By Roy Blunt On a mild Chicago afternoon on Oct. 20, 1924, the Kansas City Monarchs baseball team took the field against the Hilldale Daisies in the final game of the first Negro World Series. Tied at four games apiece, both sides pitched shutouts for seven innings, until Kansas City exploded for five runs in the eighth. One newspaper called the game "one of the best ever played in Chicago by any two teams." Prize money for the winners amounted to just under $308 per person. The series boasted five players who are now in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The Monarchs' Jose Mendez both pitched and managed the team. Center fielder Bullet Rogan had a batting average of .396, as well as an 18-6 record as a pitcher that year. Thanks to a long-overdue decision by Major League Baseball last week, these stats are now part of the Major League record. Those players and their teammates -- including greats of the sport such as Dobie Moore, Heavy Johnson and Hurley McNair -- are among hundreds whose stories are told in the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. This year, the museum has been commemorating the 100th anniversary of the union of eight Midwestern team owners to form the Negro National League. The league gave structure to a loose collection of teams that would barnstorm around the country playing whomever they could, whenever they could. In the first 10 years of the league, the Monarchs won the pennant four times. The league thrived, and others were formed for African American players in the South and in the East. Sometimes, teams would play against a local college squad. Sometimes they would take on Major Leaguers. One day in 1925, the Wichita Monrovians even played against -- and beat -- Lodge No. 6 of the Ku Klux Klan in Wichita. For 40 years, the leagues showcased the incredible ability, excitement and sportsmanship of baseball icons such as Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Buck O'Neil, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Their talent and their example helped to broaden the appeal of baseball across the country and break down the barriers of segregation. Earlier this month, following a yearlong effort, the Negro Leagues Baseball Centennial Commemorative Coin Act was signed into law. We were proud to work together, and with Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick, to build broad, bipartisan support for our bill that memorializes the legends of the Negro Leagues and their remarkable impact on our nation. The new coin honors the players whose love of the game transcended race and society's limits. Profits from the sale of the coins will help the museum preserve and share this special piece of our history. It tells the story not just of organized baseball, but of an important part of the story of our nation. Negro League teams contributed to the development of vibrant arts, entertainment and business communities. The story of baseball is certainly not the entire story of America. And in this pandemic year, no single museum could be expected to educate and inspire more than a small share of the people it normally reaches. But we all gain from having professionals and institutions continue to teach new generations the powerful lessons of tolerance, persistence, diversity and equality. After the Monarchs' decisive victory, supporters threw them a victory party at a local restaurant, while the Daisies caught an 8:30 train home to the suburbs of Philadelphia. Thanks to the work of places such as the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, both teams will be remembered and celebrated for many years to come.

By Lamar Alexander and Roy Blunt There is no safe path forward to combat the novel coronavirus without adequate testing. To contain covid-19 and persuade Americans to leave their homes and return to work and school, the United States will need tens of millions of diagnostic tests. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the coronavirus task force, says there are now 1 million tests available weekly; by mid-June, there will be 2 million to 2½ million available. That is impressive -- but not nearly enough. We should squeeze every test possible out of current technologies, but we need tens of millions more to really get a handle on how far and wide this disease has spread. This demand will only grow as the country goes back to work and some 100,000 public schools and more than 5,000 colleges reopen, we hope, in August. As the heads of two U.S. Senate panels responsible for public health, we have been talking with experts across the government and the private sector to find anyone who believes that current technology can produce the tens of millions of tests necessary to put this virus behind us. Unfortunately, we have yet to find anyone to do so. However, those conversations have pointed toward a possible solution. We propose a competitive "shark tank" -- much like the reality-TV show about entrepreneurs, but this time utilizing the capacities of government itself, in coordination with the private sector -- to pull out all the stops and create new technologies designed to produce tens of millions of diagnostic tests by August. If there's a bold idea out there that will work, we need to make sure the funding is available to get it approved and in the hands of health-care providers quickly. We also should improve serologic tests to determine whether someone already has had the disease and has now created the necessary immunity to hopefully fight off the disease in the future. The first place to find these technologies is at the National Institutes of Health, where two dozen early-stage testing concepts are under development. Some utilize CRISPR gene-editing technology. At least one allows you to use your cellphone to photograph your test swab result and send it to a doctor. Several may incorporate wearable technology. The second place is the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. BARDA has been working across government and industry to invest in multiple innovative ideas to achieve accurate, fast and easy testing capabilities and build new capacity. BARDA will also play a critical role in partnering with private companies to manufacture and produce tests as necessary and as breakthroughs are discovered. We must invite breakthrough ideas to our so-called shark tank. We must innovate. And we must use our best scientists at these two agencies and across government to do this faster than ever before. By incorporating a shark tank environment in government research, we can more quickly develop the necessary technologies to get more tests into circulation. While there is a risk of failure with any research -- in science, success is not guaranteed -- we also could produce the one mighty great white shark that will help us combat this disease. Last month, Congress gave BARDA, NIH and other agencies up to $38 billion for testing, treatments and vaccines to fight this virus. We recommend spending even more to advance other research, giving money to states to buy testing equipment, improve data reporting, conduct tests and operate testing centers, and implement contact tracing to identify those who've come in contact with sick people so they, too, can quarantine themselves -- instead of the rest of us quarantining ourselves. Specifically, we propose $1 billion to launch this shark tank for testing. Funding would be provided to the NIH to work with BARDA to underwrite any innovative idea with a chance to succeed. Importantly, industry experts and partners would be brought in to evaluate the potential technology, its effectiveness and its scalability. This is the time for both government and its industry partners to step up and pull out all the stops. American ingenuity will succeed, but like any enterprise, it needs start-up financing to help it thrive.

By Debbie Stabenow and Roy Blunt It's no surprise that people are feeling anxious right now. Workers are worrying about how they'll pay the rent as hours are cut back. Young parents are trying to do their jobs remotely while watching their children who are home from school. Older people are weighing the health risks of making a quick run to the grocery store. Most people's lives have been turned upside down by coronavirus. As Congress takes action to keep our economy strong and our people healthy, we can't forget those who far too often have been left behind -- people who are living with mental illness and those struggling with addiction. It's estimated that about 1 in 5 people in our country are living with mental illness or substance use disorders. Sadly, only 43 percent of people with mental illness and 12 percent of people with substance use disorders get the treatment they need in a typical year. And as we know, this year is anything but typical. We know that people who misuse opioids are at high risk for coronavirus. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse and other health experts, opioids impact the respiratory and pulmonary health of users and make them more susceptible to respiratory infections, including coronavirus. People who are living with a mental illness or addiction often have other health conditions that make them more likely to suffer severe complications from the coronavirus. Responding to the coronavirus pandemic requires a comprehensive health care strategy, including increasing access to community mental health and addiction treatment services. And the best way we can do that is to include the expansion of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in the next emergency package passed by Congress. Six years ago, we worked together to pass our Excellence in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Act. It created quality standards of care and funding to open community clinics that are transforming mental health and addiction treatment. After only two years of operations, communities that have CCBHCs are providing lifesaving services. They work closely with law enforcement and our schools and coordinate with hospitals to dramatically reduce emergency room visits. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, they've led to a 60 percent decrease in time spent in jails, a 41 percent decrease in homelessness, and a 63 percent decrease in emergency department visits for behavioral health. That's a big deal when every hospital bed matters right now. CCBHCs are also well-positioned to support those struggling to cope with the stress of coronavirus, whether it's anxiety, depression, loneliness brought on by social isolation, or even trauma faced by front-line health care workers. And many CCBHCs provide telemedicine services, allowing people to access help without increasing their potential exposure to the virus. As our nation confronts coronavirus, we must not leave those with mental illness and addiction disorders behind. And the good news is, by working together, we can make sure that doesn't happen.