Top Eight

Top eight CNS stories for today including a drift toward authoritarianism in Hungary and Poland during the Covid-19 crisis is raising alarms across the European Union; President Donald Trump rolled out a plan that allows governors to begin easing restrictions to slowly reopen the economy; A new Small Business Administration loan program is out of money, and more.

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National

1.) Defying experts warning that social distancing is still critical to stop the spread of Covid-19, President Donald Trump on Thursday rolled out a plan that allows governors to begin easing restrictions to slowly reopen the economy.

President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 15, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

2.) Covid-19 has put estimated 26.8 million out of work since the U.S. declared a national emergency, according to new figures Thursday showing that 5.2 million people filed claims for unemployment insurance last week.

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)

3.) A new Small Business Administration loan program is out of money, the agency said Thursday amid a deadlock in Congress over new funding to help employers cover payroll and expenses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Donald Trump listen to a question during a conference call with banks on efforts to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, at the White House, Tuesday, April 7, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

International

4.) A drift toward authoritarianism in Hungary and Poland during the Covid-19 crisis is raising alarms across the European Union.

Budapest, Hungary. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

5.) El Salvador’s major political parties, displaced by a popular president, are prepared to cancel his nationwide quarantine that has limited the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

A Salvadoran woman collects firewood in the Guazapa valley, before the nationwide lockdown. (Miguel Patricio photo/Courthouse News)

6.) Once-in-a-lifetime flooding events could be a daily occurrence in coastal cities, thanks to rising sea levels due to climate change.

Regional

7.) Seven Midwestern governors announced a plan Thursday to work together on reopening their states for business after similar pacts were made in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

A pedestrian walks by The Family Barbershop, closed due to a Gov. Gretchen Whitmer executive order, in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., Thursday, April 2, 2020. The coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak has triggered a stunning collapse in the U.S. workforce with millions of people losing their jobs in the past two weeks and economists warn unemployment could reach levels not seen since the Depression, as the economic damage from the crisis piles up around the world. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

8.) California hopes two weeks of paid leave will keep sick workers home and avoid outbreaks like the one in a South Dakota meatpacking plant that sickened at least 640.

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