Deadline reports: Facebook stock rose 5.5% on Wednesday after the company announced a new feature called Shops, a virtual mall designed to help businesses suffering during COVID-19. Shares closed the trading day at $228.90 after establishing a new all-time high of $230.75 earlier in the session. The Shops initiative, announced Tuesday, will “make it easy for businesses to set up …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Wednesday doubled down on his threat to withhold funding from states over plans to allow more voting to be conducted by mail, claiming that mail-in ballots are riddled with “tremendous fraud.” “Mail-in ballots are very dangerous. There is tremendous fraud involved and tremendous illegality,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Arkansas Gov. Asa …

The Daily Beast reports: “Hi, I have a medical condition that I’m not allowed to wear a mask and I’m not required by HIPAA rules and regulations to disclose that,” Shelly Lewis told a supermarket manager, who nonetheless explained that she would not be allowed inside without a protective face mask. “You’re discriminating against me now, do you know that? …

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will be released from federal prison Thursday and is expected to serve the remainder of his sentence at home. Cohen has been serving a federal prison sentence at FCI Otisville in New York after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying …

Washington DC’s Fox affiliate reports: Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, one of the White House’s longest-serving employees, died last weekend from COVID-19. He was 91. Jerman worked at the White House from 1957 to 2012 as a cleaner, a doorman, and butler. He served 11 presidents — from Eisenhower to Obama. Granddaughter Jamila Garrett said in an interview with FOX 5 DC …

USA Today reports: Apple and Google are releasing contact tracing technology to help public health officials develop mobile apps that can identify and test people who’ve spent time with or near someone infected with the coronavirus, the companies announced Wednesday. A number of U.S. states, including North Dakota and Alabama, and 22 countries have received access to the technology that …

The Associated Press reports: Public health officials in some states are accused of bungling coronavirus infection statistics or even using a little sleight of hand to deliberately make things look better than they are. In Virginia, Texas and Vermont, for example, officials said they have been combining the results of viral tests, which show an active infection, with antibody tests, …

Bloomberg News reports: The U.S. Supreme Court blocked House Democrats for now from getting access to confidential materials from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, granting a request from President Donald Trump’s administration. The court put the case on a fast track, giving the Trump administration until June 1 to file its appeal. That suggests the court will say before …

The Guardian reports: No surprise here: the first question to press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was about the president’s threat to withhold funding from states that are working to expand vote by mail. Asked what funding Trump was looking to withhold, McEnany dodged the question, saying, “I won’t get into exactly what the funding considerations are.” The press secretary said the …

The New York Post reports: It’s a prank that would make Bart Simpson proud. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves was duped into congratulating a curiously named student — Harry Azcrac — during a virtual graduation ceremony. In the video, streamed on Facebook Live, Reeves sends his well wishes to the school’s valedictorian before running down the list of newly minted graduates. …

The Austin Statesman reports: Large events like the Austin City Limits Music Festival or Texas Longhorns football games are not likely through the end of the year as the coronavirus pandemic continues, Austin Public Health officials said Wednesday. “The large events are the first thing that we turned off and are going to be the last thing we’re going to …

The Birmingham News reports: Montgomery hospitals are starting to run low on intensive care beds, said Dr. David Thrasher, a critical care pulmonologist. The four counties making up the Montgomery metro area have seen a combined 721 new confirmed coronavirus cases since May 4 – an increase of 110 percent. “I’m concerned about the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic,” …

ABC News reports: In the latest poll from Quinnipiac University, former Vice President leads President Trump in the race for the White House. The poll shows Biden with an 11-point advantage over Trump in a national head-to-head match-up. Fifty percent of those surveyed said they currently plan on voting for the former vice president, while 39 percent said they would …

The Associated Press reports: Strong concern about a second wave of coronavirus infections is reinforcing widespread opposition among Americans to reopening public places, a new poll finds, even as many state leaders step up efforts to return to life before the pandemic. Yet support for public health restrictions imposed to control the virus’ spread is no longer overwhelming. It has …

An opening message from Pat Robertson’s network: Kayleigh McEnany sees God’s hand in the president’s election. When asked if God put Donald Trump into The White House for such a time as this, her answer is clear. “Yeah, I think prayer made a difference in the election,” she says. “Not to say that He puts a certain political party in …

Detroit’s CBS News affiliate reports: A Wisconsin woman who has taken hydroxychloroquine for 19 years to treat lupus says the anti-malarial drug will not protect someone from COVID-19. Kim, who doesn’t want to show her face or give her full name, says after the pandemic began, she only left her Oconomowoc home to go the grocery store. But by mid-April, …

CNBC reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday lashed out at Democrats investigating him, particularly Sen. Bob Menendez, as he defended his recommendation to President Donald Trump to fire the State Department’s internal watchdog. Pompeo has come under intense scrutiny since Trump followed through on his Cabinet official’s urging to fire Inspector General Steve Linick. “This is all coming …

Mediaite reports: For the past few weeks, Trump has attacked Morning Joe’s critical coverage on him by repeatedly dredging up a conspiracy theory accusation that Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski’s co-host and husband, murdered Lori Klausutis when she was his congressional intern. After blasting Trump as a “sick person” at the end of Morning Joe’s Wednesday program, Brzezinski told her social …

Jared Holt reports at Right Wing Watch: Republicans in the state of Oregon have voted to nominate someone who believes in the QAnon conspiracy theory as their candidate for U.S. Senate in November’s ​election showdown​. Jo Rae Perkins, whom Right Wing Watch profiled in January, won her primary election yesterday in a blowout, stomping her next​ closest opponent by more …

Reuters reports: U.S. authorities on Wednesday arrested a former Special Forces soldier and another man wanted by Japan on charges that they enabled the escape of former Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn out of the country. Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said that former U.S. Green Beret Michael Taylor, 59, and his son, Peter Taylor, 27, helped Ghosn last year …