THE NUMBER of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. has now topped 100,000 (EpicTop10.com)

The total number of Americans who have died from the coronavirus has reached 100,000, according to the count Wednesday by Johns Hopkins University.

JHU reports the number as 100,271 people since the count began more than two months ago. That’s the largest number of people of any nation, the global total being 354,944.

Next are the United Kingdom (Great Britain) with 37,542, Italy with 33,072, France with 28,599 and Spain with 27,117.

The total confirmed number of COVID-19 cases is 5,682,389 with the U.S. also the leader in that category with 1,697,459 infections, followed by Brazil with 411,821, Russia with 370,680, the U.K with 268,616, and Spain with 236,259.

Historic space launch delayed to Saturday

Bad weather is blamed for the last-minute delay Wednesday of what would have been the first time in almost 10 years that the United States launched astronauts into earth orbit from the venerable Cape Canaveral.

According to the Associated Press, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were scheduled to journey into space on a capsule aboard a rocket, both of which were designed and built by SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk.

Thunderstorms in the Atlantic off the southern coast compelled NASA and Space X to make a postponement until Saturday.

Protests and call for police officer’s arrest

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that the white police officer seen in a video kneeling on the neck of a black man who said, “I can’t breathe” and subsequently died, should be arrested.

“Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?” asked the mayor at a press conference on Wednesday, according to United Press International. “If you or I had done this, we would be behind bars right now.”

Derek Chauvin has been identified as the officer in the video. He and three other Minneapolis police officers were fired in the wake of the incident.

Protests, some peaceful and some violent, have followed the incident. Some protestors held up their arms and chanted “I can’t breathe.”

2.1 million more to file for unemployment?

A report to be released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor may show 2.1 million more Americans have filed for jobless benefits, according to yahoo/finance. That would bring the total number of unemployment claims to nearly 40 million. Although the number of weekly claims has been declining, the May jobs report – due out June 5 – could show the official unemployment rate at 19.5 percent, up from 14.7 percent in April

Weather: More fog, some sun as well

If you liked Wednesday’s weather, you will probably like the rest of the week as well. For Orange County, the National Weather Service is calling for morning fog and afternoon “partly sunny” conditions each day through Sunday, with daytime highs in the high 70s.

________________________________________________________________________