AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EDT

Italy lets millions back to work, US restrictions easing up

ROME (AP) — Italy started stirring Monday, with millions allowed back to work as Europe’s longest coronavirus lockdown started easing, while the U.S. took halting steps to lift some restrictions even as tens of thousands of new cases were reported daily.

In Washington, the Senate convened for the first time since March. The Supreme Court heard arguments by telephone and allowed the world to listen in live — for the first time ever.

Dozens in Florida waited before sunrise for the 7 a.m. opening of Clearwater Beach. And a shuttered pork processing plant in South Dakota took its first steps toward reopening after more than 800 employees were infected with the coronavirus.

In Louisiana, state lawmakers were restarting their legislature — but feuded over whether they should return at all.

Political battles have become increasingly embedded in U.S. coronavirus policy. Republican Louisiana legislators irritated by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ decision to extend the state’s stay-at-home order through May 15 were eager to return to work.

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Trump’s anti-China rhetoric aimed at boosting US leverage

WASHINGTON (AP) —

The Trump administration is making ever louder pronouncements casting blame on China for the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to sidestep domestic criticism of the president’s own response, tarnish China’s global reputation and give the U.S. leverage on trade and other aspects of U.S.-China competition.

President Donald Trump has vowed to penalize China for what U.S. officials have increasingly described as a pattern of deceit that denied the world precious time to prepare for the pandemic. The opening salvo isn’t in the form of tariffs or sanctions, but in a one-sided accounting of China’s behaviour that could yank the Chinese lower on the global reputation meter.

The State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House have all launched public efforts in recent days to lay bare what they say is clear evidence that China tried to mask the scale of the outbreak and then refused to provide critical access to U.S. and global scientists that could have saved lives. More than 250,000 people have died globally from COVID-19, including more than 68,000 in the U.S.

The Trump administration, a senior administration official says, is trying to convince the world that China isn’t playing by the same rules as everyone else, and that may be the biggest punishment for an intensely proud emerging superpower. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

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Coronavirus cuts ‘deep scars’ through meatpacking cities

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — As the coronavirus spread from the nation’s meatpacking plants to the broader communities where they are located, it burned through a modest duplex in Waterloo, Iowa.

In the downstairs unit lived Jim Orvis, 65, a beloved friend and uncle who worked in the laundry department at the Tyson Foods pork processing facility, the largest employer in Waterloo. Upstairs was Arthur Scott, a 51-year-old father who was getting his life back on track after a prison term for drugs. He worked 25 miles (40.23 kilometres) away at the Tyson dog treats factory in Independence, Iowa.

The two men were not well acquainted. But both fell ill and died last month within days of each other from COVID-19 — casualties of an outbreak linked to the Waterloo plant that spread across the city of 68,000 people. Similar spread is happening in other communities where the economy centres around raising hogs and cattle and processing their meat, including the hot spots of Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota.

The virus is “devastating everything,” said duplex owner Jose Garcia, who received notification two days apart from his deceased tenants’ relatives. “These two guys were here last week. Now they are gone. It’s crazy.”

He said it’s possible one of the men infected the other because they shared an entryway, or that they each contracted the virus separately at their workplaces.

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Senate reopens despite risks as House preps more virus aid

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate reopened Monday in a Capitol largely shuttered by the coronavirus, but prospects for quick action on a new aid package are uncertain with a deepening debate over how best to confront the deadly pandemic and its economic devastation.

The 100 senators are convening for the first time since March, while the House is staying away due to the health risks, as the conflicted Congress reflects an uneasy nation. The Washington area remains a virus hot spot under stay-home rules.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opened the session, defending his decision to focus the agenda on confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees rather than the virus outbreak.

“We have important work to do for the nation,” McConnell said. He said the Senate would “show up for work like the essential workers that we are.”

Senate Republicans are trying to set the terms of debate, frustrated that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was able to fill up earlier aid bills with Democratic priorities. They’re reluctant to unleash federal funds beyond the nearly $3 trillion Congress already approved in virus relief and hope Trump’s push to kick-start the economy will reduce the need for more aid. But Pelosi is marching ahead without them, assembling a new aid package that Democrats expect to unveil soon.

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Called to order: Supreme Court holds 1st arguments by phone

WASHINGTON (AP) — They politely took turns speaking. Not a child, spouse or dog could be heard in the background. The conference call went long, but not by that much.

And with that, the Supreme Court made history Monday, hearing arguments by telephone and allowing the world to listen in live, both for the first time.

The arguments were essentially a high-profile phone discussion with the nine justices and two arguing lawyers. The session went remarkably smoothly, notable for a high court that prizes tradition and only reluctantly changes the way it operates.

The high court had initially postponed arguments in 20 cases scheduled for March and April because of the coronavirus pandemic. Courtroom sessions were seen as unsafe, especially with six justices aged 65 or older and at risk of getting seriously sick from the virus. But the justices ultimately decided to hear 10 cases by phone over six days this month.

The cases the court will hear include President Donald Trump’s effort to shield tax and other financial records and whether presidential electors have to cast their Electoral College ballots for the candidate who wins the popular vote in their state.

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AP wins feature photography Pulitzer for Kashmir coverage

NEW YORK (AP) — The story of India’s crackdown on Kashmir last August was difficult to show to the world. The unprecedented lockdown included a sweeping curfew and shutdowns of phone and internet service.

But Associated Press photographers Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand found ways to let outsiders see what was happening. Now, their work has been honoured with the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in feature photography.

Snaking around roadblocks, sometimes taking cover in strangers’ homes and hiding cameras in vegetable bags, the three photographers captured images of protests, police and paramilitary action and daily life — and then headed to an airport to persuade travellers to carry the photo files out with them and get them to the AP’s office in New Delhi.

“It was always cat-and-mouse,” Yasin recalled Monday. “These things made us more determined than ever to never be silenced.”

Yasin and Khan are based in Srinagar, Kashmir’s largest city, while Anand is based in the neighbouring Jammu district.

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3 charged in killing of store security guard over virus mask

FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A woman, her adult son and husband have been charged in the fatal shooting of a security guard who refused to let her daughter enter a Family Dollar in Michigan because she wasn’t wearing a face mask to protect against transmission of the coronavirus.

Calvin Munerlyn was shot Friday at the store just north of downtown Flint a short time after telling Sharmel Teague’s daughter she had to leave because she lacked a mask, according to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton.

Teague, 45, argued with Munerlyn, 43, before leaving. Two men later came to the store.

Teague; her husband, Larry Teague, 44; and Ramonyea Bishop, 23; are charged with first-degree premeditated murder and gun charges.

Larry Teague also is charged with violating Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order mandating that all customers and employees must wear face coverings inside grocery stores, Leyton said.

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NBC News chief Andy Lack out in corporate restructuring

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News chief Andy Lack is out following a corporate restructuring announced Monday that places Telemundo executive Cesar Conde in charge of NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC.

Lack’s departure was revealed when Jeff Shell, new NBC Universal CEO, outlined a new corporate governance plan. Besides Conde’s elevation, Shell is giving broad new powers over NBC’s entertainment properties to Mark Lazarus, who has overseen NBC Sports.

The 72-year-old Lack has had two runs as head of NBC News, the first as NBC News president from 1993 to 2001, and he rejoined the company as news chairman in 2015.

NBC News’ flagships, “NBC Nightly News” and “Today,” generally run second to ABC in viewership but are stronger among the lucrative young advertising demographic. MSNBC has gained popularity, often second only to Fox News Channel as the second most-popular cable news network each week.

The news division was embarrassed, however, when Ronan Farrow took his reporting on disgraced Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein to the New Yorker and complained his bosses at NBC showed little interest in his work. NBC said Farrow’s material wasn’t ready to be aired.

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Shula, winningest coach in pro football history, dies at 90

MIAMI (AP) — Measuring Don Shula by wins and losses, no NFL coach had a better year. Or career.

He looked the part, thanks to a jutting jaw and glare that would intimidate 150-pound sports writers and 300-pound linemen alike. He led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season in NFL history, set a league record with 347 victories and coached in six Super Bowls.

Near the end of his career, Shula’s biography in the Dolphins’ media guide began with a quote from former NFL coach Bum Phillips: “Don Shula can take his’n and beat you’n, and he could take you’n and beat his’n.”

Shula died Monday at his home across Biscayne Bay from downtown Miami, the team said. He was 90.

“If there were a Mount Rushmore for the NFL, Don Shula certainly would be chiseled into the granite,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement.

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AP PHOTOS: Kashmir athletes struggle during virus lockdown

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic has restricted athlete Afreen Hyder to a small space in Indian-controlled Kashmir where she finds it difficult to do the martial arts routines she needs to keep fit.

The 20-year-old shares a two-bedroom apartment with her parents in the disputed region’s main city of Srinagar. Under the virus lockdown, she is left with only one area where she can practice Taekwondo: the apartment’s hallway.

“I’ve ended up practicing in a place where I dislike doing it most,” Afreen said. “I keep going because my parents are very supportive.”

The coronavirus lockdown for Kashmir’s 7 million residents isn’t the first time she has had to practice her sport at home.

Last summer she spent months inside her home after India scrapped the region’s statehood and semi-autonomy and imposed harsh curbs on civil rights and communications, including a shutdown of the internet, cellphone networks, landline telephones and cable TV.

The Associated Press