Pence leaves D.C. to speak to cadets
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- In a symbolic nod to normalcy, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a commencement address to the U.S. Air Force Academy's graduating class on Saturday, telling the cadets that by setting off on their mission to defend the nation they "inspire confidence that we will prevail against the invisible enemy in our time as well."
Pence's trip, only his second outside Washington in the past six weeks, was aimed at showing that the country is on course to gradually reopening after weeks of the coronavirus shutdown.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhlEeCrd7nM]
He spoke at a scaled-down ceremony at the academy outside Colorado Springs, Colo., where hundreds of graduating cadets in blue and white dress uniforms sat 8 feet apart, taking up an area nearly as large as a football field.
"I know we gather at a time of great challenge in the life of our nation," Pence said as he began his remarks. "And while we don't quite look like the usual graduation at the Air Force Academy, let me tell you, this is an awesome sight. And I wouldn't be anywhere else but with the 62nd class of the Air Force Academy, the class of 2020."
The event usually attracts a big crowd to Falcon Stadium, which has a maximum capacity of more than 46,000. President Donald Trump spoke last year. But this year, the pandemic forced the academy to close the ceremony to visitors, including friends and family of the nearly 1,000 graduates.
[Gallery not loading above? Click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/419airforce/]
Flight training to return at Alabama base
FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- The Army plans to resume flight training at an Alabama base where most pilot trainees have been grounded because of the coronavirus.
Commanders at Fort Rucker imposed a two-week suspension of flight training for about 810 students after three infections were confirmed at the base. Maj. Gen. David Francis, Fort Rucker's commanding general, said training of combat aviators is to resume Monday, The Dothan Eagle reported.
"The resumption of flight training is mission essential for our Army," Francis said.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
Fort Rucker officials believe quarantine and tracing procedures followed after the infections were identified have kept the virus from spreading, Francis said. Social-distancing measures also are being enforced, and aircraft and simulators are being sanitized between flights.
Base officials said Fort Rucker also now has the ability to conduct rapid testing for the virus, with results taking about an hour.
25 infections found in Virginia youth jail
BON AIR, Va. -- The coronavirus has spread inside a juvenile-detention center in Virginia with 25 children testing positive, accounting for a quarter of all cases reported at youth facilities nationwide, officials said Friday.
Children's-rights advocates and health experts have warned state officials for weeks that it was just a matter of time before the virus took off inside such facilities. They have called on Gov. Ralph Northam to start releasing as many children as safely possible from centers, including at the newly hit Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center outside Richmond.
"Unfortunately, those sworn to protect our vulnerable youth have failed," said Liz Ryan, head of the Youth First Initiative nonprofit in Washington. "It's clear that refusing to listen to public-health experts has put our youth and communities at extreme risk."
So far, 97 incarcerated children have tested positive nationwide, more than half of them in Virginia and Louisiana.
On April 2, officials in Virginia announced that two staff members at Bon Air had tested positive, but contact with residents was limited. A day later, a child was exhibiting symptoms and later tested positive.
Chris Moon, chief physician at Virginia's Department of Juvenile Justice, said 21 of the 25 infected children in Bon Air exhibited no outward symptoms and only four showed signs that were more severe than a cold or a flu.
The facility has around 280 residents, from 11 years old to 20.
Puerto Rico admits to faulty virus data
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's health secretary acknowledged that the island's coronavirus-related data is not entirely accurate because some positive cases might have been counted twice, and that the government is working to improve it.
"It's imperfect data, but we're going to use it because it's the one we have," Health Secretary Lorenzo Gonzalez acknowledged Saturday at a news conference.
Gonzalez said he hopes to eventually make missing data available, including the number of people who have recuperated from covid-19.
Puerto Rico has reported more than 1,100 confirmed cases and more than 1,700 pending test results, with 10,900 tested on an island of 3.2 million, the lowest per-capita testing rate compared with any U.S. state.
As a growing number of Puerto Ricans demand more widespread testing, among other things, they have organized drive-by protests and bang on pots every night to signal their displeasure with the administration of Gov. Wanda Vazquez.
A Section on 04/19/2020