By Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN
From CNN’s Jason Morris
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that the state will begin to reopen May 4 but will exclude Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
“Florida will take a step. Small, deliberate, methodical, and based on consultation with some of our greatest physicians, towards a more helpful future," DeSantis said at a Covid-19 news conference. “We will get Florida back on its feet by using an approach that is safe, smart, and step by step.”
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced Wednesday that its Board of Directors has voted unanimously to cancel 2020 Hall of Fame induction weekend events as a result of health and safety concerns associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The class of 2020 – Derek Jeter, Marvin Miller, Ted Simmons and Larry Walker – will be inducted on July 25, 2021, in Cooperstown, alongside any new members elected as part of the Hall of Fame class of 2021.
From CNN's Kay Jones
While speaking to a subcommittee of AccelerateSC this afternoon, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said he would not vote to authorize more money for unemployment benefits.
"July the 31st is when this expires and I promise you, over our dead bodies, this will not get reauthorized," Graham told the committee members. "We've got to stop this. You cannot turn on the economy, until you get this aberration in the law fixed. Your challenge is, what do you do between now and July 31? You don't want a bunch of people coming back pissed off at you. "
AccelerateSC serves as the advisory team to consider and recommend economic revitalization plans for South Carolina.
CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect that Sen. Lindsey Graham indicated that additional funds for unemployment benefits "will not get reauthorized."
From CNN’s Paul Vercammen
Lawyers for accused murderer Robert Durst, subject of the HBO series “The Jinx,” have filed a motion for a mistrial due to what they call “a prejudicial mid-trial delay resulting from the COVD-19 pandemic.”
In court documents filed Tuesday, lawyers for Durst assert that in the “best case scenario” the jury in the high-profile trial will have been recessed for at least 80 days and “it’s unrealistic for the jury to remember the evidence.”
“Since jury selection, since the inquiries by both sides, those jurors lives changed with Covid-19. They are no longer the same people we interviewed. Because of this unprecedented change, he (Durst) cannot get a fair trial,” Durst’s attorney Dick Deguerin told CNN.
Durst, 77, has been in and out of the hospital since the suspension of his murder trial, Deguerin said.
“His health has not been good at all,” the lawyer said. “He’s had urinary tract problems, his brain stent is malfunctioning and he’s got a growth on his lower bowel.”
“We are very concerned for our client’s well-being and ours,” Deguerin continued. “Two members of our team are over 70 years old, another will soon be 65. We’re not able to go into that jail and sit down with Bob [Durst.] We cannot call him. He can call us but only for three minutes and then the phone shuts off. And we’re concerned we are being recorded. It’s extremely difficult for us to communicate with our client right now and it was hard enough before the corona virus outbreak.”
John Lewin, the lead prosecutor in the Durst case, wants four New York area witnesses to have previous video-taped statements played before the jury, instead of them testifying in person.
A motion filed in court on Wednesday asks that four witnesses, including retired detective Michael Struk, who investigated the disappearance of Durst’s first wife, be declared unavailable due to “existing physical illness and infirmity.”
The motion points out that all of the witnesses are over 65 years old and at higher risk of developing severe illness during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lewin did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
From CNN's Keith Allen
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer introduced a new program today that will provide tuition-free post-secondary educational opportunities to essential workers as they fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“Futures for Frontliners" is a path "to opportunity” for Michigan’s essential workers, and similar to the GI Bill offered to returning soldiers after WWII, Whitmer said at a news conference in Lansing on Wednesday.
The program will be geared toward essential workers without college degrees, and ensure “a tuition-free pathway to college,” as well as an opportunity to earn a technical certificate, associate degree or potentially a bachelor’s degree at universities, Whitmer said.
“Historically when Americans put their lives on the line to defend the rest of us from a foreign enemy, we have shown our gratitude by giving them educational opportunities to improve their lives,” Whitmer said. “Our enemy in this instance, is a virus, but our frontline workers are just as heroic, and that's why it's important for us to extend some gratitude, and some opportunity, once we are beyond this moment.”
The program will be offered not only to those working in hospitals or nursing homes, but also to grocery store employees, child care workers, sanitation workers and those who deliver supplies, the governor said.
“It will provide tuition-free college opportunities for people who have risked their lives fighting on the frontline of this pandemic,” Whitmer said. “This is the first program of its kind in the United States, and I'm hopeful that other governors across the country will follow our lead to create pathways opportunity for the people who've been on the frontlines protecting our families.”
From CNN's Elizabeth Stuart
The University of Alabama system plans to have teachers and students return to campus for in-person teaching for the fall 2020 semester, Kellee Reinhart, the senior vice chancellor for communications, told CNN.
The system is comprised of three campuses: University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Earlier this month, Finis E. St. John IV, the chancellor of the University of Alabama system, created a task force of experts to ensure safety for students and staff when on-campus learning resumes, according to a statement.
Reinhart said the plan is to return to on-campus instruction at all three universities.
"I think that's everybody's goal," she said.
A statement from the university said plans will be developed and announced using all available research and data prior to reopening the campuses.
From CNN's Sarah Boxer
Indiana is still set to partially reopen some businesses on Friday, Gov. Eric Holcomb said at a news conference Wednesday.
Schools will remain closed but Holcomb indicated that the buildings might be repurposed for other uses.
In discussing the Indy 500, Holcomb said he also believes it can still happen on August 23.
"Let's not be delusional about this, we're going to have positive cases, month after month after month after month after month. I just believe, it's how we manage our way through this, it's how we have the ability to care for those folks who are in need," he said.
From CNN's Chris Boyette
Illinois is deploying 500 nurses to long-term living facilities across the state to conduct swab test training, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference Wednesday.
Over the coming days, the state will deploy an additional team of 200 nurses, the governor said.
“These are some of our most vulnerable Illinoisans and the state will do everything in its power to protect them,” Pritzker said.
By the numbers: At least 4,298 residents or employees at long-term care facilities have tested positive for coronavirus, and at least 625 people have died, according to the Illinois Department of Health.
From CNN's Janine Mack
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said President Trump is using a "fear tactic" by threatening to withhold coronavirus funding from sanctuary cities.
"We have challenges and and we should focus on Covid-19, and when that is finished we should focus on how do we open up America again and not focus on an immigration policy, that's a fear tactic," said Walsh during a news conference on Wednesday.
More on this: On Tuesday, Trump said states that are financially crippled because of the coronavirus pandemic would have to make “sanctuary city adjustments” in order to receive emergency coronavirus federal relief.
Walsh said he is not concerned about Boston paying the price on the sanctuary city talk by the President.
"As I said throughout this entire pandemic, this is important for elected officials and leaders to work together for us to get through this very difficult time. These suggestions or threats by the White House are uncalled for. They're not going to solve either the public's health or the immigration challenge that we have in our country," Walsh said.
He went on to say, "This is not the time to politicize issues to push forward and agenda. People are hurting people with dying. People are scared. This is the time for leadership and that's exactly what we're going to provide here in Massachusetts and the city of Boston. And that's my suggestion that Washington should, providing some leadership for the people of America."