A saliva-based COVID-19 test is FDA approved. Recovery continues in Iowa from Monday's derecho storm. Here's the weekend's biggest news.
Democrats demand answers from postmaster general on 'dangerous' changes to USPS
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is being urged by Congressional Democrats to testify before a House committee a month earlier than initially requested to address the "dangerous operational changes" to the United States Postal Service . The "urgent" hearing scheduled for Aug. 24 comes after months of Democratic efforts to secure additional funding to help the USPS survive the pandemic. The Postal Service warned election officials Friday that even if ballots are requested ahead of state deadlines and mailed back quickly, some may not be delivered in time to be counted.
In a statement, Democratic leaders said DeJoy and Chairman of the USPS Board of Governors Robert Duncan must explain "why they are pushing these dangerous new policies that threaten to silence the voices of millions, just months before the election." Among the shifts in service that worried Democrats was a move to stop treating all election mail as first-class – which could mean a regular delay of up to eight days from prior elections – cutbacks in overtime and a ban on "late" or "extra" delivery trips.
Robert Trump, the president's younger brother, has died at 71
President Donald Trump's younger brother Robert died Saturday of an undisclosed illness. He was 71 . "He was not just my brother, he was my best friend," the president said in a statement issued late Saturday. "He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever." The youngest of the Trump siblings, Donald Trump once described Robert as "much quieter and easygoing than I am," and "the only guy in my life whom I ever call 'honey.'" The White House announced Friday that Robert Trump had been hospitalized with an undisclosed illness and the president visited him that afternoon in Manhattan.
Robert Trump (left) is pictured joining then real estate developer and presidential hopeful Donald Trump (right) at an event in New York. Robert Trump died on Saturday after being hospitalized in New York, the president said in a statement. He was 71.
Diane Bondaress, AP Images
Saliva-based COVID-19 test wins FDA approval; nationwide testing issues cast doubt on decline in new cases
A saliva-based COVID-19 test developed by researchers at Yale with funding from the NBA and National Basketball Players Association was approved on Saturday for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration . The method is called SalivaDirect and researchers say it is less expensive and less invasive than nasopharyngeal swabbing. Testing overall, however, has dropped nationwide despite the virus picking up in many states. Daily nationwide case counts appear to have dropped in the last couple weeks, but reduced testing in some states makes it hard to confidently determine that infection rates are improving.
Nearly a week after a ferocious derecho storm roared across the Midwest, Iowans are still reeling with the disaster left in its wake . The state will submit its application for a federal disaster declaration soon and Iowans should have power fully restored by Tuesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday. She declared 23 counties disaster areas, making them eligible for state aid. Cedar Rapids was the state's hardest-hit city, where officials said Thursday the damage left by Monday's derecho was more extensive than the 2008 flood that destroyed much of its downtown. Many residents are struggling to meet their basic needs and growing increasingly frustrated.
Iowa Department of Transportation workers help with tree debris removal as grain bins from the Archer Daniels Midland facility are seen severely damaged in Keystone, Iowa, on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020. A storm slammed the Midwest with straight-line winds of up to 100 mph on Monday.
Jim Slosiarek, AP
Trump says he will look at granting pardon to whistleblower Edward Snowden
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he's considering granting a pardon to whistleblower Edward Snowden . "I'm going to take a look at that very strongly," Trump said during a news conference at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey. Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, has been living in exile in Moscow since fleeing the U.S. six years ago after leaking information on the nation's most secretive spy agencies and their programs. Trump said that he is "not that aware of the Snowden situation" but that people on both the left and the right are divided over the former contractor. In late 2016, then-President Barack Obama said he wouldn't consider a pardon until Snowden stopped running from the law.
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