California is loosening its stay-at-home order for counties that meet certain criteria in containing the virus, allowing them to reopen some offices. But it seems Los Angeles is likely to extend its stay-at-home order through July. and California State University has announced it will cancel most in-person classes this fall. Aimee Stephens, the plaintiff in a landmark case about LGBTQ rights that was in the process of being heard by the US Supreme Court has died. She was awaiting the court’s decision on whether federal civil rights law protects transgender people, which is expected in late June. The White House coronavirus task force is to be expanded soon, the White House press secretary confirmed. Meanwhile, public health officials Anthony Fauci, Steven Hahn and Robert Redfield announced they would return to the White House despite being exposed to coronavirus, because they are essential workers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the next $3 trillion financial rescue bill. The White House and Senate Republicans have signaled they won’t support it as is. At a Senate health committee hearing, Republican Mitt Romney slammed the US’s track record on early coronavirus testing. The CDC’s Redfield admitted that the US failed in its chance to contain the coronavirus at the start of the pandemic, being left instead with only mitigation efforts. Fauci said that coronavirus is not yet under control in the US, months into the crisis, and warned of “serious consequences” if the US rushes to reopen prematurely. Fauci said the US death toll from coronavirus was likely higher than the official toll of 80,000 dead so far. The supreme court heard arguments in the cases from the House of Representatives and New York investigators that seek access to Donald Trump’s taxes and other financial records. The court is in its second week of working remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic, hearing arguments through video call. Twitter will allow its employees to work from home “forever”, chief executive officer Jack Dorsey said in a company-wide email Tuesday. The Guardian’s Kari Paul reports: A spokesperson from Twitter confirmed the decision to the Guardian, saying the company was “one of the first companies to go to a work-from-home model” due to Covid-19, but does not anticipate being one of the first to return to its offices. “We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere,” the company said in a blogpost. “The past few months have proven we can make that work. So if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen.” Twitter has “strongly encouraged” working from home since 2 March and mandated employees to work from home starting 11 March. Employees who prefer to work remotely can now do so indefinitely, Twitter said in its statement. Those who want to return to the office will probably need to wait until at least September. “When we do decide to open offices, it also won’t be a snap back to the way it was before,” the company said. “It will be careful, intentional, office by office and gradual.” The FBI inadvertently revealed the identity of a Saudi Embassy official suspected of supporting al-Qaida hijackers involved in the 11 September terror attacks in a court filing. Yahoo News reports: The disclosure came in a new declaration filed in federal court by a senior FBI official in response to a lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims that accuses the Saudi government of complicity in the terrorist attacks. The declaration was filed last month but unsealed late last week. According to a spokesman for the 9/11 victims’ families, it represents a major breakthrough in the long-running case, providing for the first time an apparent confirmation that FBI agents investigating the attacks believed they had uncovered a link between the hijackers and the Saudi Embassy in Washington. It’s unclear just how strong the evidence is against the former Saudi Embassy official — it’s been a subject of sharp dispute within the FBI for years. But the disclosure, which a senior U.S. government official confirmed was made in error, seems likely to revive questions about potential Saudi links to the 9/11 plot. It also shines a light on the extraordinary efforts by top Trump administration officials in recent months to prevent internal documents about the issue from ever becoming public. “This shows there is a complete government cover-up of the Saudi involvement,” said Brett Eagleson, a spokesman for the 9/11 families whose father was killed in the attacks. “It demonstrates there was a hierarchy of command that’s coming from the Saudi Embassy to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs [in Los Angeles] to the hijackers.” Still, Eagleson acknowledged he was flabbergasted by the bureau’s slip-up in identifying the Saudi Embassy official in a public filing. Although Justice Department lawyers had last September notified lawyers for the 9/11 families of the official’s identity, they had done so under a protective order that forbade the family members from publicly disclosing it. Now, the bureau itself has named the Saudi official. “This is a giant screwup,” Eagleson said. California State University system to cancel in-person classes in fall The California State University system — the largest. in the nation — plans to cancel almost all classes in the fall, chancellor Timothy White announced. Most classes will be taught online, with a few exceptions. “Our university when open without restrictions and fully in person… is a place where over 500,000 people come together in close and vibrant proximity,” White said at a meeting of Cal State’s Board of Trustees. “That approach sadly just isn’t in the cards now.” “Our university, when open without restrictions and fully in person, as is the traditional norm of the past, is a place where over 500,000 people come together in close and vibrant proximity with each other on a daily basis,” White added. “That approach, sadly, just isn’t in the cards now as I have described.” Although many universities have gone out of their way to say that they will hold in-person classes in the fall, CSU’s cautious approach comes as public health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, warn against reopening too soon A special election in California’s 25th Congressional district is technically today. But the voting is happening mostly by mail, due to the Pandemic. The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports that the president has contradicted himself and falsely accusing Democrats of trying to “steal” the election: Donald Trump falsely accused Democrats of trying to “steal” Tuesday’s special election in California amid the Covid-19 pandemic by adding a polling place in one of the most diverse sections of a district. But the county actually added the polling location at the request of the area’s Republican mayor. In a move that could foreshadow his approach to November’s presidential election, Trump said Democrats were deliberately adding one of the few polling locations over the weekend in Lancaster, a city North of Los Angeles, where it was likely to benefit Democratic voters. “They are trying to steal another election. It’s all rigged out there. These votes must not count. SCAM!,” he tweeted. Today’s election is taking place largely by mail, common in California, and the state mailed a ballot to all registered voters in the district. Still, there will be some opportunity for in-person voting. But though Democrats complained that the lack of a polling location in Lancaster would harm minority voters, officials added the additional location after R Rex Parris, the city’s Republican mayor, requested it. Though he thinks it’s dangerous to vote in person during the Covid-19 pandemic, Parris told the Guardian he made the request after realizing a nearby city had two polling locations, while his city had none. While he believes elections can be rigged and understood why it might have appeared that way to Trump, he said adding the polling location was not a Democratic power grab. Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia had lived in the United States for four decades. Last week, he became the first person to die from Covid-19 in immigration custody. Mejia’s death in San Diego last week was preventable, his sister says, as coronavirus has infected hundreds in Ice detention. Escobar Mejia, 57, came to the US as a teenager, having fled El Salvador after his brother’s murder during the war. He died on Wednesday in San Diego, after complaining for weeks that he was sick and that his history of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems and an amputated foot put him at high risk of succumbing to Covid-19 inside the Otay Mesa detention center. “He was weak, he should have been released,” his sister Rosa Escobar told the Guardian. “They were refusing to take him to see a doctor. He was begging and screaming for medical attention. He was so scared.” Escobar Mejia’s death comes as Covid-19 has infected hundreds of detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) jails. A long history of substandard conditions, overcrowding and unsanitary practices in some facilities, as well as the US government’s refusal to release many detainees at particular risk of developing Covid-19 complications, has led to a rapidly escalating crisis, advocates say. “These facilities don’t care about the people or the facts of their lives,” Rosa said by phone days after her brother’s death, speaking in Spanish. “These are private institutions making money off of immigrants.” The New York Times’ science and health reporter Donald McNeil was unsparing in his assessment of the US response to the coronavirus in an interview with Chistiane Amanpour. McNeil said the CDC “is a great agency but it’s incompetently led, and I think Dr Redfield should resign”. The federal government’s delayed response to the crisis has been roundly criticized by Democrats and public health experts around the world. But it is unusual for a Times journalist to call for the resignation of a US official and so bluntly share an opinion about the US leaders. In a statement, the Times said that McNeil had gone “too far in expressing his personal views.” Fauci, Redfield and Hahn will return to the White House for meetings as needed Although they were exposed to the coronavirus,Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC director; Dr. Steve Hahn, the FDA commissioner; and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who’s leading the US coronavirus response, will return to work in person, so long as they’re asymptomatic, according to a statement from the officials. Like doctors, nurses and medical staff around the nation, Redfield, Hahn and Fauci are “critical infrastructure workers” and will return to work while wearing face masks and maintaining a six-foot distance from others, according to the statement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have together determined that government entities working in support of the COVID-19 response efforts are providing essential services and the current guidelines for critical infrastructure workers apply. Therefore, providing that they are asymptomatic, screened, and monitored for fever and other symptoms, wear a face covering, and maintain a distance of at least six feet from others, Drs. Redfield, Hahn, and Fauci can and will participate in meetings on the White House complex when their attendance is needed. The announcement is a reversal for Fauci, who earlier this week told CNN he would begin a “modified quarantine” after he made “low risk” contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for Covid-19. A federal judge has ruled that Andrew Cuomo should have a sign-language interpreter available for his TV briefings. The New York governor must have “in-frame ASL interpretation” during his daily updates, which garnered national attention as New York became a hotspot for coronavirus cases. Until now, those who needed ASL interpretation needed to go online to access it. Starting Wednesday, Cuomo’s office said an interpreter will be visible on TV as well. California is loosening its stay-at-home order for counties that meet certain criteria in containing the virus, allowing them to reopen some offices, schools and dine-in restaurants, governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday. As of Tuesday morning, only the rural counties of Butte, north of Sacramento, and El Dorado, south of Tahoe National Forest, have gotten state approval to reopen more of their economy, but Newsom predicted that at least two more would receive the go-ahead by the end of the day. Butte county has a population of about 219,000 and El Dorado county has a population of about 193,000. Butte has had a total of 20 cases and El Dorado has had a total of 56. Both counties had to file attestments that they met the state’s readiness criteria. The debate around local variance to modifications to the stay-at-home order has raged around the state even before Newsom brought California into phase two of the crisis on 8 May and reopened 70% of its economy under certain guidelines. It once again highlights the difficulties that come with governing a state as large and varied as California. While rural counties that have not seen high rates of infection argue that they could loosen up restrictions before the rest of the state, harder hit regions are adhering to stricter measures than the state’s order, much to the dismay of business owners like Elon Musk. Los Angeles county’s stay-at-home order, for example, will “with all certainty”be extended through July. Los Angeles has had 32,258 positive cases and 1,569 deaths - more than half the deaths in the entire state. It’s been a busy day in US politics and coronavirus news so far today and there’s more action to come. My colleague Maanvi Singh on the west coast will take over now and bring you the major developments over the next few hours. Here are the most recent items this afternoon: Looks like Los Angeles County will extend its stay-at-home order through July in order to slow the spread of coronavirus. Aimee Stephens, the plaintiff in a landmark case about LGBTQ rights that was in the process of being heard by the US Supreme Court has died. The White House coronavirus task force is to be expanded soon, though no details yet, press sec Kayleigh McEnany confirmed. Donald Trump was going to wind it down, then reversed course after public uproar. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the next $3 trillion financial rescue bill, though the Republican-controlled Senate will flay it alive. It was an action-packed morning with a crucial Senate health committee hearing in which top US public health expert Anthony Fauci warned against serious consequences in a hasty reopening, and at the Supreme Court oral arguments were heard on the power to subpoena Donald Trump’s tax records. Here’s the previous summary. The big case before the Supreme Court Oral arguments today in the big case about Donald Trump’s tax returns were somewhat overshadowed by the illuminating hearing on public health in the Senate. But Reuters has published a useful wrap on the case. In a major showdown over presidential powers, Supreme Court justices appeared divided over Trump’s bid to prevent congressional Democrats from obtaining his financial records, but seemed more open toward a New York prosecutor’s attempt to secure similar records. The court’s conservative majority signaled concern about improper “harassment” of Trump by three Democratic-led House of Representatives committees seeking his records. In the New York case, the conservative justices joined the court’s liberals in indicating skepticism toward broad arguments by Trump’s lawyer for complete immunity from criminal investigation for a sitting president. All the subpoenas were issued to third parties - an accounting firm and two banks - and not to the Republican president himself, though he sued to block them. There’s a chance the court won’t simply allow or disallow enforcement of the subpoenas but rather impose tighter standards for issuing subpoenas for the personal records of a sitting president and send the matter back to lower courts to reconsider, which could push matters beyond the election. This course of action could delay an ultimate decision on releasing the records until after the election. Chief Justice John Roberts asked questions suggesting skepticism about unchecked subpoena power when applied to a sitting president but also concern about a president evading scrutiny altogether. Conservative and liberal justices asked a lawyer for the House, Doug Letter, to explain why the subpoenas were not simply harassment and whether Congress should be limited in issuing subpoenas so as to not distract a president or frustrate his official duties. Even liberal justices raised concerns about an unfettered ability by lawmakers to subpoena a president’s personal records. The House committees have said they are seeking the material for investigations into potential money laundering by banks and into whether Trump inflated and deflated certain assets on financial statements - as his former personal lawyer has said - in part to reduce his real estate taxes. New York prosecutor Cyrus Vance Jr wants to know more about Trump’s payoffs to women who claimed affairs with him, and whether such hush money payments involved the falsification of business records. Justice Elena Kagan said where personal records are concerned “the president is just a man.” In the New York case, Kagan told Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow it is a “fundamental precept of our constitutional order that the president is not above the law.” Rulings are likely within weeks.