Today’s edition of quick hits:
* U.S. death toll: “In the 24 hours ending at 8 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, 4,591 people were reported to have died from Covid-19, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. The prior record was 2,569 on Wednesday.”
* In China: “Nearly 1,300 people who died of the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected, were not counted in death tolls, state media announced Friday. Officials increased the number of coronavirus deaths by 1,290, bringing the city’s total to 3,869.”
* Speaking of Beijing: “China suffered its worst economic contraction since at least the 1970s in the first quarter as it fought the coronavirus, and weak consumer spending and factory activity suggest it faces a longer, harder recovery than initially expected.”
* A story we’ve been following closely: “The number of reported coronavirus deaths in long-term care facilities has more than doubled to 5,670 since last week, according to state health data gathered by NBC News, driven by huge increases in hard-hit states like New York, where more than 2 percent of nursing home residents have died of the virus.”
* Keep an eye on this: “Asian countries have invested heavily in digital contact tracing, which uses technology to warn people when they have been exposed to the coronavirus. Massachusetts is using an old-fashioned means: people.”
* Be on the lookout for a pardon: “A federal judge on Thursday denied a request for a new trial by President Donald Trump friend Roger Stone, who was convicted last fall of lying to Congress and witness tampering, flatly rejecting his claim of juror misconduct.”
* Speaking of presidential associates: “Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, will be released from his three-year prison sentence early because of concerns of the coronavirus continuing to spread behind bars, his lawyer said Thursday night.”
* This story isn’t going away: “Sen. Richard Burr’s sale of up to $1.7 million in stocks shortly before the recent market crash was one of the lawmaker’s only market-beating trades since record keeping began eight years ago, according to a new study. The new analysis, presented by researchers at Dartmouth College, shows just how unusual the North Carolina senator’s transactions were. On a single day, Feb. 13 of this year, Burr unloaded a significant portion of his net worth — a departure from his typically low-volume trading history.” * Culture of corruption? “A high-ranking Interior Department official is under fire over her role in securing access to billions of dollars in coronavirus aid for a handful of wealthy Alaska corporations, including one that previously employed her as a lobbyist and top executive.” * And speaking of a culture of corruption: “Two days after then-Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) announced he would resign from Congress after being convicted for misusing campaign funds, Hunter used his campaign account to pay a $137 bill at the Capitol Hill bar, Hawk ‘n’ Dove, Politico reports.” Have a safe weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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