promoearn: Things sure are moving quickly

Tuesday, July 14

A mural salutes health workers in New Delhi. On July 14, the government eased a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against COVID-19.

Florida sets a coronavirus record. The White House drops rule forcing foreign students to take in-person classes. It's Tuesday's news.

About half of all states are accumulating coronavirus cases faster than in the spring, and the United States carried out its first federal execution in 17 years.

It's Ashley with the news to know.

But first, think your city is fit? The annual ranking of the fittest U.S. cities has dropped. An interesting find: Being fit and losing weight is a powerful force against COVID-19.

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Infections are spreading faster

As parts of the USA suffer through surges of new confirmed COVID-19 cases, a USA TODAY analysis found that almost half of all states are spiking at a faster rate than they were in the spring. Idaho, for example, adds 20 COVID-19 cases per hour. In early April, it was adding five. Other places adding cases at rapid rates? Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

More COVID-19 developments:

•	Florida reported a record 132 additional COVID-19-related deaths Tuesday, surpassing the previous high of 120.
•	The soaring costs of elections: The coronavirus pandemic tacked on hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected costs to this year's election.
•	The USA has surpassed 3.3 million cases and 136,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Globally, there have been 13.2 million cases.

Many find Ghislaine Maxwell's case particularly disturbing

Ghislaine Maxwell, the woman accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein recruit, groom and sexually abuse girls, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that she assisted the disgraced financier's child sex trafficking ring. In some cases, she allegedly participated in the abuse. Maxwell denies the charges, and her attorneys said she "is not Epstein." She's not. But many may find her equally horrifying, dismaying – and confounding. My colleague Alia Dastagir explores how Maxwell's case is a shocking reminder that sex abuse transcends gender and class.

•	Victim steps forward: Days after Maxwell's arrest, an Epstein accuser asked for an investigation into why her allegations were apparently ignored.

Ghislaine Maxwell denies accusations that she helped Jeffrey Epstein.

Laura Cavanaugh, Getty Images

What everyone's talking about

•	A deputy shot and killed a man who stabbed a 77-year-old convenience store customer who confronted the man about not wearing a mask.
•	How to watch for spectacular Comet Neowise – before it disappears for 6,800 years.
•	"MythBusters" star Grant Imahara, host of "White Rabbit Project," died at 49.
•	Mary L. Trump's new book almost turns President Trump into a sympathetic figure.
•	Scratch that August trip to Hawaii. The state just extended its quarantine.

The first federal execution in 17 years

Daniel Lewis Lee, convicted of slaying of an Arkansas family in 1996, was put to death by lethal injection in Indiana on Tuesday – the federal government's first execution in 17 years. His last words: "You're killing an innocent man." Lee, a once-avowed white supremacist, was executed after a prolonged legal fight that delayed his execution by more than 16 hours before it was cleared by the Supreme Court. Two other inmates are scheduled to be executed this week and another in August.

Daniel Lewis Lee waits for his arraignment hearing in the Pope County Detention Center Oct. 31, 1997, in Russellville, Ark.

Dan Pierce, AP

International college students are in the clear

The Trump administration dropped its rule that would have forced international college students to leave the USA if their fall classes are only online. The decision to back away from the rule came after a backlash from colleges, states and major businesses that said the United States should not force international students to leave. Monday, 18 state attorneys general sued the Department of Homeland Security over the rule.

Real quick

•	Nearly 1 in 3 LGBTQ people live in the South. Here's how LGBTQ activists of color are transforming the area.
•	"Russia, Russia, Russia": Trump tore into Jeff Sessions before his runoff Senate race against Tommy Tuberville in Alabama.
•	Remembering Naya Rivera: "Landslide," "Smooth Criminal" and more of her best "Glee" moments.
•	Hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews are being replaced on "Dancing With the Stars."
•	A former employee faces murder charges in a string of deaths at a veterans hospital.

Step away from the squirrel

Officials say a squirrel in Colorado tested positive for bubonic plague – as if murder hornets and a pandemic weren't enough to keep us up at night. The infected rodent was found in Morrison, a town near Denver. Although tied to historic pandemics such as the Black Death, plague illnesses still occur around the world and in the United States every year, though they are rare. Squirrels like this little guy 👇 may be cute, but Colorado health officials advise avoiding wild animals, especially those that appear sick or dead.

A squirrel carries an acorn in its mouth in London's Hyde Park on Sept. 25, 2008.

Dan Kitwood, Getty Images

A break from the news

•	💦 Can't find Lysol spray? Here's what to buy instead.
•	😷 Mask up: 10 celebrity-approved face masks you can buy online.
•	🍴 Is eating out in restaurants the right thing to do during the pandemic? Some say no.

This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Sign up for The Short List newsletter here.