In the News

While the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the country, nonprofit organizations continue to operate some of their most important programs.

The YMCA of the North Shore's locations, including the Cape Ann YMCA, may not be open for its members to workout, but the nonprofit is doing some heavy lifting.

It has pivoted to providing, among other things, emergency child care for essential employees who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

The YMCA of the North Shore is like many other nonprofits struggling to make ends meet as revenues drop. Their doors are closed to members and donations are drying up as many people worry about finances after nonessential businesses closed.

The $300 million direct assistance to the U.S. seafood industry to mitigate the economic impact of the novel coronavirus is expected to be just the first of a string of federal relief measures enacted in the coming months, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said Tuesday.

Moulton conceded that many of the details of the direct assistance remain sketchy on eligibility requirements and the distribution of the direct aid to the seafood industry stretching from Hawaii and Alaska to Massachusetts and Maine.

Dennis Magnasco, a 32-year-old Harvard University graduate student from Somerville, was tested for COVID-19 on March 18 as he battled a hacking cough, high fever, and shortness of breath. Eleven days later, he was still waiting for the results.

WASHINGTON — Dick Durbin knew they were doing it wrong.

As the senior senator from Illinois stood at the lectern for a Capitol Hill press conference about the coronavirus response this week, he winced as he thought about all the ways Congress is violating the rules that health officials are urging Americans to follow to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

“Those guidelines call for working from home, which we’re certainly not doing,” Durbin said. “Those guidelines say don’t go into a meeting of more than 10 people — I’m not going to count how many are in this room.”

A congressional task force studying how the Defense Department could better adapt for the future is preparing potentially controversial recommendations on issues like Pentagon spending priorities, U.S. efforts in Africa and the military's approach to pandemics like the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

The House Armed Services Committee "Future of Defense" Task Force is plodding an uncertain path as the COVID-19 outbreak calls into question the timing of congressional defense legislation this year, task force Co-Chair Seth Moulton (D-MA) told Inside Defense.

As concerns over the spread of the coronavirus continue to grow, a number of House lawmakers are working to tamp down panic and put response plans into action back in their home districts.

Lawmakers recently passed two emergency coronavirus relief packages and are working on a third, but outside of the steps being taken in the Capitol, members said they’ve been working with local officials to ensure individuals have access to the proper information and resources needed to combat the virus as efficiently as possible.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, on Thursday called for more COVID-19 testing and touted a tiered system developed for his staff to determine how to work with constituents and when to work remotely.