Hannity demanded a retraction of a coronavirus article and the New York Times just responded

The ball is in Hannity's court now

The New York Times responded Tuesday to a demand from Sean Hannity to retract claims made against him in their article about coronavirus and apologize.

"The columns are accurate, do not reasonably imply what you and Mr. Hannity allege they do, and constitute protected opinion," wrote David E. McCraw, the attorney representing the New York Times.

"In response to your request for an apology and retraction, our answer is 'no,' " he concludes.

Hannity's lawyers threatened to sue the Times over an article published on April 18 documenting the death of Joe Joyce from coronavirus.

The family of Joyce say that he was warned not to go on a cruise during the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, but that he ignored the warnings because of the news broadcasts on Fox News downplaying the threat.

One of those cited was a segment by Sean Hannity.

On Monday, Hannity sent a demand from his lawyers that they apologize and retract the story because his report was chronologically a week after Joyce decided to go on the cruise.

"We demand that you promptly remove the foregoing false and defamatory statements from the Stories and any subsequent republications in print or any other medium, and publish a full, fair and conspicuous retraction, correction and apology as to each of the false and defamatory statements identified above," read the letter from Hannity.

In 2017 Hannity threatened to sue former President Barack Obama with the "biggest lawsuit" possible over reports that he had been incidentally surveilled as part of the investigation into Russian election interference.

Here's Hannity on the New York Times feud:

https://www.theblaze.com/news/nyt-denies-sean-hannity-demand-retraction

Federal Appellate Court Upholds Enforcement of IRS Summons Seeking Information Concerning Law Firm Clients Involved in Foreign Transactions

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-appellate-court-upholds-enforcement-irs-summons-seeking-information-concerning-law

This is California’s reopening plan for stores, offices, schools, sports, concerts, theaters

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday released a four-stage plan for reopening parts of the California economy after weeks of stay-at-home home rules that have been credited with slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

The phases are designed to slowly reopen the state while preventing new outbreaks that could lead to another shutdown. There are no timetables attached; rather, officials will use benchmarks around testing, hospitalizations and other factors.

Under the plan, some retail businesses, manufacturing, schools and open spaces could reopen first, with strict social distancing rules. Down the line, certain entertainment venues and religious institutions could reopen. Live sports, concerts and other crowded events would be the last to reopen under the plan.

Here’s a breakdown of that four-stage plan:

STAGE 1: Safety and preparedness

Goal: Making work as safe as possible for those on the front lines

This phase is now underway.

Continue to build out testing and contact-tracing capabilities and hospital surge capacity.

Continue to make workplaces as safe as possible for essential workers.

Work on adaptations to the physical setting and workflow in hospitals and other settings.

Build a safety net for essential workforce.

Make PPE more widely available.

Incorporate individual behavior changes.

Prepare safety guidelines for an expanded force of front-line workers.

Stage 2: Lower-risk workplaces reopen

Goal: Creating opportunities for lower-risk sectors to make adaptations and reopen.

In this phase, modified school programs and child care reopen as well as the following sectors and spaces:

Retail (with curbside pickup, for example)

Manufacturing

Offices (when teleworking is not possible)

Additional public spaces

An expanded workforce safety net could mean:

Wage replacement so workers can stay home when sick.

Adaptions for reopened schools and child-care facilities could mean:

Summer programs and an earlier start to the next academic year, in July or August.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-28/california-reopening-plan-stores-schools-first-sports-concerts-last