Jobless claims

Initial unemployment claims, seasonally adjusted, in millions per week

Week ending March 6: 712,000

I am at the end of my rope with trying to get a vaccine for my mother. Each night I watch news anchors encouraging people to get vaccinated. I check pharmacy websites for appointments, to no avail. I have no answer for her as to when she, an 80-year-old diabetic with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, will get her vaccine.

She is losing faith in the public trust that we all rely on, and so am I. Will someone please fix this? I pay taxes. I am an essential manufacturing worker. I have worn a mask since the beginning. I socially distance. I shop odd hours. I avoid large gatherings. I have conducted myself as the government has asked me to. I now ask the government do one thing: Get my mother her vaccine so I can sleep soundly and not find myself responsible for her death from this. It’s a simple request.

Mark St. Clair, Chesapeake

Re “Fixing postal service should be a national imperative” (Our Views,

March 1): I agree that the U.S. Postal Service is a vital national interest that must be preserved, but the Postal Service was never intended to subsidize corporate advertising. Bulk rate mail is a nuisance and a complete waste of paper and trees. If corporations want to advertise using the Postal Service, they should pay regular first-class mail rates. Most of the mail I receive is junk mail that goes straight into the recycle bin.

Walter Hudson, Virginia Beach

Old Dominion vs. Rice, 6 :3 0 p.m., Stadium UTEP vs. Middle Tennessee, 9 :3 0 p.m Inside: Women’s roundup,