A second wave of Covid-19? Some U.S. states weren’t buying it, instead moving quickly to end stay-at-home orders. Even those who believed the science behind the warnings said it was more important to get the economy going than protect every American life. Now, it seems the chickens might be coming home to roost: A month into its reopening, Florida reported 8,553 new coronavirus cases this week—the most of any seven-day period. Texas reported hospitalizations jumped 6.3% to 2,056, the highest since the pandemic emerged, and the third consecutive daily increase. It will take a couple of weeks to know for sure whether this is the second wave. But by then, one expert said, “it’s going to be pretty late.” More than 111,000 Americans have already perished. —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories

The Fed pledged to maintain at least the current pace of asset purchases in its bid to keep the U.S. economy from falling further, and projected interest rates will remain near zero through 2022. Chair Jerome Powell committed the central bank to using all of its tools to help the economy recover, but the news (last week’s controversial jobs report notwithstanding) is not good. The same goes for the rest of the world.

Senate Republicans are moving to protect businesses from any liability for when their employees or customers are sickened or killed by the coronavirus. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to make it retroactive to 2019.
California has a partial solution for its looming, $54 billion Covid-19 budget disaster: It’s asking voters to gut a 42-year-old law that has let big business skate with billions of dollars it would have had to pay in property taxes. Estimated at $12 billion a year, the new revenue could help the Golden State’s struggling schools. But opponents warn that, as is usually the case, companies will simply pass the extra cost on to those who can least afford it.

Even NASCAR is banning confederate flags, addressing what has been the prominent display of the racist banner at its events. Adopted by the slave states routed by the U.S. in the Civil War, the flag has come to represent the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists. President Donald Trump, however, isn’t on board with efforts to ditch public symbols of the Confederacy. He declared that he wouldn’t remove from U.S. military bases the names of generals who levied war on America.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said he will sign a bill removing secrecy from police and corrections employee personnel records. It is the first major state legislative move brought on by weeks of protests over American police brutality. The family of George Floyd, whose killing by the Minneapolis Police Department sparked a national upheaval, have called for a United Nations investigation of extrajudicial killings by U.S. law enforcement.

Members of the Trump administration contend there is no systemic racism in policing, or America for that matter. Both Attorney General Bob Barr and Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said as much.

Amazon said it will impose a one-year moratorium on police use of its facial recognition software, which has been assailed for its failure to properly identify individuals with darker skin.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

What you’ll want to read tonight in Bloomberg Green

Covid-19 Has Everyone But Asia Ditching Coal

While the pandemic is accelerating the death of coal in developed nations, the dirtiest fossil fuel is alive and kicking in Asia. Demand for electricity plunged, and with it the need for coal, as factories around the world sat dormant and people spent months at home. In the U.S. and Europe, that’s expected to accelerate the shift away from the fuel. But in Asia, which makes up three-fourths of global consumption, the appetite for coal is roaring back and expected to continue growing.

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