50 ★ States
ALABAMA Montgomery: The Alabama Department of Human Resources says 63% of the state’s 2,410 child care facilities are now open after most closed in the spring because of COVID-19 concerns.
ALASKA Anchorage: The Municipality of Anchorage has requested a contempt-of-court hearing after a restaurant defied a judge’s ruling to halt indoor dining service in compliance with a city order meant to slow the coronavirus’ spread. The motion filed Saturday requests sanctions against Kriner’s Diner and its owners, The Anchorage Daily News reports.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Hundreds of faculty at Arizona State University have added their names to a letter online in opposition of the university’s plans to return to some inperson instruction Aug. 20.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state has 572 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and nine additional deaths due to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, state health officials reported Sunday.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: California’s top public health official has resigned. Dr. Sonia Angell said she’s departing from her role as director and state public health officer at the Department of Public Health.
COLORADO Denver: Volunteers from the public health department are sitting in vehicles outside stores, watching shoppers to see whether they’re wearing masks. Tri-County Health Department has weekly data going back to April about the percentage of people in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties putting on face coverings when they go out in public, the Colorado Sun reports.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Gov. Ned Lamont criticized President Donald Trump’s executive order that seeks state money to help extend emergency unemployment benefits. Trump’s plan to provide an extra $400 a week in benefits requires states to kick in $100 a week. Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Lamont said the plan would cost Connecticut about $500 million through the end of the year. “I could take that money from testing,” Lamont said. “I don’t think that’s a great idea. I could take that money from, you know, mass disinfecting for our schools. I don’t think that’s a great idea.”
DELAWARE Wilmington: Gov. John Carney and the Delaware State Housing Authority announced Monday that the state is resurrecting the Delaware Housing Assistance Program to help people who are missing rent or mortgage payments.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The mass shooting of 21 people at a D.C. party over the weekend is calling into question the issue with large gatherings during the pandemic, and some neighbors want police to do more, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Orlando: Students began returning to some university campuses Monday as the state reported the fewest new daily cases in more than a month.
GEORGIA Savannah: A man falsely claimed that a drug his company was selling would lower the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19, federal prosecutors said. Matthew Ryncarz and his company Fusion Health and Vitality, which operated as Pharm Origins, are accused of saying a misbranded drug called Immune Shot would lower the risk of getting COVID-19 by 50%, according to federal prosecutors in Savannah.
HAWAII Honolulu: Health officials reported a record 231 new coronavirus cases Saturday as state and municipal officials closed beaches and parks on Oahu and restricted other activities.
IDAHO Boise: The state will remain in the fourth and final stage of a plan to reopen for at least another two weeks as coronavirus infections and deaths show little sign of slowing, Gov. Brad Little said Thursday.
ILLINOIS Springfield: The school district in the capital has updated its dress code policy for remote learning, saying students can’t wear pajama pants, slippers or hats while on camera when classes start this month.
INDIANA Bloomington: Students at Indiana University began moving in Sunday, in a process that will be spread out over 12 days. Students must first undergo a COVID-19 test.
IOWA Iowa City: University of Iowa administrators pushed ahead Monday with plans to resume some in-person classes and on-campus housing, even as student leaders said those steps were too risky. University leaders said they would not test students who will begin moving onto campus in the coming days, unlike last week’s mass testing at Iowa State University.
KANSAS Topeka: The state on Monday reported nearly 1,100 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases and seven COVID-19-related deaths in the previous three days.
KENTUCKY Bardstown: Bourbon fans will be doing virtual toasts at this year’s Kentucky Bourbon Festival. The festival’s board has shifted the October event to a virtual experience because of the coronavirus, organizers said.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state’s legislative auditor found two rural parishes’ claims that the state was double-counting their positive coronavirus tests in the official tally of cases was unfounded, upending theories pushed in conservative circles that the data is being skewed to make the outbreak appear worse.
MAINE Portland: An American Indian tribe plans to expand its food pantry services as it responds to the pandemic. The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians received $900,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Indian Community Development Block Grant program to retrofit and expand a food service facility, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said.
MARYLAND Silver Spring: The state elections board voted Friday to significantly reduce the number of places where voters can cast ballots in November, a proposal aimed at accommodating a shortage of poll workers while avoiding voter confusion and crowded precincts during the pandemic.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Church officials say nearly a dozen Catholic schools have closed in the state this year, and more could shutter as the pandemic’s economic toll mounts.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Hatch Detroit contest winners and other participants whose businesses have been hurt by the coronavirus crisis will have access to a $100,000 utility assistance relief fund created by the nonprofit. Hatch Detroit supports existing and new retail initiatives in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck through funding, exposure and mentoring.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: State health officials reported a decrease in the number of new cases of COVID-19 on Friday but urged residents to stay vigilant in their efforts to stop the virus’s spread by continuing to wear masks, practice social distancing and avoid large crowds.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The state Department of Health reported 16 new coronavirus deaths and 476 new cases Monday, bringing the total to 67,649 cases and 1,912 deaths. By far, those in the 18-to-29 age group have the most confirmed cases in the state with 14,236.
MISSOURI St. Louis: St. Louis County health officials said Monday that they planned to survey 5,000 randomly selected residents and test them for the coronavirus to help officials understand racial disparities in public health, identify risk factors for COVID-19 and educate about preventative measures that could be taken, The St. Louis PostDispatch reports.
MONTANA Helena: The state has surpassed 5,000 known cases of COVID-19 and has reported 75 deaths, officials said Monday.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Lincoln Police closed down a bowling alley over the weekend for violating city coronavirus restrictions after the owner vowed to fight the rules requiring people to wear masks in public.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Tourism officials marked another index of the economic effect of the pandemic Friday, reporting that about 1 million people visited the Las Vegas area during June – down 70.5% from the same month a year ago.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state’s hospitals are hurting financially and bracing for cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals in the Granite State collectively lost $575 million in revenue between March and July, said Kathy BizarroThunberg, executive vice president of the New Hampshire Hospital Association.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Environmental regulators have ordered employers to promptly report coronavirus cases to the state. An emergency rule issued by the Environmental Department requires employers to report positive COVID-19 cases to the department within four hours of being notified.
NEW YORK New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday dismissed President Donald Trump’s executive orders as “laughable” and another chapter in the federal government’s botched response to the coronavirus as he praised New Yorkers for mostly good behavior that has reduced the infection rate in his state.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: When K-12 public school students in the state resume classes this fall, the vast majority will be sitting at home in front of a computer. Nearly 2 in 3 North Carolina parents were not given the choice to send their kids back for the start of the semester.
NORTH DAKOTA Harwood: Fourteen veterans who weren’t given military funeral rights when they were buried during the coronavirus pandemic were given a final salute at the Fargo National Cemetery on Saturday.
OHIO Columbus: Unemployment claimants would receive $300 in federal weekly unemployment assistance under an option provided by the White House that doesn’t require extra state spending, the administration of Gov. Mike DeWine said. The plan agreed to late Sunday by Gov. Mike DeWine means less money for the unemployed than under another option that would provide $400 a week, with $100 coming from the state.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: One of the state’s largest hospital systems is reporting an alarming increase in the number of pregnant women testing positive for COVID-19. Integris Baptist Medical Center reported Monday that doctors have delivered 24 babies from women who have the coronavirus since June 30.
OREGON Salem: Out-of-state travelers will be charged 30% more while camping at state parks to help recoup some losses during the economic downfall caused by the pandemic.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Under pressure to give schools more health guidance about how to safely reopen, Gov. Tom Wolf ’s administration said Monday that it will provide recommendations to school districts based on the local rate of transmission of the coronavirus.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state registered one more death from COVID-19 and 176 newly reported positive cases over the weekend, state health officials said Monday.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Gov. Henry McMaster is calling on the state health department to report any COVID-19 cases among students and staff in public schools.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The Sioux Falls School District may be short of bus drivers when school begins later this month, with contractors parly blaming the coronavirus crisis for the shortage.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Election officials have updated the absentee ballot application for November to reflect that the state Supreme Court eliminated an expansion of mail voting during the pandemic.
TEXAS Austin: State Attorney General Ken Paxton advised Friday that local governments’ attempts to delay evictions for renters grappling with the COVID-19-related recession amounted to rewriting state law – something they can’t do, he said in nonbinding legal guidance.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Federal inmates who have sued a jail and alleged a failure to adequately protect them from the coronavirus will not be able to seek immediate release through a habeas corpus petition, a judge ruled Friday. Attorney Benjamin McMurray, whose office represents more than 100 inmates at Weber County Jail in Ogden, said his clients are being punished and put into disciplinary confinement if they continue to report symptoms.
VERMONT Northfield: As the first group of Norwich University students has arrived on campus, some students have failed to follow coronavirus-related safety guidelines, the military school said. Students who break the school contract may be asked to leave campus, officials said.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Hundreds of thousands of applications for mail-in ballots that an out-of-state voter advocacy group sent to voters in Virginia had the wrong return addresses, adding another complication for state election officials who are already hard-pressed to pull off a smooth election in a pandemic.
WASHINGTON Seattle: New guidelines for fitness centers and gyms went into effect in the state Monday in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. KING TV reports under the updated guidelines, gyms and fitness facilities will need to nearly triple the minimum distance required for patrons exercising indoors, except for those practicing certain team sports.
WEST VIRGINIA Glen Jean: The New River Gorge National River is increasing access and services that were stopped in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
WISCONSIN Madison: The state’s voters have requested more than 900,000 absentee ballots for Tuesday’s primary, more than seven times what they requested in the August primary in 2018, according to data that state elections officials released Monday. The sheer volume of applications is another sign of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact as voters try to avoid infection at the polls.
WYOMING Casper: Workers closed the state’s last operating oil rig last week. Diminished demand for oil due to the pandemic and a global price war have depleted production.