine felony counts of aiding and abetting false or fraudulent tax returns or failing to file returns. Minneapolis Star Tribune

 

Wall Street Journal may get woke . . . More than 280 journalists at The Wall Street Journal and its parent company Dow Jones have penned an extraordinary letter to their publisher protesting the spread of 'misinformation' in the paper's opinion section. In the letter sent to Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour on Tuesday, the group of reporters, editors and other employees called for a clearer divide between the paper's news and opinion divisions and raised alarm about the accuracy of the latter division. 'Opinion's lack of fact-checking and transparency, and its apparent disregard for evidence, undermine our readers' trust and our ability to gain credibility with sources,' the letter states. Daily Mail

 

 

Two men and a woman charged in brutal murder of Florida friends . . . A chance meeting at a dollar store last Friday night led to the shooting deaths minutes later of three friends who’d met to go fishing and the arrest of a Florida man for the killings, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday. Tony “T.J.” Lee Wiggins Jr., 26, is charged with fatally shooting Brandon Rollins, 27, and his friends, Keven Springfield, 30, and Damion Tillman, 30. Wiggins' brother, William “Robert” Wiggins, 21, and Mary Whittemore, 27, were also arrested. The two were charged with three counts of accessory to murder and one count of tampering with evidence. USA Today

 

Giant airliner flies to nowhere while carrying no passengers . . . Airlines are taking extreme measures to survive the pandemic, with Asiana Airlines Inc. flying the world’s biggest commercial plane more than 20 times, going nowhere and carrying no passengers, just to keep trainee pilots certified. Keeping crew flight-ready is one of the challenges carriers face as they grapple with the unprecedented crisis that keeps more than a third of the world’s fleet grounded. The empty Airbus SE A380 flew over South Korea for a few hours a day for three days in May to enable pilots of the 495-seat superjumbo to practice taking off and landing. Bloomberg

 

Man tried to fake death to avoid jail but puts typo in his death certificate . . . It's a death certificate — at least, Nassau County, N.Y., District Attorney Madeline Singas says it was supposed to pass as a death certificate from New Jersey. The Long Island prosecutor alleges that Robert Berger, 25, tried to forge a legal document in October in a bid to fake his own death and dodge a likely jail sentence."Upon inspection of the certificate by the NCDA, it was noted that font type and size changed in the document. Additionally, prosecutors observed that the word 'Registry' in the department name was misspelled as 'Regsitry' in the 'ISSUED BY' section." NPR