The country is moving forward in fits and starts over the coronavirus pandemic, with Texas announcing an easing of restrictions on retail stores and reopening parks while protesters in some states take on governors who hold fast to stay-at-home orders. The stock market was up, and a drug shows promise for treatment of the virus.

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President Donald Trump said Friday the nation was close to the "light at the end of the tunnel". New cases are "low and steady" on the West Coast as cases and hospitalizations decline in hotspots like New York City and New Orleans, Vice President Mike Pence said.

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