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NEW YORK - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached new record closing highs on Monday as optimism over potential medical advances in the war against the coronavirus pandemic pushed all three major U.S. stock indexes higher. The benchmark S&P 500 reclaimed its February closing high last week, confirming a bull market and the fastest recovery from a bear market trough on record. The blue-chip Dow, while leading Monday’s gains, remains nearly 4.2% below its all-time high, and down 0.8% year-to-date. The Nasdaq and the S&P have gained 26.8% and 6.2%, respectively, since the final closing bell of 2019. Of note, the Dow Transports index, often considered a barometer of U.S. economic health, handily outperformed the broader market. “There’s been a broadening in this rally and that’s what’s reflected in the transports,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. “ volume is accompanying this expanding breadth, and those are all bulli

- Wisconsin’s governor on Monday deployed his state’s National Guard to Kenosha following a night of sometimes-violent unrest that came after police in the lakeside city shot a Black man multiple times in the back. Governor Tony Evers also called a special legislative session to take up a package of bills aimed at addressing problems with law enforcement following the shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake late Sunday afternoon. Blake’s three sons saw the shooting, a lawyer for the family said. After being rushed to a hospital, Blake was out of surgery and in stable condition, his father told news media on Monday. In a video taken by a bystander across the street from the shooting, Blake can be seen walking toward the driver’s side of a gray SUV followed by two officers with their guns drawn at his back. Seven gunshot sounds can be heard as Blake, who appears to be unarmed, opens the car door, and a woman nearby jumps up and down in disbelief. It was unknown whether the officers saw so

CHICAGO - Delta Air Lines ( DAL.N ) has doubled its staffing to handle revamped pre-flight “pit stops” for deeper cleaning and wants to ensure that tray tables and restroom door handles are germ-free with a new testing process, an executive told Reuters. Airlines’ efforts to reassure travelers of their safety during the pandemic have spurred a behind-the-scenes scramble to complete the enhanced cleaning that they are promising without sacrificing turnaround times, a cornerstone of profitability, once more passengers take to the skies. “We’ve done quite a lot of change to our turn process,” the head of Delta’s new Global Cleanliness division Mike Medeiros said in an interview detailing the airline’s strategy for “turns” — the time a plane spends on the ground between flights. Depending on the aircraft’s size, Delta is deploying at least eight pre-flight cabin cleaners, up from three to five previously, and has adopted a new “pit stop mentality” based on industrial engineering studies i

- U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off the four-day Republican National Convention on Monday with comments to Republicans formally backing his bid for a second term, ahead of the main event that will feature speeches by “everyday Americans.” The following includes Trump’s speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as prepared remarks selected and provided by the Republican Party in advance of the night’s events. “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. We’re going to win.” “What they’re doing is using COVID to steal an election. They’re using COVID to defraud the American people - all of our people - of a fair and free election.” TANYA WEINREIS, WHO OWNS A CHAIN OF COFFEE SHOPS IN MONTANA (in prepared remarks): “I am so grateful that we have leaders like President Trump standing up for us who understand the good local business do in our neighborhoods and are not afraid to fight for us every day.” HERSCHEL WALKER, FORMER HEISMAN TROPHY

WASHINGTON - In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader. Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on. Granda showed Reuters emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987. “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda said in an interview. Now 29, he described the liaisons as frequent – “multiple

- More dry-lightning storms hit California on Monday after sparking 625 fires last week as authorities warned the state was trapped in a “megafire era” triggered by climate change. The worst of the wildfires, including the second and third largest in California history, burned in the San Francisco Bay Area with roughly 240,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings across the state. Much of Northern California, including the Sierra Nevada Mountains and coast, was under a “red flag” alert for dry lightning and high winds, but the Bay Area got a reprieve as storms skipped the region of around 8 million, the National Weather Service reported. Close to 300 lightning strikes sparked 10 blazes overnight and more “sleeper fires” were likely burning undiscovered in areas shrouded by dense smoke, Governor Gavin Newsom said. One huge blaze blackened ancient coastal redwood forests south of San Francisco that have never seen fire due to usually high relative humidity levels, Newsom said.

- A federal judge on Monday said she was “inclined” to grant Epic Games’ request to block Apple Inc’s ( AAPL.O ) move to terminate the “Fortnite” creator’s developer accounts and said she saw “no competition” to Apple’s App Store on the iPhone. Epic’s antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple earlier this month and an accompanying social media campaign have become the highest profile challenge to Apple’s App Store business. The maker of the popular “Fortnite” battle game alleges that Apple has engaged in anticompetitive behavior by abusing its dominance in the market for iPhone apps. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said during a hearing that she viewed Epic’s request through “two lenses.” One was with the harm that would come to Epic’s own games, which have been taken out of the App Store. The other was what harm would come to the hundreds of other games that would be hurt if Epic was unable to maintain its Unreal Engine software because Apple terminated all of the company’s Apple develo