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VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis cancelled official engagements for the third day in a row Saturday as he battled an apparent cold. The 83-year-old pope, who lost part of a lung to a respiratory illness as a young man, has never cancelled so many official audiences or events in his seven-year papacy. Francis is, however, continuing to work from his residence at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel and is receiving people in private, the Vatican press office said. On Saturday, those private meetings were with the head of the Vatican’s bishops’ office, Francis’ ambassadors to Lebanon and France and...

A top official with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Friday challenged Sacramento medical officials who implied they were forced to wait several days before federal authorities tested a symptomatic patient for the coronavirus. The patient, a woman who has been at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento since Feb. 19, was intubated and has been described as severely ill. She was tested on Sunday, Feb. 23. The medical center disclosed on Wednesday that test results were positive. The discovery forced the medical center to order several employees to stay home this week. Those employees as well have...

Skip “1776 Unites” will offer its own K-12 educational materials and scholarly articles to put the history of racism in America in the context of a broader examination of our democratic principles and the institutions that nurtured the abolition of slavery. These provided the foundations for achieving individual freedom, equal rights, and opportunity for all — the promise of America. African-American scholars such as Glenn Loury, Carol Swain, John McWhorter, Jason Hill, and Wilfred Reilly will present stories of resilience and upward mobility, documenting the successes of black Americans — stories that while recognizing America’s failures, also celebrate her promise....

One week ago, ahead of today’s Chinese data release which would for the first time capture the devastation from the coronavirus pandemic, we wrote that “to those who have been following our series of high-frequency, daily indicators of China’s economy, it will probably not come as a surprise that the world’s second biggest economy has ground to a halt, its GDP set to post the first negative print in modern history. To everyone else who is just now catching up, we have some news: it’s going to be bad.” Specifically, we said that ahead of official Chinese economic data which...

A person has died in Washington state of COVID-19, state health officials said Saturday, marking the first such reported death in the United States. State officials issued a terse news release announcing the death, gave no details and scheduled a news conference. Health officials in California, Oregon and Washington state worried about the novel coronavirus spreading through West Coast communities after confirming three patients were infected by unknown means. The patients — an older Northern California woman with chronic health conditions, a high school student in Everett, Washington and an employee at a Portland, Oregon-area school — hadn’t recently traveled...

Dogs may be man’s best friend, but let’s not forget that the faithful fetching stick is a dog’s other best friend. So when 59-year-old Andrew Taylor noticed that there was a lack of good sticks at his local park, he decided to take matters into his own hands. The dad from Kaiapoi, New Zealand had been chopping off excess branches from some trees in his yard when he decided to make them into a “Stick Library” for all the local pups. After chopping up the branches into several dozen conveniently-sized pieces, he put them into a hand-crafted box emblazoned with...

KING COUNTY, Wash. -- A man has died from the coronavirus in King County, the Washington state Department of Health said Saturday in a media advisory. No other details were given about the death as of Saturday morning. Officials plan to hold a press conference at 1 p.m. with more details. KOMO will livestream the press conference.

“It was You who created my conscience; You fashioned me in my mother’s womb.” Psalms 139:13 (The Israel Bible™) Chelsea Clinton recently doubled-down a previous declaration that she wished her maternal grandmother had utilized the services of Planned Parenthood. Though she insisted her intention was not that her mother would have been aborted rather than born, the ugly truths of Planned Parenthood present a far uglier picture than she probably intended. In a dialogue last week with Planned Parenthood’s newly appointed president, Dr. Leana Wen, Chelsea Clinton, the former first-daughter, referred to a rather perplexing statement she had made in...

President Trump is holding a 1:30 p.m. Eastern press conference regarding Chinese Wuhan Coronavirus.

Finally—a stock market I can like! As the legendary investment guru Benjamin Graham argued, in the short run the market is a voting machine; in the long run, it is a weighing machine. This week the market voted for Bernie. I love it when good companies go on sale for 20 percent off! A bit sorry I gave up my VIX position last year though. But the stock market is not the only thing showing newfound volatility: a series of polls in recent days report Joe Biden showing signs of life after all (and yes, I know how weird it...

A newly proposed California bill would provide financial benefits to methamphetamine users who stay sober. SB-888, introduced by San Francisco Democrat State Sen. Scott Wiener, would expand Medi-Cal treatment options, including programs that motivate meth users to stay sober by offering vouchers or cash.

"First Lady Melania Trump poses for a photo with cultural dance performers following a welcome ceremony at Sarvodaya Co-Educational Senior Secondary School Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, in New Delhi, India."

Corona beer isn’t making any changes to its advertising despite the name’s unfortunate similarity to the deadly coronavirus. Constellation Brands, which brews several variations of the popular lager, said in a statement that its customers “understand there is no link between the virus and our business.” “Sales of Corona remain very strong and we appreciate the continued support from our fans,” Constellation Brands spokesperson Stephanie McGuane told CNN Business. “Our advertising with Corona is consistent with the campaign we have been running for the last 30 years and is based off strong consumer sentiment.” Constellation said Corona Extra sales grew...

Malcolm X had been a major figure in the Nation of Islam (NOI) since the early 1950s. Rejecting Martin Luther King’s vision of a peaceful path to racial integration, Malcolm openly defended the use of violence as a means of black liberation: “You don’t have a peaceful revolution. You don’t have a turn-the-cheek revolution. There’s no such thing as a nonviolent revolution.” In March 1964 he warned: “There will be more violence than ever this year. White people will be shocked when they discover that the passive little Negro they had known turns out to be a roaring lion. The...

...Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Their employees are three of the top 4 Bernie donors. Apple is in fifth place. These dot coms are not exactly organizations known to employ members of the proletariat. Google software engineers have sent thousands of dollars, individually, to Bernie. Google’s senior engineers, like the ones who have backed Bernie, make $250,000 a year...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez read her entire 14-page signature Green New Deal on the House floor because she said Republicans don't seem to understand it, based on their "wild claims."

One Sunday morning in a small Texas church, the new pastor called on one of the older deacons to lead the closing prayer. The deacon came up on the podium, stood by the pastor, bowed his head and said, "Lord, I hate buttermilk!" The pastor opened one eye and wondered just where this was going... The deacon continued, "Lord, I hate lard!" Now, the pastor was totally perplexed... The deacon continued, "Lord, and I ain't too crazy about plain flour neither, but after you mix em all together and bake em in a hot oven, I just love biscuits!" "So...

”President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive to attend a state banquet in their honor at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, in New Delhi, India.” ”President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, joined by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and his wife Mrs. Savita Kovind, place their hands on their hearts while the United States National Anthem is played during a state banquet welcome ceremony Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace, in New Delhi, India.”

WASHINGTON - As the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread across the globe and countries are reporting new confirmed cases, the United States is closely monitoring and updating travel advisories. The State Department says when it comes to issuing a travel alert for Americans traveling abroad, it takes into account health risks, including current disease outbreaks or a crisis that disrupts a country’s medical infrastructure, as well as the issuance of a travel notice by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are four travel advisory levels: Level 4—do not travel; Level 3—reconsider travel; Level 2—exercise increased caution;...

Biden baffled voters with his claim, adding to a growing list of gaffes, misstatements and distorted recollections that have plagued the 77-year-old Democrat. “When I got out of teaching – excuse me – when I got out of the United States Senate, instead of taking a Wall Street job, they’re not bad…but instead of doing the things I never did before, I figured I wasn’t going to change all these years of what I was comfortable doing,” Biden rambled. “So I became a teacher, I became a professor,” he said.