coronavirus

US retail sales recovered to pre-coronavirus levels last month as stores continued to do business despite the pandemic, but the rate of growth fell below expectations as COVID-19 infections surged and stimulus funds ran dry. Merchants raked in about $536 billion in July, up 1.2 percent from the prior month and roughly 1.6 percent above …

Andrew Lloyd Webber is doing his part to get the theater community back up and running. “Just completed the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial,” the 72-year-old “Cats” composer captioned a photo of himself receiving the vaccine on Thursday. “I’ll do anything to get theatres large and small open again and actors and musicians back to work.” …

The Senate adjourned on Thursday until September 8, the day after Labor Day, without reaching a deal for the next round of coronavirus relief legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated that Democrats would pare down their $3 trillion relief bill to $2 trillion if Republicans were willing to compromise and boost their $1 trillion …

Americans likely won’t have to pay for a coronavirus vaccine once researchers have one ready, according to reports. The US government plans to pick up the tab for the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses that pharmaceutical firms are racing to produce, the Wall Street Journal reported. The feds are also reportedly talking with insurance …

The European Commission has placed its first official order for a coronavirus vaccine with a deal to buy 300 million doses of AstraZeneca’s experimental shot, officials said Friday. The body plans to donate vaccines to lower- and middle-income countries through its agreement with the British drugmaker, which gives it the option to buy another 100 …

California parents held a press conference Thursday to discuss their lawsuit against the state over Governor Gavin Newsom’s new coronavirus restrictions ordering most school districts to begin the fall semester with online-only instruction. More than a dozen parents filed a lawsuit against California after the governor rolled back the state’s reopening plans last month and …

It been more than four months since Uncle Sam doled out $1,200 stimulus checks to help Americans cope with the crippling effects of COVID-19 on the US economy. With cases continuing to surge across the country and millions of Americans still out of work, lawmakers are in discussions for a second round of checks. But …

One Seahawks rookie has suffered serious consequences for trying to sneak an unauthorized woman dressed as a player into a restricted area. Seattle cut rookie cornerback Kemah Siverand this week “after he was caught on video trying to sneak a female visitor into the team hotel,” according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Pelissero went on …

American Airlines is planning to drop flights to up to 30 smaller US cities if a federal requirement to continue those flights expires at the end of next month, an airline official familiar with the matter said Thursday. American agreed to keep serving those smaller cities as a condition of receiving $5.8 billion in federal …

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Thursday said he expects the US unemployment rate to return to single-digit levels as early as this month and growth in the third quarter at 20 percent or more as the economy recovers from the recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. “The key point that I would make …