In late May, employees at a bank in Kannapolis, N.C., called the local police to report an abandoned white Ford van in the bank's parking lot.

When officers arrived, they looked into the van's windows and saw an array of items: an AR-15 rifle, the box for a handgun, a canister of explosive material, and a box of ammunition, according to a court document. Police say they towed and searched the van, finding more than $500,000 in cash, drawings of swastikas and planes crashing into buildings, books on survival and bomb-making, and a half-dozen firearms.

Remember the murder hornets? You know, the terrifyingly large Asian giant hornets that are threatening to wipe out the North American bee population?

Entomologists with the Washington State Department of Agriculture have now found a nest of them – the first to be found in the U.S., the agency says.

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions."

Is it safe to eat in an outdoor plastic dome?

Oh, to dine in a giant plastic bubble ...

A couple of weeks ago, we shared some of the best books we've been reading during the pandemic, but it was more of a cage match than a book club meeting. When it comes to our reading appetites, our team is divided into two camps — Team #EscapistReads and Team #PandemicReads — and neither side will budge.

Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize their relations and open economic and trade ties, the countries and the U.S. announced Friday. The U.S. said earlier this week that it would remove Sudan from the state sponsors of terrorism list as part of the agreement.

"This is an incredible deal for Israel and Sudan," President Trump said in the Oval Office, according to a White House pool report. "For decades, Sudan has been at a state of war with Israel. They have been in a state of war and boycotted Israeli goods. There was no relationship whatsoever."

Wales is heading into a 17-day lockdown on Friday evening, as many parts of Europe reimpose safety measures because of rising coronavirus case counts.

The "firebreak lockdown" went into effect at 6 p.m. local time and requires that people remain home with few exceptions.

President Trump is holding two rallies this week in Florida, a play to energize the voters he needs to deliver the must-win state. Early voting and vote by mail numbers indicate Floridians are already engaged – more than 4 million have cast a ballot already.