Tuesday morning news - July 14, 2020

Calif. implements new shutdowns amid virus surge » California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said he is shutting down many more businesses and churches as coronavirus cases continue to surge. 

Earlier this month, Newsom ordered new shutdowns in 19 counties with rising infections, but those orders are now statewide.   

NEWSOM: Restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums, card rooms and the shuttering of all bars. This is in every county in the state of California.

The Democratic governor also imposed additional restrictions on the 30 counties now with rising numbers, including L.A. and San Diego. He’s ordered worship services to stop and gyms, hair salons, indoor malls and offices for noncritical industries to shut down.

Judge strikes down Georgia Fetal Heartbeat law » A U.S. District judge tossed out Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion law on Monday.  

Judge Steve Jones permanently ruled the state’s 2019 law unconstitutional after the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of pro-abortion groups.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and state Attorney General Chris Carr, both Republicans, said the state would appeal. But of the eight states that passed laws last year protecting unborn babies with a detectable heartbeat all are facing at least temporary blocks from the courts. 

Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge William Campbell on Monday issued a temporary restraining order on a similar law in Tennessee, just hours after Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law. 

China imposes sanctions on U.S. ambassador, lawmakers » China says it will impose sanctions against three U.S. lawmakers and one ambassador. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: China’s Foreign Ministry announced sanctions against Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Congressman Chris Smith, and Ambassador Sam Brownback. 

That in response to similar actions the U.S. government took last week against Chinese officials over human rights abuses against Uighurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang region.

Brownback is the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. And the three sanctioned lawmakers are vocal critics of the Chinese government’s treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said the sanctions correspond to U.S. penalties but gave no further details.

Senator Rubio tweeted “The Communist Party of China has banned me from entering the country.”

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on three senior Chinese officials … banning them from entering the United States or doing business with Americans. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

U.S. rejects nearly all Chinese claims in South China Sea » Also on Monday, the U.S. government escalated its actions against China, rejecting nearly all of Beijing’s significant maritime claims in the South China Sea.

The administration said the move is aimed at curbing China’s increasing aggression in the region. 

Previously, U.S. policy had been to insist that maritime disputes between China and its smaller neighbors be resolved through U.N.-backed arbitration. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a statement on Monday. He said “America stands with our Southeast Asian allies” and “the world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire.” 

He added that the United States now regards virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate. 

Judge halts federal executions » A federal judge on Monday stepped in at the last minute and blocked the first planned execution carried out by the federal government in 17 years. 

Authorities planned to execute convicted murderer Daniel Lewis Lee by lethal injection in Indiana. 

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said a new lethal injection protocol, which uses only pentobarbital, “is very likely to cause Plaintiffs extreme pain and needless suffering during their executions.”

The Justice Department immediately appealed to overturn Monday’s ruling. 

NFL’s Washington Redskins changing team name » The NFL’s Washington Redskins will soon be known by a different name. WORLD’s Anna Johansen has more. 

ANNA JOHANSEN, REPORTER: The franchise announced Monday that it is dropping the Redskins name and Indian head logo. The move comes after recent pressure from sponsors and decades of criticism that the name and logo were offensive to Native Americans. 

FedEx, Nike, Pepsi and Bank of America all lined up against the name, which the team adopted in 1933 when the team was still based in Boston.

The team said franchise owner Dan Snyder and coach Ron Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design. 

The fan favorite among the names rumored to be under consideration seems to be the Washington RedWolves. 

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen. 

Kelly Preston dies » Actress Kelly Preston has died at the age of 57. Her husband John Travolta announced Monday that his wife of 28 years had lost her two-year battle with breast cancer. 

The couple last starred together in the 2018 film “Gotti,” with Travolta playing John Gotti and Preston playing the crime boss’s wife, Victoria. In a 2018 interview, Preston told Good Morning America…

PRESTON: We’re comfortable with each other so you feel the history. And we both had great characters to play so this was an amazing film to work on together. 

Preston was best known for playing dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” to Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins.” She also starred opposite Kevin Costner in the 1999 film “For the Love of the Game.”

(AP Photo/Hector Amezcua, Pool) California Gov. Gavin Newsom visits the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s McClellan Reload Base in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, July 9, 2020, to discuss the state’s new efforts to protect emergency personnel and evacuees from COVID-19 during wildfires. 

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