NEW YORK — Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, concert trade publication Pollstar puts the total lost revenue for the live events industry in 2020 at more than $30 billion. Pollstar on Friday released its year-end report, explaining that the live events industry should have hit a record-setting $12.2 billion this...
Opinion: Blame Our Elected Officials, Not Our Teachers, for Schools Being Closed
Schooling has been an ongoing challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. School closures harm families and students. Remote learning is less effective than in-person, especially for younger students. School closures require many parents to reduce work hours or leave the workforce entirely. Other than addressing the pandemic itself, the government’s top focus...
California’s Health Order Falling on Many Deaf Ears
In the Southern California oceanside city of Manhattan Beach, one arm of government is urging residents to stay home except for essential needs while another is encouraging them to get out and shop and even providing places where they can sit down to relax, eat takeout and watch the sun...
Health Officials Urge L.A. Hospitals to Halt Elective Surgeries as COVID Soars
A top health official in California’s third-largest county is urging hospitals to cancel elective surgeries and implement plans to prepare for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients, as intensive care units fill up statewide amid spiking virus cases. Ambulances have been waiting for hours to unload patients because Orange County emergency...
Former Pro Wrestler and Actor ‘Tiny’ Lister, After Earlier Bout with COVID, Dies
LOS ANGELES — Tommy “Tiny” Lister, a former professional wrestler who was known for his bullying Deebo character in the “Friday” films, has died. He was 62. Lister's manager, Cindy Cowan, said he was found unconscious in his home in Marina Del Rey, California, on Thursday afternoon. He was pronounced...
US Budget Deficit up 25.1% in First 2 Months of Budget Year
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government's deficit in the first two months of the budget year ran 25.1% higher than the same period a year ago as spending to deal with the COVID pandemic soared while tax revenues fell. The Treasury Department reported Thursday that with two months gone in the...
Panel Endorses Widespread Use of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine in US
A government advisory panel endorsed widespread use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine Thursday, putting the country just one step away from launching an epic vaccination campaign against the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans. Shots could begin within days, depending on how quickly the Food and Drug Administration signs...
One-Day Deaths Top 3,000 in US, More Than 9/11 or D-Day
MISSION, Kan. — Just when the U.S. appears on the verge of rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine, the numbers have become gloomier than ever: Over 3,000 American deaths in a single day, more than on D-Day or 9/11. One million new cases in the span of five days. More than...
Midway Through Plagued First Term, Newsom’s Career Hits Make-or-Break Point
Speaking to the camera from his home office during the final days of a family quarantine, Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed at times to be giving himself a pep talk, as much as encouraging 40 million Californians to hunker down amid a coronavirus spike threatening to overwhelm hospitals. “We will get through this,” the governor said last...
US Experts Convene to Decide Whether to OK Pfizer Vaccine
WASHINGTON — A U.S. government advisory panel convened on Thursday to decide whether to endorse mass use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to help conquer the outbreak that has killed close to 300,000 Americans. The meeting of outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration represented the next-to-last hurdle before the...