COVID-19 Update: June 17, 2020: 120 Hours to Tulsa

As the president plans to arrive in Tulsa on Saturday for a rally, the city sees its highest one-day spike of coronavirus infections: https://tinyurl.com/y8cwwr89. Local officials beg him not to come: https://tinyurl.com/ydd43qfm. A judge denies a lawsuit seeking to block the Saturday rally: https://tinyurl.com/yblwknlx. Dr. Anthony Fauci says that attending the rally is too risky for him: https://tinyurl.com/ydfewxpt. The event will features face masks, hand sanitizer, and temperature checks: https://tinyurl.com/ych68lkc.

Meanwhile:

Why fast-tracking a vaccine isn't as easy as it sounds: https://tinyurl.com/y9e9es9d.

We're in the middle of a COVID baby bust, which depress the birth rate next year: https://tinyurl.com/ybjfo8lu.

The major airlines are cracking down on passengers who don't wear masks: https://tinyurl.com/y77dg4zv.

A Fox News pundit denounces Anthony Fauci as a deep-state alarmist: https://tinyurl.com/yaeypdyx.

How Cinemark Theatres plan to reopen: https://tinyurl.com/y8w2b9w2.

And, despite everything, most Americans are following safety guidelines: https://tinyurl.com/y7ugz2h6.

Around the country:

In Arizona:
With a rising infection rate, nightclubs are turning into more than one kind of hotspot: https://tinyurl.com/y9nq8ca8.

In California:
The Center Theatre Group will remain closed until April 29, 2021: https://tinyurl.com/ybjpea89.

San Francisco Opera cancels its fall season: https://sfopera.com/.

All the other awards ceremonies are postponing, and the Independent Spirit Awards joins in: https://tinyurl.com/yd5luvn5.

In Connecticut:
Yale Rep and Yale School of Drama will not produce a 2020 - 21 season: https://tinyurl.com/y8p3342j.

In Florida:
Sixteen friends test positive for the coronavirus after a night out at a bar: https://tinyurl.com/yco7cvcu.

COVID cases rise among young people near the University of Central Florida: https://tinyurl.com/ycxhh459.

As the number of new cases breaks records daily, the governor says another shutdown isn't in the cards: https://tinyurl.com/y7od5omy.

The president's corporation wants rent relief for its Palm Beach golf course, citing pandemic-related hardship: https://tinyurl.com/yccba4lq.

In Illinois:
Riot Fest 2020 is off, postponed until next year: https://tinyurl.com/y9jnhbhx.

Chicago Lyric Opera and Joffrey Ballet cancel all of their 2020 performances: https://tinyurl.com/yb66aepo.

In Missouri:
How masks prevented the spread of coronarvirus in a Springfield hair salon: https://tinyurl.com/y9kwnmuo.

In Oregon:
The state's biggest coronavirus outbreak yet is linked to a United Pentecostal Church: https://tinyurl.com/ycd6r4hh.

In Texas:
Window or aisle? Southwest Airlines won't sell middle seats through September: https://tinyurl.com/y6v39zys.

Around the world:

In Brazil:
The country "is routinely posting more than 30,000 new cases a day -- five times more than Italy reported at the peak of its outbreak:" https://tinyurl.com/ybnxx6qu .

In China:
The country races to contain a second wave in Beijing: https://tinyurl.com/y8rrwtcp.

In Russia:
Want to visit Vladimir Putin? Step into the disinfection tunnel: https://tinyurl.com/y8m72k4y.

In the UK:
Cameron Mackintosh says that his West End musicals won't reopen until 2021: https://tinyurl.com/y79foas3.

In an effort to get audiences back in cinemas, Disney will release a remastered 4K edition of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: https://tinyurl.com/ydxndr4g.

Entertainment:
Boston Pops: Enjoy a rare peek back into the archives with Keith Lockhart's first Evening at Pops television show -- not seen since it aired in 1995 and shared here in honor of Keith Lockhart's 25th anniversary as conductor of the Boston Pops (canceled for this season and rescheduled for 2021). The orchestra is joined by soprano Sylvia McNair and Broadway singer Mandy Patinkin, with special tribute appearances by conductor laureate John Williams and the legendary Doc Severinsen. It is accessible at www.bostonpops.org/athome. The video stream is available for free on-demand viewing on Sunday, June 21 at 3pm EDT for a 45-day duration.

The live reading of Will Arbery's Heroes of the Fourth Turning, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, will take place June 18 at 8pm ET on the website Play-per-View: https://www.play-perview.com/.

Obie Award-winner Metropolitan Playhouse will present a free "screened" reading of Where the Cross is Made, a ghost story by Eugene O'Neill, via livestream video, with talkback to follow, on June 20, at 8pm, EST. Running time is 30 minutes, with a talkback to follow with Alexander Pettit, editor of the Eugene O'Neill Review, including audience questions via Zoom and YouTube chat. It is available via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88395846819 and YouTube at https://youtu.be/sDY11ynh_X8 All links are available at www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/virtualplayhouse. The program will also be simultaneously broadcast on WBAI Radio, 99.5 FM, and wbai.org.

For your pleasure:
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs "Walkin'": https://orcd.co/walkin.

That's all for today. Stay safe. -DB