Editor’s Note: This listicle is part of a weekly series by The Ball State Daily News summarizing five stories from across the United States. All summaries are based on stories published by The Associated Press.
New York City’s cemetery keeping up with the death toll from the virus, families suing the helicopter company that killed Kobe Bryant, the president’s tweet on suspending immigration, oil prices going negative and the $450 billion virus aid make up this week’s five national stories.
Gravedigger Thomas Cortez directs a pickup truck carrying a casket April 8, 2020, at Hebrew Free Burial Association's Mount Richmond Cemetery in the Staten Island borough of New York. Two of Cortez' friends have fallen ill and he and his colleagues worry they will too. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Cemetery races to keep up as New York virus deaths mount
As the world retreats and the pandemic’s confirmed death toll in New York City alone charges past 10,000, funeral directors, cemetery workers and others are sprinting to keep up. The Hebrew Free Burial Association, which buries Jews who die with little or nothing, a century ago buried garment workers killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and those who fell to the Spanish flu. More recently, it was Holocaust survivors who fled Europe and now, those dying of COVID-19.
Read More: New York City
Flowers and photos honor members of the Altobelli family outside Angel Stadium Feb. 10, 2020, in Anaheim, Calif. Coach John Altobelli, 56, far right, his wife, Keri, 43, second from left, and his daughter Alyssa, 13, left, died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26 in Calabasas. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Families sue helicopter company in deadly Kobe Bryant crash
Family members of four passengers killed in a helicopter crash with Kobe Bryant and his daughter have joined the NBA star’s widow in filing wrongful death lawsuits against the companies that owned and operated the aircraft. The pair of lawsuits comes about two months after Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, the mother of Gianna, also sued Island Express Helicopters Inc., which operated the Sikorsky, and its owner, Island Express Holding Corp.
Read More: Kobe Bryant
President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 20, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump says he’ll ‘suspend immigration,’ offers no details
President Donald Trump said Monday that he will sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus. He offered no details as to what immigration programs might be affected by the order. The White House did not immediately elaborate on Trump’s tweeted announcement. Due to the pandemic, almost all visa processing by the State Department, including immigrant visas, has been suspended for weeks.
Read more: Immigration
An oil rig stands against the setting sun April 17, 2020, in Midland, Texas. (Odessa American/Eli Hartman)
Q&A: Oil prices go negative. What does that mean?
The world is awash in oil, there’s little demand for it and we’re running out of places to put it, leading to traders essentially offering to pay someone else to deal with the oil they were due to have delivered next month. The price of U.S. benchmark crude that would be delivered in May was selling for around $15 a barrel Monday morning, but fell as low as -$40 per barrel during the day — the first time the price on a futures contract for oil has gone negative, analysts say.
Read more: Prices
President Donald Trump listens as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks about the coronavirus April 13, 2020, in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington. The Trump administration and Congress are nearing an agreement on a $400-plus billion aid package. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Talks drag on $450B virus aid for small business, hospitals
Late-stage negotiations in Washington on a new $450 billion coronavirus aid package dragged past Monday’s deadline, but the Trump administration and lawmakers insisted a final pact is within reach. Most of the funding, some $300 billion, would go to boost a small-business payroll loan program that’s out of money. Additional help would be given to hospitals, and billions more spent to boost testing for the virus to build the confidence required to reopen state economies.
Read More: Small business
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Delta baseball defeats Yorktown in extra innings to become Delaware County champions
By Zach Carter / YesterdayThe Eagles defeated the Tigers 5-2 in extra innings to win the Delaware County baseball tournament. It's the first time Delta has won the event since 2017.
'I'm grateful and proud:' No. 6 Ball State falls to No. 1 Miami in MAC Championship title game
By Zach Carter / YesterdayThe No. 6 Cardinals fell to the No. 1 Redhawks 8-0 in the MAC title game. It's the farthest the Cardinals have advanced in the tournament since 2015.
AP: Police arrest dozens as they break up pro-Palestinian protests at several US universities
By The Associated Press / YesterdayPolice made dozens of arrests as pro-Palestinian protest encampments were dismantled Friday at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hours after police tear-gassed demonstrators and took down a similar camp at the University of Arizona.
