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California Governor Gavin Newsom's battle with Orange County is heating up -- an ex-mayor down there is suing the Guv over the beach closures.

Kevin Muldoon, a former Newport Beach mayor and current city councilman there, claims Newsom's draconian order to close OC beaches -- from Newport Beach and Huntington Beach to Dana Point and San Clemente -- is a clear violation of their constitutional rights to freedom of travel, freedom of assembly and due process ... this according to docs obtained by TMZ.

In docs, Muldoon claims pictures from last month showing packed beaches in the OC that almost immediately triggered beach closures are incredibly misleading. He claims the photos were "taken from a ground level viewpoint, using zoom lenses that artificially compress perspective, seemingly showed beachgoers tightly packed together on Newport Beach."

He claims there are aerial pics that show far more space between beachgoers than the pics in the newspaper implied. What's more ... Muldoon claims it's completely unfair to single out the OC, which he claims has fewer COVID-19 cases than other places that did NOT have their beaches shut down. He claims other cities with closed beaches actually have more COVID cases.

Muldoon, who is suing as an individual and NOT in his official capacity as a councilman, claims sunlight and open-air reduce the likelihood of COVID transmission. It should be noted ... OC beach cities and individuals reportedly sued Newsom on Friday over his beach closures but a judge denied their request to nullify Newsom's order.

As we reported ... tons of pissed off residents flooded downtown Huntington Beach to protest the beach closures. There was also a plane flying a banner over the weekend that read "Fire Gruesome Newsom! Open California!"

Muldoon's asking a judge to declare the gov's order unconstitutional and prohibit its enforcement so peeps can enjoy the beach.

Walt Disney World is locked up tight as a drum during the coronavirus pandemic, but apparently that wasn't tight enough for a dude to make Discovery Island his home.

The Alabama man, 42-year-old Richard McGuire, was arrested after Disney security eyed him camping out on the island.

Here's the thing. Discovery Island has been closed since 1999. Disney has changed its use of a wildlife park, but the various buildings on the island have remained intact. He was staying in one of the buildings when security found him.

McGuire was camping on the Island since Tuesday, but at some point, security realized something was up. They pulled out their bullhorns and ordered him to come out, but there was no response. The effort was then buttressed with boats, a helicopter and foot patrol.

McGuire said he was "unaware" he was trespassing, despite the numerous "No Trespassing" signs plastered near the island.

The Alabama resident now faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge. Even worse, he's been banned from all Disney parks.

R. Kelly has no shame ... he's making yet another plea to the judge to let him out of jail, but this time he claims he has proof he's vulnerable to COVID-19.

The disgraced singer's lawyer filed docs, obtained by TMZ, asking the judge to release his client pending his trial and claiming the Bureau of Prisons failed to disclose Kelly's medical tests from March showing he is "likely diabetic."

In docs, Kelly's lawyer also claims the singer has high cholesterol and high blood pressure ... further putting him in a vulnerable position if he contracts the deadly coronavirus while penned up at MCC Chicago.

The judge has not yet made a decision on whether to release Kelly. TMZ broke the story ... he swung and missed TWICE last month. During Kelly's first attempt, the judge denied him saying, among other things, the singer is a flight risk. Not long after, his team made a second attempt, but again, the judge said no dice.

The judge had previously expressed concern Kelly might intimidate witnesses if he's allowed out of jail. Kelly addresses that in the new docs, referring to one of his former girlfriends who used to visit him regularly in jail and correspond with him. He says during all those visits he was well aware she is one the Jane Doe victims in his case, and still never attempted to obstruct justice.

He doesn't name her, but our Kelly sources tell us he's talking about Azriel Clary, who's now working with the prosecution. Kelly says if he had tried to intimidate her, she would have reported him to prosecutors by now.

An Illinois church and its pastor believe the Governor is treating them like second-class citizens during the coronavirus pandemic ... and they're suing to open back up.

Pastor Stephen Cassell and The Beloved Church of Lena, Illinois are going after Gov. Jay Pritzker over the state's stay-at-home orders, claiming places of worship are "no less 'essential' than its liquor stores to the health and well-being of its residents."

Cassell says that under Pritzker's current stay-at-home order, his prayer and worship services are off-limits because religious nonprofits are only essential when they provide food, shelter, and social services for needy people.

Cassell also claims Pritzker's declaration that churches are non-essential businesses "reeks of rank bigotry."

The church wants the court to step in and find the Governor's order of shutting down churches unconstitutional.

According to the docs ... the church believes this violates the constitutional rights to free exercise of religion, free speech and freedom of assembly.

Cassell adds that he and his parishioners are "fully willing to comply with proper constitutional guidelines ... but they cannot abide by an indefinite shut down of their church."

He's asking for an order to keep the Governor and government officials from interfering with church business and let them be.

The pastor adds the orders rest on "shaky legal grounds," but the Governor is trying to enforce them and extend them to the end of May and possibly beyond ... and they've had enough.

The church plans to reopen and hold a public worship service Sunday.

Royal Caribbean Cruises royally screwed its employees with utter disregard for their health ... so they claim in a new lawsuit.

Mykola Molchun -- a crew member from Ukraine -- has filed a class-action lawsuit against the popular cruise line company claiming it was careless and continuously failed to protect its crew members assigned to work aboard the vessels despite RCC knowing about the dangerous conditions and explosive contagiousness associated with the deadly virus.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Molchun claims RCC failed to follow even the most basic safety precautions after getting COVID-19 notice ... like timely quarantining crew members stationed aboard the vessel. The suit also brought up a St. Patrick's Day party RCC threw for over 1,000 crew members ... saying it showed "an alarming lack of caution."

The suit claims RCC did this even after it suspended future cruise operations for passengers on March 13 and even then still allowed crew members to continue mingling in unsafe conditions ... like allowing them to eat in buffet settings.

The cruise line industry has been taking in the chin as of late. As we've reported ... Princess Cruise Lines, for example, has been sued multiple times by its guests. And, now crew members are getting in on the action. The suit comes about a week after a third Royal Caribbean crew member died after working on a vessel with a COVID-19 outbreak onboard.

Wild house parties like the recent ones in Chicago won't be allowed to continue uncontrolled under quarantine -- cops are taking notice and taking steps to shut 'em down.

Those Chi-town ragers -- one with 1,000 guests, and another with a stripper getting swarmed -- were so packed, social distancing was impossible. Then again, face masks were rare at both events, so the guests clearly didn't care about COVID-19.

Cops, on the other hand, are very concerned about slowing the spread of the virus.

Our law enforcement sources tell us cops in big cities across the U.S. are NOT putting up with the dangerous practice, and they're starting to crack down more ... especially knowing there will be huge parties as it gets warmer.

We're told the Chicago, Los Angeles and New York Police Departments -- not to mention the L.A. Sheriff's Department -- are putting their ears to the ground and their eyes on social media to track down any emerging sardine-like get-togethers or turn-ups. That's right ... 5-0 is actively monitoring live feeds and trends, so if it starts to get poppin' and gets posted online -- like that stripper party was -- they'll probably see it.

We're told if the parties get too big and they're clearly violating basic quarantine guidelines, guests better not be surprised when cops come knocking to break it up. They might even start dinging people with citations too, depending on the circumstances.

Just for reference ... NYPD's dished out 190 summons and made some 22 arrests thus far pertaining to this exact behavior; LASD has cited 41 and arrested 3, and Chi-Town's at 13 citations and 18 arrests over flagrant breaking of social distancing. More to come, we're sure.

The prison Joe Exotic is currently being held at is the second leading hotbed for coronavirus in the entire federal prison system -- but not to worry ... Uncle Sam's got a plan.

The 'Tiger King' star has been locked up at FMC Forth Worth in Texas, and as of Wednesday ... there was a total of 298 confirmed COVID-19 cases among inmates, making it number 2 behind a federal CA facility at 570 inmate cases.

If that sounds troubling, it should ... we've seen jails and prisons across the U.S. getting besieged with the virus -- and some of the inmates are suffering. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has assured us they're going above and beyond for their prisoners, staff and visitors alike at Joe's facility to keep them safe and healthy.

As for Joe ... his people have repeatedly told us ... he's virus-free.

The agency tells TMZ there's a comprehensive action plan in place at all of their institutions -- which includes reducing inmate transfers, increasing screening and testing, minimizing unnecessary movement on the inside and temporarily canceling social and legal visits, not to mention training for BOP employees. They will also do regular temperature checks.

The trick is ... as little congregating as possible. BOP says it's trying to keep guards at one post for as long as possible to avoid unnecessary interaction.

BOP also tells us they've made sure everyone -- prisoners and staffers -- have received surgical masks. BOP says it has things under control -- so far fewer than 5 deaths at the Fort Worth facility ... but with nearly 300 cases, it's gotta be viewed as a full-fledged outbreak.

So ... guess that means Joe's in good hands??? Here's hoping so.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been a true hero in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, which is why it's especially stunning he's being sued over something that did NOT happen at his daily briefings.

A group of deaf New York residents, along with the Disability Rights New York group, are suing Governor Cuomo claiming NY is the only state that has never provided televised in-frame ASL interpretation during COVID-19 briefings. The DRNY says it's received a large number of complaints about it.

The org claims it reached out to Cuomo's office on March 27 requesting a live sign language interpreter but the office provided it only through an online broadcast on the Governor's website. The suit claims Cuomo's office also responded saying it provides closed captioning for televised broadcasts.

But, the suit claims closed captioning is not provided on all TV channels broadcasting the briefings. They also claim closed captioning frequently contains errors and omissions.

Cuomo's office directed folks to the governor's website, but the suit says not all deaf residents have internet access. The DRNY says it's made no progress with the governor and have also filed a complaint with the Justice Department.

The residents and DRNY are suing for an order forcing the governor to provide a live sign language interpreter on his daily TV briefings.