Apple News App Only Loads the First Five 'Top Stories" and Doesn't Load New Ones

Is anyone else encountering this? The Apple News app is constantly getting stuck: it won't load any stories beyond the first five "Top Stories" and the two bubbles for Covid-19 and Racial Justice. Restarting the app does not resolve the problem. 

Additionally, the stories that do load don't refresh/update unless the app is restarted. Both problems started at the same time (so I assume they're related/part of the same problem) and have been present since at least iOS 13.3.1. The strange thing, however, is I was using the News app on iOS 13.3.1 without issue for at least 1.5 months before the problem manifested.

I just found a way to temporarily "fix" this problem by using two thumbs to scroll the screen allllll the way up until everything is off the screen and only blank screen remains. Upon releasing the screen the display bounces back (as normal) and a few moments later stories begin populating below (starting with "Trending Stories," as normal) and the app appears to return to normal operation. All stories load and all stores appear to update/refresh as normal. Restarting the app, however, starts the problem all over again. 

I don't consider the above a true "fix," though. I shouldn't to resort to such ridiculous measures to get the app to function. It should "just work."

Every install of a new iOS update has been a fresh "Restore" install (I do this for every update), and has not resolved the problem. I've reported the issue to Apple every time I updated to a new iOS, and every time I re-installed it with another fresh install in an attempt to resolve the issue. Yet the problem remains.

My device is an iPhone SE (1st Generation) and my current version of iOS 13.5.1. (I'm not quite comfortable upgrading to 13.6 just yet based on some of of the issues I've read about.)

Is anyone else encountering this, or am I the only one on the planet with this problem?