5 Things to Know for Today

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. WHERE TEXAS VIRUS SURGE IS HITTING HARD A small hospital in north Houston may soon fully turn over its 117-bed facility to coronavirus patients, AP finds.

2. ‘GUNSLINGER MEDICINE’ NOT SOUND SCIENCE Scientific shortcuts have slowed understanding of COVID-19 and delayed the ability to find out which drugs help, hurt or have no effect at all.

3. ‘PERFECT STORM OF DISTRESS IN AMERICA’ Experts point to high unemployment, the viral pandemic, stay-at-home orders and rising anger over police brutality as possible reasons for a surge in violent crime in America.

4. WHAT’S NEXT AS MONUMENTS, STATUES FALL Activists and towns are left wondering what to do with empty spaces that once honoured historic figures tied to Confederate generals and Spanish conquistadors.

5. MARY KAY LETOURNEAU DEAD AT 58 The former suburban Seattle teacher became tabloid fodder when she pleaded guilty in 1997 to raping her former sixth-grade student, a boy she later married.