House to vote on new aid package, Trump mixes COVID-19 messaging, and other headlines

ON INLANDER.COM

COVER: Samantha Wohlfeil digs into the state of digital privacy — or lack thereof.

NEWS: With COVID-19 forcing online teaching, local schools are struggling to get students to log on for classes.

NEWS: Elected officials in the Spokane region are frustrated with Gov. Jay Inslee's tentative plan to open some parts of the economy.

NEWS: The Spokane Veterans Home, the epicenter of a local COVID-19 outbreak, isolated residents back in February — with no way to test them.

COVID-19

U.S. death toll
A little over 42,000 people across the country have died from COVID-19. (New York Times)

Delayed care
With parents canceling doctor's appointments for their children due to COVID-19 fears, experts fear another health crisis is brewing: nosediving immunizations for illnesses like measles. (New York Times)

Mass joblessness
An additional 4.4 million people filed for unemployment this past week, bringing the five-week tally to 26 million. In Washington, the state received around 90,000 new unemployment claims last week. (New York Times & Seattle Times)

More aid
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a $484 billion coronavirus relief package that will feature more aid for small businesses. It will not include any money for state governments whose budgets have been torn apart by the pandemic. (New York Times)

Mixed messaging
After egging on protesters opposing stay-home orders in states like Michigan, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he "strongly" disagreed with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's move to reopen the state's economy. (CNN)

IN OTHER NEWS...

Well-known dissenters
Washington state Rep. Matt Shea (R-Spokane Valley) and anti-tax activist Tim Eyman attended a protest yesterday in downtown Spokane against Gov. Jay Inslee's stay-home order. (Spokesman-Review)

Koch health
Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers' main libertarian-leaning political arm and fomenter of the tea party movement, is explicitly rejecting nationwide protests against stay-home orders. (Politico)

Toe the line
Rick Bright, who was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, said on Wednesday that he was removed from the post for questioning the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine — an anti-malaria drug that President Trump has touted as a coronavirus treatment. (New York Times)