AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Hospitals approaching capacity as Miami closes restaurants

MIAMI (AP) — Hospitals rapidly approached capacity across the Sunbelt, and the Miami area closed restaurants and gyms again because of the surging coronavirus Monday, as the U.S. emerged from a Fourth of July weekend of picnics, pool parties and beach outings that health officials fear could fuel the rapidly worsening outbreak.

The seesaw effect — restrictions lifted, then reimposed — has been seen around the country in recent weeks and is expected again after a holiday that saw crowds of people celebrating, many without masks.

“We were concerned before the weekend and remain concerned post-holiday, as anecdotal stories and observed behaviour indicate that many continue to disregard important protective guidance,” said Heather Woolwine, a spokeswoman for the Medical University of South Carolina.

Confirmed cases are on the rise in 41 out of 50 states plus the District of Columbia, and the percentage of tests coming back positive for the virus is increasing in 39 states.

Florida, which recorded an all-time high of 11,400 new cases Saturday and has seen its positive test rate lately reach more than 18%, has been hit especially hard, along with other Sunbelt states such as Arizona, California and Texas.

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NY count: 6,300 virus patients were sent to nursing homes

NEW YORK (AP) — New York hospitals released more than 6,300 recovering coronavirus patients into nursing homes during the height of the pandemic under a controversial, now-scrapped policy, state officials said Monday, but they argued it was not to blame for one of the nation’s highest nursing home death tolls.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, which has taken intense criticism over the policy, instead contended the virus’ rampant spread through the state’s nursing homes was propelled by more than 20,000 infected home staffers, many of whom kept going to work unaware they had the virus in March and April. Another 17,500 workers were infected through early June.

“Facts matter. And those are the facts,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in a news conference.

New York’s report came more than a month after The Associated Press did its own count finding that hospitals around the state released more than 4,500 recovering coronavirus patients to nursing homes under a March 25 Health Department directive that prohibited nursing homes from refusing to take in patients because they had or may have had COVID-19.

The directive was intended to help free up hospital beds for the sickest patients as cases surged. But several relatives, patient advocates and nursing administrators who spoke to the AP at the time blamed the policy for helping to spread the virus among the state’s most fragile residents. To date, more than 6,400 deaths have been linked to the coronavirus in New York’s nursing home and long-term care-facilities.

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‘Senseless crime’: The victims of July Fourth shootings

A 6-year-old computer whiz. A young mother working for a better home for her kids. An 8-year-old who loved to make dance videos.

From San Francisco to South Carolina, a spate of shootings claimed the lives of people celebrating or just taking a drive over the Fourth of July weekend. Chicago saw one of its bloodiest holiday weekends in memory, with 17 killed and 70 wounded by gunfire. The incidents come amid fears the coronavirus pandemic, protests against racism, rising gun sales and an election year could make for a particularly deadly summer.

Here’s a look at some of the victims from this weekend.

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‘SHE DIED IN MY ARMS’

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Kanye West? The Girl Scouts? Hedge funds? All got PPP loans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s small business lending program has benefited millions of companies, with the goal of minimizing the number of layoffs Americans have suffered in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Yet the recipients include many you probably wouldn’t have expected.

Kanye West’s clothing line. The sculptor Jeff Koons. Law firms and high-dollar hedge funds. The Girl Scouts. Political groups on both the left and right.

All told, the Treasury Department’s Paycheck Protection Program authorized $520 billion for nearly 5 million mostly small businesses and nonprofits. On Monday, the government released the names and some other details of recipients who were approved for $150,000 or more.

That amounted to fewer than 15% of all borrowers. The Associated Press and other news organizations are suing the government to obtain the names of the remaining recipients.

Economists generally credit the program with preventing the job market meltdown this spring from becoming even worse. More than 22 million jobs were lost in March and April. But roughly one-third of them were regained in May and June — a faster rebound than many analysts had expected.

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Death toll from flooding in Japan rises to 50, dozen missing

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s disaster management agency said the death toll from recent flooding has risen to 50 and at least a dozen others are still missing.

Pounding rain since late Friday in Japan’s southern region of Kyushu has triggered widespread flooding.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 49 of the dead confirmed as of Tuesday morning were from riverside towns in the Kumamoto prefecture. One person was found dead in another prefecture of Fukuoka as the heavy rain spread across the southern area. At least a dozen people are missing.

Tens of thousands of army troops, police and other rescue workers mobilized from around the country worked their way through mud and debris in the hardest-hit riverside towns along the Kuma River.

Rescue operations have been hampered by the floodwater and continuing harsh weather that have caused more flooding elsewhere in the Kyushu region including Fukuoka and Oita.

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Judge orders Dakota Access pipeline shut down pending review

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down for additional environmental review more than three years after it began pumping oil — handing a victory to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and delivering a blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to weaken public health and environmental protections his administration views as obstacles to businesses.

In a 24-page order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., wrote that he was “mindful of the disruption” that shutting down the pipeline would cause, but that it must be done within 30 days. Pipeline owner Energy Transfer plans to ask a court to halt the order and will seek an expedited appeal, spokeswoman Vicki Granado said.

The order comes after Boesberg said in April that a more extensive review was necessary than what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already conducted and that he would consider whether the pipeline should be shuttered during the new assessment.

“The Court does not reach its decision with blithe disregard for the lives it will affect,” Boasberg wrote Monday.

“Yet, given the seriousness of the Corps’ NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) error, the impossibility of a simple fix, the fact that Dakota Access did assume much of its economic risk knowingly, and the potential harm each day the pipeline operates, the Court is forced to conclude that the flow of oil must cease,” he added.

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AP Photos: Argentines try to find happiness under quarantine

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A few days of the silence and solitude of quarantine was all that Marcela Álvarez could stand.

She went to the balcony of her house in Buenos Aires’ Villa Devoto neighbourhood, wired up Christmas lights, set up a speaker and began playing music.

She feared that the neighbours would complain. Instead, they began doing the same, and “the festival of the balconies” was born — an Argentine variant of the occasional street serenades that have popped up in countries around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead of separation, the quarantine measures imposed in March brought Alvarez, 53, together with people who had been strangers, dancing at their windows and balconies to rock, Latin music and reggaeton with disco-like lights and smoke.

“Today I am happy. I could connect with all my neighbours and I met a lot of people I didn’t know, much better than in other moments,” she said. “I hate what is happening with the coronavirus, but this has completely enriched my life.”

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White woman charged after racist Central Park confrontation

NEW YORK (AP) — A white woman who called the police during a videotaped dispute with a Black man over her walking her dog without a leash in Central Park was charged Monday with filing a false police report.

In May, Amy Cooper drew widespread condemnation and was fired from her job after frantically calling 911 to claim she was being threatened by “an African American man,” bird watcher Christian Cooper. On the video he recorded of the woman, he sounds calm and appears to keep a safe distance from her.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement on Monday that his office had charged Amy Cooper with falsely reporting the confrontation, a misdemeanour that carries a maximum penalty of a year behind bars. She was ordered to appear in court on Oct. 14.

Cooper’s attorney, Robert Barnes, said Cooper would fight the charge. His client, he said, has already lost her livelihood and “her public life. Now some demand her freedom?”

Reached by phone on Monday, Christian Cooper said he had no reaction or comment.

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Army identifies buried remains as missing Texas soldier

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An Army commander confirmed Monday that dismembered remains found last week buried near Fort Hood belonged to a 20-year-old soldier who vanished more than two months ago from the Texas base.

Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, Fort Hood’s senior commander, said during a news conference that the armed forces forensic examiner determined through DNA analysis that the remains belonged to Spc. Vanessa Guillén. A day earlier, an attorney for Guillén’s family had said Army officials told the family at their Houston home that the remains were hers.

“We’re now confronted with the aftermath of one of the most heinous acts I can imagine,” Efflandt said.

Guillén, who had been missing since April, was killed and dismembered by U.S. Army Specialist Aaron Robinson, a 20-year-old soldier from Calumet City, Illinois, took his own life last week, federal and military investigators have said.

Cecily Aguilar, a 22-year-old civilian from Killeen, has been arrested and charged with one count of conspiring to tamper with evidence for allegedly helping hide Guillén’s body.

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NHL, players’ union announce plan to resume play on Aug. 1

The NHL is not only in a position to resume playing within the next month, the league has the potential of enjoying labour peace through 2026.

The National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association on Monday announced reaching a tentative deal on a return to play format which is coupled with the two sides agreeing to a memorandum of understanding on a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement.

Should both agreements be ratified, the NHL would proceed immediately to its expanded 24-team playoff format, with play beginning on Aug. 1. Under the plan, training camps would open July 13, with teams travelling to their respective hub cities for exhibition games on July 26.

A person with direct knowledge of the agreements told The Associated Press that the NHL has selected Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta, to be the hub cities in hosting the qualifying round and at least first two playoff rounds.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the league and NHLPA have not released this information. The person said, the league is being cautious, and allowing itself flexibility in the event of potential spikes in COVID-19 infections in not yet determining which cities will host the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final.