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Coronavirus daily news updates, May 4: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the nation


Throughout Sunday, on this page, we’ll be posting updates from Seattle Times journalists and others on the pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the Pacific Northwest and the world.




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Pike Place Market’s Hmong flower farmers adapt during the coronavirus pandemic


“My parents have been through worse,” one farmer said. “We'll get through this.”




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Seattle demonstrators adjust to coronavirus pandemic, swap May Day marches for car caravans


As usual, May Day demonstrators took to the streets on Friday. Only this time, they drove in cars and practiced safe distancing while pushing for immigrant and workers' rights as well as a proposed tax on large corporations.




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Many businesses may follow Amazon in stretching out work-from-home policies, crimping downtown recovery


Business and government insiders say other companies and organizations are contemplating similarly extended time frames as they consider the new realities of the workplace in the COVID-19 era.




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Pike Place Market mentors advise crafters on staying afloat during coronavirus shutdown


When the crafts market at Pike Place Market was forced to temporarily shut down, vendors are turning to online sales and getting help in doing that from their fellow workers.




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You can still get Pike Place Market flowers for Mother’s Day, thanks to the Drive-Thru Flower Festival


Twenty of the farmers who sell at Pike Place Market are participating in Saturday's event, with pickup sites in Seattle and Renton.




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Lawmakers, machinists union urge Alcoa, Trump to find a way to avoid closing Ferndale aluminum plant


The Pittsburgh company plans to close its Ferndale aluminum smelter by July, throwing 700 people out of work.




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Mask or no mask? New social tension splits Seattle-area residents in coronavirus era


Since health officials began recommending (but not requiring) that everyone cover their faces in public to reduce the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, a new divide has emerged over who wears a mask and who doesn't.




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Supermarket chains begin terminating ‘hero’ pay to workers as coronavirus pandemic continues


Kroger-owned QFC and Fred Meyer will discontinue their $2-an-hour "Hero Bonus'' premiums paid to workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Ohio-based Kroger has set May 16 as the program's final date while other large grocery retailers ponder the future of similar bonuses.




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TSA employees at Sea-Tac, other airports must now wear masks to slow spread of coronavirus


Five TSA employees nationwide have died of COVID-19, and 516 employees have tested positive, including seven at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.




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Pike Place Market’s Hmong flower farmers adapt during the coronavirus pandemic


“My parents have been through worse,” one farmer said. “We'll get through this.”




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Small businesses band together to sue insurers over coronavirus damage


In many cases, the response from insurers has been: We don't cover viruses.




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NASCAR to resume season May 17 with seven races in 10 days


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR plans to restart its engines with a flurry of races at two historic tracks. NASCAR said Thursday it is set to return May 17 with an elite Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, the first of seven events in an 11-day stretch across the top three series. […]




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For sports, coronavirus testing remains a major hurdle


MIAMI (AP) — Politicians, players and owners are trying to figure out a way to get baseball, basketball and hockey going again, not only for economic reasons but as a welcome diversion for a social distancing nation facing uncertain times. But to do so would require commandeering thousands of test kits each week for millionaire […]




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F1 chairman evokes “remote” possibility of no races in 2020


PARIS (AP) — Discussions to host Formula One races in July are at an advanced stage, although F1 chairman Chase Carey cautions that “the remote possibility of no racing in 2020″ remains. The first 10 races of the season have been postponed or canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic, leading to a huge loss of revenue. […]




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In roughly 24 hours coronavirus makes sports, a longtime sanctuary in times of crisis, disappear


Sports has always been the escape during times of crisis and collective stress. But now the very act of conducting sports threatens to add exponentially to perpetuating the coronavirus pandemic and growing the stress.




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It’s time to make it official and postpone the Tokyo Olympics due to coronavirus concerns


It is beyond time for the International Olympic Committee to come to the same conclusion that virtually every governing body, and an increasing number of athletes, have wrapped their brains around. Namely, that the Olympics must be postponed.




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Marysville’s Jim Pearson has run at least a mile every day for 50 years and counting — and he’s not stopping anytime soon


The Marysville resident and former Ferndale High School cross-country coach, 75, has run at least a mile – much more, on most days – since mid-February 1970.




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Washington golfers, officials cling to hope that Gov. Inslee will lift coronavirus shutdown order in May


Under normal circumstances, this would be a perfect time to sneak in a round or two (or four), but of course, that’s impossible. All courses in the state have been shut down by virtue of Gov. Inslee’s shelter-at-home order March 23.




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Audacious WrestleMania XIX extravaganza in 2003 remains ballpark’s biggest event


The biggest, gaudiest, craziest — and oh, yeah, the fakest — event ever held at the ballpark on the corner of Edgar Martinez Drive and Dave Niehaus Way took place 17 years ago, on March 30, 2003.




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Seattle Dragons’ Ryan Gustafson believed XFL was making strides, ‘but you can’t control a pandemic’


The XFL was the first sporting victim not of the colossus that is the NFL, but of the even more formidable coronavirus. The ravages of the virus, and the lingering uncertainty, made the economic road map for resumption unmanageable.




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Ex-Mariners relive night they were on wrong side of history, 34 years after Roger Clemens’ 20-strikeout game


It was exactly 34 years ago Wednesday that Clemens, at the time a highly promising but still unproven Red Sox pitcher, put himself on the baseball map. On one cool, magical night at Boston's Fenway Park against the Mariners, he mowed down a Mariners lineup that had been struggling all season to make contact.




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Here’s why Marshawn Lynch’s possible return to the Seahawks shouldn’t happen this time


You could dream about Lynch coming back to the Seahawks, as he revealed Monday that the two sides are discussing, and this time leading them back to the Super Bowl. Or, you could make the case I’m going to make: Leave well enough alone.




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Chat rewind: Experts talk about marijuana legalization


Times reporter Bob Young and a trio of marijuana experts held a live chat on Friday. State Liquor Control Board Deputy Director Rick Garza, ACLU of Washington drug-policy director Alison Holcomb, and dispensary owner John Davis all answered questions on marijuana legalization. Read their comments below. [do action=”scribblelive” chatid=”110649″ width=”630″ height=”500″/]  




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Saturday Memo: STP … Big road closures … milk-carton madness … royal baby watch


Ten thousand bicyclists: The grand parade of neon and spandex is under way as thousands of bicyclists departed Husky Stadium this morning for the Rose City. It’s an annual classic where the greyhound riders will finish the 200-mile ride in a single day. The big pack will finish Sunday, exhausted but happy to be in […]




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Mars Hill: The rise and fall of a Seattle church and its charismatic leader


After 18 years of explosive growth, officials at Mars Hill Church in Seattle said that financial pressures are forcing staff cuts and elimination of some branches. The announcement follows Pastor Mark Driscoll's decision to step away from the pulpit for six weeks.




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State should partner with tribes on legalized marijuana


Some tribes see potential of legal pot now that the feds have given them a green light to enter the market.




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Steeled courage from state lawmakers needed for steelhead habitat


A last legislative push is needed to save Nisqually River’s storied steelhead run.




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Rev. Jesse Jackson to Amazon: You have the power to lift up our youth, diversify boardroom


Jackson calls on CEO Jeff Bezos to create a board of directors and a workforce that looks more like America.




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Alaska Airlines to require passengers to wear masks


Alaska Airlines joins several other major airlines launching mask requirements for passengers.




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Seattle Times wins Pulitzer Prize for Boeing 737 MAX coverage


The Seattle Times has been awarded a 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its yearlong coverage of the two deadly crashes of Boeing’s 737 MAX jet. This is the newspaper's 11th Pulitzer Prize.



  • Boeing & Aerospace
  • Inside the Times

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2 arrested in slaying of Michigan guard over face mask order


FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Two men were arrested Friday in the fatal shooting of a security guard who demanded a woman wear a mask while shopping at a store. Genesee County authorities said Ramonyea Bishop, 23, was taken into custody at an apartment in Bay City. His alleged accomplice, Larry Teague, 44, was arrested Thursday […]




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Court halts ban on mass gatherings at Kentucky churches


FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A federal court halted the Kentucky governor’s temporary ban on mass gatherings from applying to in-person religious services, clearing the way for Sunday church services. U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove on Friday issued a temporary restraining order enjoining Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration from enforcing the ban on mass gatherings […]




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Georgia man’s death raises echoes of US racial terror legacy


BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man, a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead. The Feb. 23 shooting in coastal Georgia is drawing comparisons to […]




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Small tribes seal borders, push testing to keep out virus


PICURIS PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) — On a dusty plaza in a Native American village that dates back nearly a millennium, a steady trickle of vehicles inched through a pop-up coronavirus testing site. From the bed of a pickup truck and backseats of cars, wide-eyed children stared from behind hand-sewn masks and then sobbed as testing […]




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Polar vortex brings rare May snow, low temps to US East


PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Mother’s Day weekend got off to an unseasonably snowy start in the Northeast on Saturday thanks to the polar vortex bringing cold air down from the north. Some higher elevation areas in northern New York and New England reported snowfall accumulations of up to 10 inches, while traces of snow were […]




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Married couple, 85 and 86, die in Delaware cemetery shooting


BEAR, Del. (AP) — A married couple from Maryland ages 85 and 86 were the victims of a deadly shooting at a veterans cemetery in Delaware. Delaware State Police on Friday night identified the victims of the shooting as an 86-year-old man and 85-year-old woman from Elkton, Maryland. The two were at Delaware Veterans Memorial […]




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Sculpting a killer whale: The process behind making an orca infographic


Seattle Times graphic artist Emily M. Eng takes you through the process of making a 3-D model of an orca so we could better explain the animals in an ongoing series about them.





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As Bering Sea ice melts, Alaskans, scientists and Seattle’s fishing fleet witness changes ‘on a massive scale’


With winter ice largely gone for two years, a food chain is at risk. What lies ahead for a body of water that produces some of the world’s biggest seafood harvests and helps sustain communities ranging from Alaska to Seattle, homeport for much of the Bering Sea fleet?




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As climate change melts Alaska’s permafrost, roads sink, bridges tilt and greenhouse gases release


The accelerating melt is a global concern: Permafrost, which mostly lies in the northern reaches of the planet, is a vast carbon storehouse of frozen plants and animals that release greenhouse gases as they warm and decompose.




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How major US stock indexes fared Friday


Stocks closed with broad gains Friday, brushing off a record-breaking report of job losses, as investors reckoned that the very worst of the economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic may be passing. Employers cut 20.5 million jobs last month, a record high but less than what the market expected. Technology and financial stocks were […]




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TSA employees at Sea-Tac, other airports must now wear masks to slow spread of coronavirus


Five TSA employees nationwide have died of COVID-19, and 516 employees have tested positive, including seven at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.




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Watchdog faults SBA on minority-owned and rural small business PPP lending


WASHINGTON — The Small Business Administration did not direct private lenders to prioritize minority and women-owned businesses as Congress intended when they started implementing a $669 billion loan program under the CARES Act, a federal watchdog concluded in a report released Friday. The findings from the SBA Office of the Inspector General add to growing […]




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Apple iPhone SE review: A superb smartphone for a humble price


For $399, this smartphone hits the high notes: speedy, a great camera and a nice screen. Took long enough, didn’t it?




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Pike Place Market’s Hmong flower farmers adapt during the coronavirus pandemic


“My parents have been through worse,” one farmer said. “We'll get through this.”




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Small businesses band together to sue insurers over coronavirus damage


In many cases, the response from insurers has been: We don't cover viruses.




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Maldives sees rapid spike in coronavirus patients


MALE, Maldives (AP) — The Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago nation with one of the world’s most congested capitals, has seen a rapid rise in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks. Health officials predict that more than 77,000 people — or a fourth of those currently living in the country — could become infected, […]




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Coronavirus daily news updates, May 9: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the nation


While this year’s Mother’s Day weekend promises warm weather, Seattle officials are restricting hours in city parks out of fears that large crowds hoping to enjoy the sun could further spread the novel coronavirus. A recent report shows the COVID-19 transmission rate in Western Washington may be steadily increasing, suggesting that the number of virus cases […]




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Caffeine bought online killed teen. But is Amazon at fault?


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Logan Stiner was just days from high school graduation when his brother found him unresponsive in their family’s home southwest of Cleveland in May 2014. Stiner, 18, died of cardiac arrhythmia and seizure from acute caffeine toxicity, a coroner ruled. He had more than 70 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of […]