Top Eight

Top eight CNS stories for today including 6.6 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits for the second week in a row; Senator Bernie Sanders has put the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee in uncharted waters; The coronavirus pandemic is spreading to the developing world, and more.

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National

1.) For the second week in a row, 6.6 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday, showing a sliver of the economic fallout from the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

Colfax Avenue is the main street that bisects the metropolitan area in Denver, Colorado. Today many of the business that line the street are closed, part of a tapestry of millions of layoffs around the country. (Photo by AMANDA PAMPURO/Courthouse News Service)

2.) Senate Republicans tried Thursday to pass $250 billion in new funding for small businesses shuttered during the Covid-19 outbreak, but Democrats blocked the move as a political stunt.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, speaks with reporters outside the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 9, 2020. Senate Democrats on Thursday stalled President Donald Trump's request for $250 billion to supplement a "paycheck protection" program for businesses crippled by the coronavirus outbreak, demanding protections for minority-owned businesses and money for health care providers and state and local governments. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

3.) In declaring that his withdrawal from the presidential race shouldn’t stop anyone from still voting for him, Senator Bernie Sanders put the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee in uncharted waters.

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to reporters about coronavirus Thursday March 12, 2020, in Burlington, Vt. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Regional

4.) Colorado defended its controversial red-flag gun law before a Denver judge Thursday after the Legislature violated procedure last year by voting on the measure without a complete reading as requested by the minority party.

The Colorado statehouse. (Courthouse News photo / Chris Marshall)

5.) California lawmakers have proposed a Covid-19 relief package for farmworkers who continue to work amid the global pandemic that would expand paid sick leave, child care and health care pay.

FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2019, file photo a farmer harvests soybeans in a field near Concordia, Mo. On Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020, the Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for December. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

6.) In a long and somewhat baffling press conference Thursday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio laid out a plan for slowly advancing his coronavirus-battered city toward a new normal, even as the death toll there climbed to 4,426 and hospitals and morgues remain overwhelmed.

FILE - In this March 31, 2020 file photo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at the USTA Indoor Training Center where a 350-bed temporary hospital will be built in New York. De Blasio is calling for a national enlistment program for doctors and nurses, on Friday, April 3, to handle an expected surge in coronavirus cases in New York and other places around the country. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

International

7.) It was 1:38 pm on New Year’s Eve. The world was celebrating the coming of a new decade and the farthest thing from almost anyone’s mind anywhere in the world was the onset of a pandemic.

A video screen displays a message urging people to stay home, at Piccadilly Circus in London, Wednesday, April 8, 2020. The highly contagious COVID-19 coronavirus has impacted on nations around the globe, many imposing self isolation and exercising social distancing when people move from their homes. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

8.) The coronavirus pandemic is spreading to the developing world where its toll threatens to far exceed what it has already wrought in Europe and the United States, where the world’s most advanced health care systems are found.

A National Disaster Response Force soldier disinfects an area during lockdown to prevent the spread of new coronavirus in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, April 9, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

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