Left-Wing PBS to Instruct Tennessee Children During Coronavirus Outbreak

The Tennessee Department of Education has secured a partnership with the state’s PBS stations to deliver daily educational content to public school students as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to keep them out of school.

Several organizations, including the Family Research Council, have, in the past, faulted PBS’s educational materials for what they call a left-leaning bias.

TDOE spokeswoman Victoria Robinson on Thursday said she could not describe the PBS content in detail or whether state officials are making sure it has no political biases.

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Commentary: Senate Paves Road to Reopening the Economy with Coronavirus Relief Bill, But When Will States Reopen Schools?

By a vote of 96-0, the U.S. Senate has passed a $2.2 trillion legislative package, by far the largest in U.S. history, to keep tens of millions of Americans on payroll and expand unemployment benefits to those who are laid off while the country waits out the deadly Chinese coronavirus that poses additional risk to seniors and those with underlying conditions.

That way, when the virus passes, those businesses, particularly the 30 million small businesses that are struggling most of all right now, but also critical industries, will be able to rapidly reopen and we can get back to our lives.

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Commentary: America’s Amazing Neighborhood Response to the Coronavirus

The coronavirus has triggered a disruption of ordinary life most of us would’ve considered unimaginable a few weeks ago. Some jobs have vanished as if by a cruel magician’s trick; others have mutated beyond recognition. Parents have become school teachers, while school teachers struggle to find how best to continue practicing their profession from behind computer screens.

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Trump Admin Plans to Identify COVID-19 Hotspots So Low-Risk Areas Can Reopen

President Donald Trump said Thursday that his administration is working on a county-level approach to the coronavirus that will enable the government to identify hotspots across the nation.

Doing so will allow social distancing measures to be relaxed or tightened based on the number of confirmed cases in each county, Trump said in a letter sent Thursday to the nation’s governors.

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Mexican Protesters Block Border Traffic, Tell Americans to ‘Stay At Home’

In a seemingly-paradoxical turn of events, Mexican protesters on Wednesday blocked incoming traffic at the U.S. southern border, demanding their government do more to restrict American travel into their country.

A group of about a dozen protesters, holding signs and wearing face masks, used two vehicles to block southbound traffic coming out of a U.S.-Mexico port of entry near Nogales, Arizona, according to a report from the Arizona Republic. The protesters said their stunt was meant to highlight the dangers posed by incoming U.S. residents who may carry the coronavirus.

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White House Coronavirus Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx Forcefully Rejects Doomsday Scenario

Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House task force on coronavirus, took a crack Wednesday at scientific models that have projected doomsday scenarios for the coronavirus pandemic, saying the estimates do not take into account adjustments made to stop the spread of the virus.

“And I think the numbers that have been put out there are actually very frightening to people,” Birx said of some of the models that have projected that between 50% to 60% of the population could become infected.

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Commentary: Coronavirus Exposes Just How Antiquated and Unworkable the Michigan Education System Really Is

The coronavirus has thrown our entire society in disarray, and no less poignant an example exists than our K-12 public schools. The closure of schools across the country has stopped the normal learning process dead in its tracks.  In a valiant attempt to continue, many districts have sought to leverage long distance learning. Unfortunately, weaknesses in the law, technological infrastructure, and teacher preparation, as well as inequities among students, are barriers to success. For example, the Michigan Department of Education has announced that under the law, virtual learning will not count for funding purposes as “seat time.”

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Ohio Hit Harder with Unemployment Than Other States

Ohio was hit harder with unemployment filings than other states during the immediate aftermath of the coronavirus.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that 3.28 million claims were filed in the week that ended March 21. That marked an increase of more than 3 million claims over the week prior, when 282,000 claims were filed, The Ohio Star reported.

Ohio’s claims totaled 187,784, the Cincinnati Enquirer said, up from 7,046 the previous week.

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Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer Asks Trump for Major Disaster Declaration

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has submitted a request to President Trump to ask him for a major disaster declaration, which would allow the state to aid its residents in a variety of ways.

If granted in full, the declaration would allow the state to provide meals for families in need, rental assistance and temporary housing, as well as funding for field hospitals and mental health support.

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