5 things to know today – that aren’t about the virus

Your daily look at nonvirus stories in the news:

1. CALIFORNIA SUES UBER AND LYFT: California is suing ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft, alleging they misclassified their drivers as independent contractors under the state’s new labour law.

2. TRUMP DENIES US ROLE IN VENEZUELA: President Trump says the United States had nothing to do with a suspected incursion into Venezuela that landed two U.S. citizens behind bars in the crisis-stricken South American nation.

3. INTELLIGENCE NOMINEE ON HILL: Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director seeks at his confirmation hearing to shed his reputation as a loyalist to the president, insisting to skeptical Democrats that he would carry out the job free of political influence or partisan bias.

4. NEW ORLEANS CHURCH BANKRUPTCY: A bankruptcy filing by New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese freezes sex abuse lawsuits and could help bury the details of alleged coverups of predator priests and a behind-the-scenes alliance with the New Orleans Saints.

5. SPOTLIGHT RETURNS TO NATALIE WOOD: In a revealing HBO documentary, the actress’s daughter Natasha Gregson-Wagner interviews her stepfather Robert Wagner about the night her mother died.