Top Eight

Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight CNS stories for today including the coronavirus pandemic reached grim milestones with more than 50,000 deaths registered worldwide, 1 million confirmed cases reported around the globe and half of the world’s population told to stay home; 6.6 million people applied for unemployment insurance benefits over the last week; The Democratic National Committee delayed its convention, and more.

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National

1.) As the Covid-19 pandemic wreaks havoc on economies around the world, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that 6.6 million people applied for unemployment insurance benefits over the last week — roughly 2% of the country’s population.

Unionized hospitality workers apply for unemployment benefits at the Hospitality Training Academy Friday, March 13, 2020, in Los Angeles. Fearing a widespread health crisis, Californians moved broadly Friday to get in front of the spread of the coronavirus, shuttering schools that educate hundreds of thousands of students, urging the faithful to watch religious services online and postponing or scratching just about any event that could attract a big crowd.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

2.) Five states and Washington, D.C., have received less than 10% of the critical personal protective equipment they requested from the federal government, according to records released Thursday by the House Oversight Committee.

FILE - In this March 28, 2020, file photo, staff work in a ventilator refurbishing assembly line at Bloom Energy in Sunnyvale, Calif. The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted companies large and small to rethink how they do business. Bloom Energy in San Jose, Calif., makes hydrogen fuel cells. But recently, they have been refurbishing old ventilators so hospitals can use them to keep coronavirus patients alive. (Beth LaBerge/KQED via AP, Pool, File)

3.) After presidential candidate Joe Biden said it was hard to see how the Democratic National Committee could still hold its convention in July, the party announced it would bump the event to Aug. 17 — one week before the Republican Party’s convention.

FILE - In this July 26, 2016, file photo the stage is reflected on a glass window on the suite level at Wells Fargo Arena as Timmy Kelly sings the national anthem before the start of the second day session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing Democrats and Republicans to take a close look at whether they'll be able to move forward as planned this summer with conventions that typically kick off the general election season. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

International

4.) The coronavirus pandemic reached grim milestones on Thursday with more than 50,000 deaths registered worldwide, 1 million confirmed cases reported around the globe and half of the world’s population told to stay home.

In this photo provided by the French Army Thursday, April 2, 2020, medical staffs evacuate a patient infected with the Covid-19 virus, Wednesday April 1, 2020 at Orly airport, south of Paris. The operation aims at relieving hospitals in the Paris region, hardly hit by the coronavirus. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (Julien Fechter/DICOD via AP)

5.) Vying to combat the city’s housing crunch, a limit on Airbnb rentals in Paris should stand, a magistrate with the EU’s highest court said Thursday.

A police officer walks in the empty Trocadero square, in Paris, Wednesday, March 18, 2020. French President Emmanuel Macron said that for 15 days starting at noon on Tuesday, people will be allowed to leave the place they live only for necessary activities such as shopping for food, going to work or taking a walk. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms. For some it can cause more severe illness, especially in older adults and people with existing health problems. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Regional

6.) Calling New York a microcosm of the rest of the country, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that people who live in rural communities should not presume themselves safe from the Covid-19 pandemic.

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 24, 2020 file photo, Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference against a backdrop of medical supplies at the Jacob Javits Center that will house a temporary hospital in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in New York. Cuomo, a Democrat, ripped the GOP-led Senate's version of the coronavirus package as "terrible" for New York and said, based on preliminary reports, that it would send the state some $4 billion in direct aid. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

7.) A Wisconsin federal judge on Thursday extended absentee voting deadlines for the state’s primary next Tuesday but found federal courts lack the power to delay the election altogether, despite making it clear he believed it should have been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

From left Katherine Katsekes, and Diane Scott, both paid volunteers, help sort absentee ballots by ward to be opened on election day at Brookfield City Hall, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. Many area communities are having a steady stream of residents voting early as concerns about the coronavirus raise questions about the upcoming April 7 election. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

8.) A group looking to break up California’s iconic property tax code and spur billions in new commercial property taxes for local governments and schools said Thursday it has enough voter signatures to qualify a measure for the November ballot.

The California Capitol building. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

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