1 President Trump To Start Coronavirus Briefings Once Again
President Trump is planning to restart daily press conferences about the coronavirus. The president noted the first will probably occur at 5 pm today. Trump said, "We have had this big flare-up in Florida, Texas, a couple of other places. I'll get involved and we'll start doing briefings." He said the briefings are a "great way to get information out to the public," and he plans to focus on developments in therapeutics and vaccines, as well as the "positive things" the administration is doing to fight the pandemic. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said last week that resuming briefings would boost Trump in the polls noting, "His approval rating on the pandemic was higher when he was at the podium." However, many advisers believed a large amount of misinformation given by Trump during the last briefings hurt him irreparably. He stopped delivering the daily briefings in April, saying they were "not worth the time and effort."
2 Teachers Union Sues Florida Over Reopening Of Schools
The largest Florida teachers union is going to court to block an order reopening schools next month. The Florida Education Association's lawsuit is over the state education commission's emergency order decreeing schools will be open five days a week. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is named in the suit, as is Governor Ron DeSantis, who has championed bringing students back full time for in-person classes. Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, said that the realities of the pandemic in the state mean it's too soon to reopen public schools. “Until we get control of the community spread until we understand that our schools will not be superspreader events, we have got to get rid of this hell-or-high-water approach in opening up our brick-and-mortar schools," Ingram said. The union argues that the commissioner's order is in violation of the state constitution, which requires schools to be operated safely. They don't feel that can happen come next month.
3 President Trump Warns He'll Send Federal Agents Into Other Big Cities
President Trump signaled he may order federal agents to be deployed to Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and other major cities as he threatens to crack down further on unrest across the country. The government is expected to send 150 federal agents to Chicago this week as violence continues to rise in that city as well as other major cities around the country. "I'm going to do something — that, I can tell you," Trump said. "Because we're not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We're not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats." The White House says that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security would roll out specific plans of action on deploying federal resources. Democratic leaders and civil rights groups have condemned the Trump administration's actions in Portland, where people were reportedly being picked up by agents in unmarked vans over the weekend.