International students can’t remain in US for online-only college classes The US government will not allow international students enrolled in schools that are fully online during the fall semester to enter or stay in the United States, Immigrations and Custom Enforcement announced on Monday. “Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status,” ICE announced in a statement. The announcement has much broad implications for students and for American colleges and universities themselves, which often depend on tuition paid by international students to help subsidize the education of American students, as New York Times reporter Caitlin Dickerson noted. Some observers suggested the announcement might be a way for the Trump administration to pressure schools to remain open classes, or at least partially open, during the fall semester. Should Amy Cooper be criminally charged? Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a black birdwatcher in New York’s Central Park today, has been criminally charged with with filing a false report, a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. The announcement of criminal charges against Cooper, who had already been fired by her employer for what was widely condemned as a racist, dangerous act, has sparked debate. It comes at a moment when nationwide protests against police violence have prompted many more Americans to think more seriously about the value of supporting the complete abolition of police and prisons, even for the least sympathetic offenders. For abolitionists and potential abolitionists, the charges against Cooper present a useful, and challenging, test case, Josie Duffy Rice, a former lawyer and the president of The Appeal, a news site that covers the impact of the legal system on vulnerable people, wrote on Twitter. Black and Latino neighborhoods struggle with testing disparities While people nationwide complain about appointments being overbooked or waiting hours to be seen, getting a coronavirus test can be even harder in America’s poorer, Hispanic and Black neighborhoods, far from middle-class areas where most chain pharmacies and urgent care clinics offering tests are found, the Associated Press reports. Among the troubling examples the Associated Press found: In Arizona, the free drive-up testing June 27 drew nearly 1,000 people and was just the second big event of its kind in the heavily Latino neighborhood of Maryvale. The first event, held June 20, drew criticism when much larger crowds than expected showed up, and some people waited for as long as 13 hours When Florida officials were slow to roll out testing in the migrant community of Immokalee, the nonprofit Coalition of Immokalee Workers called on the international aid group Doctors Without Borders for help. Sen. Chuck Grassley will skip GOP convention because of coronavirus For the first time in 40 years, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley will not attend the Republican National Convention, citing his concerns about coronavirus, the Des Moines Register reported. “I’m not going to go because of the virus situation,” the 86-year-old told reporters. Trump is scheduled to be officially nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate at a convention in Jacksonville, Florida on August 24 - 27. Mario Koran California did compliance checks at 6,000+ bars and restaurants California is ramping up enforcement actions across as coronavirus case numbers, hospitalizations and admissions to ICUs continue to climb, governor Gavin Newsom said Monday. Officials from the Alcohol and Beverage Control have paid more than 6,000 in-person visits to bars and restaurants to check if they’re complying with safety protocols; 441,000 businesses have been contacted, with most correcting deficiencies on the spot, Newsom said in a press conference. A survivor of violence on how she became a police abolitionist Derecka Purnell, a lawyer and Guardian columnist, has a in-depth piece out today on her journey to becoming an abolitionist. “When people dismiss abolitionists for not caring about victims or safety, they tend to forget that we are those victims, those survivors of violence,” Purnell writes. “‘Police abolition’ initially repulsed me. The idea seemed white and utopic. I’d seen too much sexual violence and buried too many friends to consider getting rid of police in St. Louis, let alone the nation.” But Michael Brown’s killing marked a turning point for her. https://twitter.com/edyong209/status/1280130547805761536 Atlanta mayor tests postive for COVID-19 Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has tested positive for coronavirus, but has no symptoms, she tweeted on Monday evening. Bottoms has been publicly discussed as a potential vice presidential running mate for Democrat Joe Biden. Just this weekend, she was dealing with the aftermath of the shooting death of an eight-year-old girl over the Fourth of July weekend. “We’ve taken all of the precautions that you can possibly take ... I have no idea where and when we were exposed,” the mayor told MSNBC. Mario Koran In California, patients travel hundreds of miles for care as cases rise With the exception of a few “bad actors,” governor Gavin Newsom thanked California residents for largely complying with orders to wear masks and physically distance over the holiday weekend. But the overall numbers are not good: as of Monday, California public health officials are monitoring 23 of the state’s 58 counties, up from 19 countries on Thursday — regions whose infections and surge capacity have health officials worried. That includes rural and dust-swept Imperial County, where a surge is bursting hospital capacity. In recent weeks, some officials have had to move out some 500 patients to neighboring counties with more capacity, transporting them as far away as the Bay area, 500 hundred miles north. As of 4 July, there have been 260,155 positive cases and 6,331 deaths attributed to the coronavirus in California. More than 5,400 new cases were added over the weekend, according to public health data. Hospitalizations have risen 50% in the last 7 days, Newsom said. While the state is averaging north of 100,000 tests a day, the positivity rate is also climbing. Two weeks ago the positivity rate was 4.9%. The seven-day average now tops 7%. Despite red-flag numbers, Newsom said many counties could safely continue plans to reopen, so long as efforts are paired with guidelines and enforcement. Axios: Trump is treating the election ‘like a race war’ “The ugly reality of this election is that in some instances it’s going to look like a race war,” Axios chief political correspondent Jonathan Swan said in a podcast interview today. Many other journalists have been referring euphemistically to Trump and Fox News Host Tucker Carlson’s “culture war” rhetoric, but Swan put it more bluntly. “The battlegrounds are President Trump pitting himself against the Black Lives Matter racial justice movement,” Swan said. “It’s really that simple.” Listen to the full interview here, and read the accompanying piece looking at the parallels between Trump and Tucker Carlson’s election rhetoric. Today so far That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours. Here’s where the day stands so far: The White House shockingly claimed the US has been “a leader” in the global fight against coronavirus, as dozens of states report increases in new cases. “I think the world is looking at us as a leader in Covid-19,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a White House briefing. The US has struggled to get its number of new infections under control, and the European Union chose not to include the US as a country approved for nonessential travel as it starts to open its borders. Bubba Wallace, the only top black driver in Nascar, responded to Trump’s critical tweet about him. “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE. ... Even when it’s hate from the POTUS,” Wallace said. The message comes after the president suggested Wallace should apologize for raising concerns about a noose discovered in his garage, even though Wallace was not the one who reported the incident. Trump waded further into culture war issues by criticizing two sports teams preparing to change their names. Many critics have said the two team names for Washington’s football team and Cleveland’s baseball team are offensive to Native Americans, and the teams’ management recently announced they are launching reviews to reconsider the names. The supreme court ruled states can punish “faithless electors,” members of the electoral college who try to vote for a candidate who did not win their state. The court still has five outstanding cases, including one involving Trump’s financial records. A judge ordered the Dakota Access pipeline to be shut down until a more thorough environmental review can be completed. The federal judge’s ruling marks a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who have been protesting against the pipeline for years. Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned. Nascar issued a statement in support of Bubba Wallace, the black driver who was criticized in a tweet from the president this morning. “We are proud to have Bubba Wallace in the NASCAR family and we commend his courage and leadership,” the statement reads. “NASCAR continues to stand tall with Bubba, our competitors and everyone who makes our sport welcoming and inclusive for all racing fans.” In his tweet, Trump also criticized Nascar for banning the Confederate flag at its races. During her briefing today, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged questions about the tweet and refused to take a stance on displaying the Confederate flag. Echoing her closing comments during the White House briefing, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shamed journalists for not asking questions about recent increases in gun violence. However, one journalist present for the briefing noted that several of those in the room were not allowed to ask questions before McEnany wrapped up the briefing after about 22 minutes. Journalists pressed McEnany on Trump’s comments criticizing Nascar for banning the Confederate flag at its races, but she repeatedly dodged those questions and refused to take a stance on the issue. Trump is still tweeting away, now insisting schools must reopen in the fall, despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus once in-person classes resume. “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” the president tweeted moments ago. Trump is holding an event at the White House tomorrow on reopening schools, where he will likely trumpet this message again. However, the administration has been hesitant to offer guidelines on schools reopening, and it’s unclear whether Congress would allocate additional funds to help schools resume in-person instruction. Harvard University also announced earlier today that it would hold all classes online for the next academic year. Wallace responds to Trump"s critical tweet Nascar driver Bubba Wallace has responded to Trump’s tweet suggesting he should apologize after a noose was found in his garage. Wallace, the only top black driver in Nascar, addressed his response “to the next generation and little ones following my foot steps.” Wallace urged those looking to him as an example to “keep your head held high and walk proudly on the path you have chosen.” Wallace concluded the message, “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE. ... Even when it’s hate from the POTUS.” Trump tweeted this morning, “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!” However, Wallace was not the one to report the incident, and a photo of the door pull rope clearly showed it resembled a noose, although the FBI concluded the rope was there before Wallace was assigned to the garage. It’s worth noting that Trump criticized Barack Obama in 2013 after the then-president suggested Washington’s football team should change its name. “President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them,not nonsense,” Trump tweeted at the time. However, now that he is a president dealing with a global pandemic and nationwide protests against police brutality, Trump apparently does consider the name of Washington’s football team to be a presidential matter.