When COVID-19 has forced most of the pro wrestling industry to go on hiatus, WWE was somehow able to resume running live television shows multiple times a week, event after someone in the company had been diagnosed with the coronavirus. How exactly is the promotion able to do this, with the number of people needed to produce live television and the amount of physical contact involved in professional wrestling? According to Jerry Demings, the Mayor of Orange County, Florida, it’s because WWE has been deemed an “essential business.”

The Orange County government provided updates on the coronavirus situation in its area today and Demings was asked (about thirty minutes into the video of the press conference on Facebook) if WWE was deemed an essential business, or if they got a special permit to stay open. Demings replied that “They were not initially deemed an essential business. With some conversation with the governor’s office regarding the governor’s order, they were deemed an essential business, so, therefore, they were allowed to remain open.” The mayor did not explain why WWE’s classification was changed.

In regards to the coronavirus case on the roster, Demings said that “I don’t know any of the details of that, obviously, because of HIPAA laws,” but stated that he believed the billion-dollar, publicly-traded corporation would treat its roster like a family. “That’s like a little family,” he said of WWE and its independent contractors. “A small family of professional athletes that wrestle. And if one of my family members tested positive in my house, that would be concerning to me. We would have to make some provisions in my house to make sure that the rest of us not get infected, and so I would assume that, from a business perspective, the WWE is doing that type of analysis of its own family.”

Noted Red Sox fan and paper salesman John Krasinski isn’t having the best spring, as his baseball team isn’t playing and his movie, A Quiet Place Part II, is delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The early returns on the movie were quite good, so even if he’s not happy about the Sox trading Mookie Betts he’ll still have something to look forward to later this year.

He’s also doing his part to honor medical workers and their heroic efforts to help patients suffering COVID-19 battle the virus. Krasinski started Some Good News during the pandemic, a show that highlights good things happening despite all of the bad things happening. In the third episode of the show, which you can view above, Krasinski spoke to the COVID-19 unit at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He then virtually introduced them to someone who needs no introduction in Boston: David Ortiz.

Krasinski wanted to bring baseball to the staff, and he did it in a big way with the help of Big Papi. The retired Red Sox star, hilariously wearing a Red Sox jersey, spoke fondly of the staff and praised their work during a health crisis.

“I gotta tell you guys from the very bottom of my heart how much I love and respect you guys for what you are doing,” Ortiz said. He then announced that the staff at Beth Israel Deaconess would get four Red Sox tickets for life to games at Fenway Park, for the hospital to use as they see fit. Krasinski said he’s waited 16 years for season tickets and hasn’t heard back, so he’s admittedly a little jealous.

The episode also featured a special surprise for just the COVID-19 unit, which got a socially distant Duck Boat Tour of Boston and got a special look at Fenway Park. Krasinski called it “the most sanitized Duck Boat in America,” so it’s nice that they were keeping everyone safe. The video features some excellent Boston accents, as well as a bit of mask-wearing levity, which was nice. There was a nice moment of applause from Boston’s mayor, the governor of Massachusetts, and even a number of players on the Red Sox themselves. The workers even got to throw out the “first pitch” of the baseball season, which hasn’t officially started due to COVID-19.

Ortiz also has a special tie to the city, as he played most of his career with the Red Sox and also recovered at a Boston hospital — Mass General — following his gunshot wound suffered last year. And in a world without sports, it was a nice gesture by everyone involved to give some very important medical workers the star treatment amid a terrible situation.

You may already have spent some time exploring the exquisite, intricate video walkthroughs of Disney theme parks, but be sure you’re sitting down for this bit of news – and that you keep your arms, hands, legs and feet inside the vehicle at all times.

Your mobile device, a set of ear buds for some extra you-are-there-ness and just a little bit of imagination make it possible to take 360-degree, immersive rides on some of your favorite attractions; if you’ve got a portable VR viewer for your device, you can even go on incredible virtual-reality rides. (Should you choose to remain seated at all times, you can even watch them on your laptop, using your mouse or trackpad to control the view.)

It’s all possible thanks to YouTube channel Virtual Disney World – plus, of course, some Disney Imagineering. The creators of Virtual Disney World have been astonishingly thorough and up-to-date – not to mention bi-coastal – so even if you weren’t able to get a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance before Disney theme parks worldwide were forced to close, or to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in the mere 11 days it operated before the shutdown, here’s your chance.

360º Tour of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

www.youtube.com

Prefer something a little more classic? You can choose from The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World or Disneyland and compare the not-insignificant differences – or even check out the ever-controversial Haunted Mansion Holiday from Disneyland, which re-themes the dark ride to The Nightmare Before Christmas for four months each year. There are even some 360° walkthroughs of Disney resorts, and a couple of the most popular rides at Universal Orlando – if you didn’t want to wait in line 10 hours for Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventures, here’s your chance to see what all the fuss was about.

360º Ride on Haunted Mansion Holiday

www.youtube.com

Even better, if you’ve got back or neck problems, high blood pressure, are prone to motion sickness or you’re an expectant mother … it’s not a problem at all!

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the best of the 360° videos from Disney theme parks.

* Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – Few people have had a chance to experience this centerpiece attraction of the Disney Hollywood Studios: Disney’s parks closed a week and a half after it debuted. Now you can see the frenetic, cartoon-themed wackiness for yourself. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaf4Vbj4ClA)

* The Great Movie Ride – Here’s the super-elaborate, Audio Animatronics-filled dark ride that called the Chinese Theater at Disney Hollywood Studios home from 1989 to 2017. Pay special attention to the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz sequence; for years, she was the most advanced animatronics figure Disney ever created. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaf4Vbj4ClA)

* Mad Tea Party – Here’s an extra dose of 360° craziness: spin while you spin and get yourself extra dizzy on the Magic Kingdom version of the “tea cups.” The original ride at Disneyland was one of the opening-day attractions on July 17, 1955. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ouofPAuSxI)

* Spaceship Earth – The iconic geodesic sphere of EPCOT houses this 15-minute ride (about 10 minutes are included in this ridethrough, not including the personalized, interactive descent). The slow-moving dark ride through human history and the evolution of communications has been reworked three times in EPCOT’s 38-year history and is about to undergo another big, as-yet-unrevealed change. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSIs3cCdlhc)

But Virtual Disney World isn’t the only 360° game in Disney’s town. The YouTube channel ResortTV1 also offers 360 videos of attractions, including the incomparable Kilimanjaro Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. By far the largest single Disney attraction at more than 110 acres (35 acres more than Disneyland itself), it’s also one of the most stunning.

Disneyland fans won’t be left out, because Dream Disney 360 offers this wraparound ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which opened in California in September 1979 (more than a year before the Walt Disney World version), so hang on to your hats and glasses, ’cause this here’s the wildest ride on the Internet!

John Singh is a writer and entertainment-industry veteran who began his career as a newspaper journalist and has also worked at Disney, Lucasfilm Ltd., DreamWorks Animation and on a variety of films and TV series.

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There is a good chance that you’ve seen chatter across social media that the first coronavirus stimulus checks have been distributed today, and an even higher chance that you’re now one of the people wondering, “Hey…where is MY money?” We feel that — we’re in the same boat — but don’t start freaking out and calling/emailing/@-ing the IRS just yet. The money is coming, and we don’t mean in the Uncut Gems, Howard Ratner kind of way. In fact, according to the House Committee On Ways & Means, 60 million Americans will see their stimulus checks deposited in their account sometime this week, or the next… or the next. After what the IRS hopes is a 10-day process, a second round of payments will be doled out to Social Security beneficiaries.

Not having a clear answer is frustrating, which is why the IRS is planning on launching a tracking tool similar to its “Where’s My Refund?” tax-refund feature called “Get My Payment,” which should be operational by April 17th. So if you don’t get paid by this week, you’ll at least know when you’ll get paid. But let’s be real — if the tracking tool is anything like “Where’s My Refund?” at the most you’ll get is a notification that your payment is “processing.”

If you filed for your 2018 or 2019 taxes and authorized for direct deposit, it’s pretty safe to assume you’re going to see that $1,200 deposited this month. It could be today, tomorrow, anytime this month really. If your direct deposit information has changed since filing, the Get My Payment portal will allow you to update your information so that you don’t have to wait for a paper check, which won’t be sent out until the beginning of May. Non-filers and other low-income individuals will also be able to enter banking information to receive a payment through the portal — a remedied area of criticism from when the relief bill was first announced.

According to the House Committee On Ways & Means, paper checks will be issued by the week of May 4th and can take up to 20 weeks to fully be distributed. Luckily, low income Americans can expect their checks to arrive more quickly, as they’ll be issued in “reverse adjusted gross income,” with the first checks going out to the people with the lowest income.

Having friends is a key component of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It’s the fastest way to get every fruit in the game, for example, and also increases your chances of finding furniture, good stock prices on turnips and other goods. Much of the game’s fun is in visiting other islands, checking out what they have and maybe helping a friend acquire some fun stuff they’d like, too.

Or you can, you know, just buy it from shady players online. Enter Nookazon, which is an online retail location where players can facilitate transactions for items, furniture and even villagers if the price is right. Nookazon is pretty simple: it’s a list of items other players are willing to sell, at what price and how to get in contact with them to negotiate the swap. There are Discord IDs, Twitter handles and Switch friend codes listed as ways to get in touch, set a time to visit an island and make an item-for-bells swap happen.

As long as everyone is on the up-and-up, it’s a great way to get some things you might be struggling to acquire in your own version of the game. There’s even a “looking for” section so you can know what folks are seeking and make offer them a price they simply can’t refuse. Fittingly, the “make an offer” option where a price would be has Tom Nook, he of the benevolent no-interest loans for house expansions, next to it.

The site even has a category for villagers, as some players covet certain animal villagers more than others and want to add them to their own island. It’s helpful to have Amiibos to make that happen for yourself, but with the prices of those real-world items skyrocketing recently this is another way to get it done, presumably with currency you obtain by fishing and catching bugs.

It’s all part of the weird and wonderful digital economy that the game and its wild success has created, and goes to show you that truly everything has a price these days. Even pixelated hardwood.

[via Polygon]

Tonight, in the With Spandex WWE Raw After WrestleMania (but not like usually) open discussion thread:

Becky Lynch faced one of her most trying challenges yet in Shayna Baszler, but The Man is still Raw Women’s Champion.

Lynch, whose win over The Queen of Spades at WrestleMania pushed her title reign over the year mark, will appear live tonight on Raw. Who will be the next Superstar to step to The Man? Or are Baszler’s sights still locked on Lynch’s title? (via WWE.com)

Need a diversion? Perhaps one from a group of independent contractors who are also somehow essential, amid a global pandemic that’s already started affecting them? Check out “what’s next for Becky Lynch” on tonight’s Raw, as well as, “what’s next for Drew McIntyre, which hopefully isn’t just, I don’t know, The Great Khali coming out 20 minutes after Big Show’s secret WrestleMania main event to challenge for the WWE Championship.

As always, +1 your favorite comments from tonight’s open thread and give them a thumbs up and we’ll include 10 of the best in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Raw column. Make sure to flip your comments to “newest” in the drop down menu under “discussion,” and enjoy the show!

It’s a weird time we’re living through, when a trip the grocery store is about our only opportunity to go someplace different than hour house, and every grocery trip feels a bit like entering the arena of The Hunger Games.

Our grocery store workers are certainly underpaid heroes of the coronavirus era. Every day, they go to work to make sure we all have food to eat, putting their own health at risk to do so. And unfortunately, the stress and strain of pandemic panic and economic uncertainty have led some people to treat these heroes with far less respect than they deserve.

A grocery store manager (unnamed in this post, but perhaps originally Jason Baldwin) shared a 20-point list of things we need to know when we’re venturing out to the grocery store right now. The post, republished by Roy Allen Stagg, has been shared more than 580,000 times because it contains blunt truths we all need to hear.

It reads:

I manage a grocery store.

Here’s some things everyone should know:

1. I don’t have toilet paper
2. I don’t have sanitizer
3. I run out of milk, eggs and meat daily
4. I promise if it’s out on the shelf … it’s not in a hidden corner of our back room

Those are the predictable ones, now for the real stuff:

5. I have been doing this for 25 years I did not forget how to order product
6. I did not cause the warehouse to be out of product
7. I schedule as much help as I have, including many TMs working TONS of overtime to help YOU
8. I am sorry there are lines at the check-out lanes

Now for the really important stuff:

9. My team puts themselves in harm’s way every day so you can buy groceries
10. My team works tirelessly to get product on the floor for you to buy
11. My team is exhausted
12. My team is scared of getting sick
13. My team is human and do not possess an antivirus… they are in just as much danger as you are. (Arguably more) But they show up to work everyday just so you can buy groceries
14. My team is tired
15. My team is very underappreciated
16. My team is exposed to more people who are potentially infected in one hour than most of you will in a week (medical community excluded, thank you for all that you do!)
17. My team is abused all day by customers who have no idea how ignorant they are
18. My team disinfects every surface possible, everyday, just so you can come in grab a wipe from the dispenser, wipe the handle and throw the used wipe in the cart or on the ground and leave it there… so my team can throw it in the trash for you later
19. My team wonders if you wash your re-usable bags, that you force us to touch, that are clearly dirty and have more germs on them than our shopping carts do
20. My team more than earns their breaks, lunches and days off. And if that means you wait longer I am sorry.

The last thing I will say is this:

“The next time you are in a grocery store, please pause and think about what you are saying and how you are treating the people you encounter. They are the reason you are able to buy toilet paper, sanitizer, milk, eggs and meat.”

“If the store you go to is out of an item.. maybe find the neighbor or friend that bought enough for a year … there are hundreds of them… and ask them to spare 1 or 2. They caused the problem to begin with…”

“And lastly, please THANK the people who helped you. They don’t have to come to work!”

We owe our grocery store workers a huge debt of gratitude and an enormous amount of respect. If this pandemic is teaching us anything, it’s that we rely far more on people in these positions than we’ve probably ever thought about, so we should absolutely be treating them with dignity—at the very least. If you think you’re stressed, imagine how these workers feel. If you feel frustrated, imagine how these workers feel. If you’re afraid you might get sick, imagine how these workers feel.

Care and compassion go a long way. Let’s give our grocery store workers an extra measure of love and kindness, as our ability to keep living our lives at home literally depends on them.

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Emerging rap superstar Chika has been making a name for herself with her emphatic, inspiring performances of songs from her Industry Games debut EP. Her latest, for Songkick’s exclusive Songkick Live series, adds the intriguing wrinkle of being entirely acoustic, with Chika performing center stage, accompanied only by a pair of backup singers, a guitarist, and a box percussionist.

First up is the title track from the EP, on which Chika details her come-up from dropping celebrity-favorite freestyles to performing live on late-night TV to the frustrations and triumphs of her first record deal. Next, the swaggering yet pensive “Balencies,” which weighs the spoils of stardom against its costs. Finally, she performs “Crown,” the bold closer from the EP. “I know chasin’ the impossible take some courage,” she admits, “And I can promise at the end of your journey / When it’s all said and done / Won’t nothin’ feel much better then hearin’ ‘My n****, you won.’”

Watch Chika’s soulful, acoustic performances of the three Industry Games standouts above.

Industry Games is out now via Warner Records. Get it here.

Chika is a Warner Music artist. Songkick is a Warner Music Group property. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music.