50 ★ States
ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: Students across the University of Alabama System will return to in-person instruction in the fall with no limits on class size in Birmingham, Huntsville or Tuscaloosa, officials said Monday.
ALASKA Juneau: The federal government has approved the state’s plan to give its fishing industry almost $50 million in pandemic relief.
ARIZONA Phoenix: The city soon may have more shelters for people experiencing homelessness thanks in part to federal COVID-19 relief funds.
ARKANSAS Mountain Home: North Arkansas Electric Cooperative has been awarded more than $28 million from the federal government to expand its NEXT fiber-optic internet and phone service. “Why is this important? It’s about making sure our kids, if they have to go virtual in education, aren’t penalized for that. They can learn,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.
CALIFORNIA San Diego: The San Diego Comic-Con will remain virtual for the July event, but organizers are planning a smaller-scale gathering in November. They said challenges caused by the pandemic left them with “limited financial resources.”
COLORADO Denver: The state has seen a substantial decrease in deaths and hospitalizations from influenza amid public health measures meant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The state Department of Public Health and Environment reported a total of 24 hospitalizations from the flu between Sept. 27 and Feb. 20 and just three deaths so far. Around this time in last year’s flu season, more than 2,400 people had been hospitalized.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: High school students learning exclusively at home are in greater danger of failing to advance to the next grade than those who opted for a model that includes at least some in-person learning, according to a report by the nonprofit educational organization RISE. The report found 33% of high schoolers in the nine urban Connecticut districts it studied are in danger of not progressing to the next grade, compared to about 15% in a non-pandemic year.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Vaccine skepticism has revived a debate over a nearly 20-year-old law allowing Delaware to quarantine and isolate people if they refuse an inoculation. Gov. John Carney has said he does not plan to use the authority during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill to make sure he doesn’t.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The National Cherry Blossom Festival is scheduled to take place March 20 to April 11 with a new format that organizers say is meant to honor the festival’s tradition while prioritizing health and safety during the pandemic, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: Officials are recommending that the state’s antiquated unemployment processing system be replaced after a review confirmed what had long been recognized: a broken system full of glitches that was incapable of handling the unprecedented deluge of claims spawned by the COVID-19 outbreak.
GEORGIA Atlanta: As people continue to work and attend school from home because of the pandemic, they should be vigilant for scammers posing as tech support, Georgia’s attorney general says.
HAWAII Honolulu: Public schools should resume in-person classes as soon as possible because children don’t pose a major risk of coronavirus transmission, said Dr. Sarah Kemble, the acting state epidemiologist.
IDAHO Boise: Two former state attorneys general and a former deputy attorney general have formed a group to fight laws being proposed by the Legislature. The Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution said a bill to make ballot initiatives nearly impossible, another to limit a governor’s ability to respond to emergencies such as the pandemic and others removing the attorney general’s office as the primary defender of state agencies are unconstitutional.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Thousands of Chicago Public Schools students in kindergarten through fifth grade returned to school Monday in the second – and largest – wave of students to go back to classrooms after almost a year of remote learning.
INDIANA Indianapolis: More than 1 million residents have received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than half of those people are now fully vaccinated, state health officials said Monday.
IOWA Iowa City: With the state’s public universities split on how to hold commencement ceremonies this spring, a Republican lawmaker has proposed a bill that would require them to offer graduating students an in-person option.
KANSAS Topeka: Conservative legislators, still smarting over actions Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly took early in the pandemic, pushed Monday to prevent the state from restricting religious gatherings or keeping abortion providers open during emergencies.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Gov. Andy Beshear said the state just recorded a seventh straight week of declining coronavirus cases, and restaurants, bars and other businesses may slightly increase capacity Friday.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state reached a COVID-19 vaccine milestone Monday, with more than 1 million shots administered in the 11 weeks since immunizations began.
MAINE Portland: Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King is taking another shot at promoting a $120 billion revitalization fund to help restaurants that have been hit hard by the pandemic. He said the proposal is especially important for the tourism-dependent economy in Maine.
MARYLAND Annapolis: The pandemic-affected oyster season has been difficult for the industry, causing the state’s farmers and watermen to rethink how they sell their product. Many people only see oysters as something they enjoy at a restaurant, said Karis King, public relations and event manager at the Oyster Recovery Partnership, which has been working with farmers to connect them directly to consumers and to educate the public on how to shuck at home.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The state eased some coronavirus restrictions Monday. Restaurant capacity limits have been lifted entirely, though social distancing requirements and time limits remain. Restaurants will also be allowed to host musical performances.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Ford Field, the domed home of the Detroit Lions, welcomed educators from southeast Michigan for a vaccine clinic Monday. Retailer Meijer and the Michigan Education Special Services Association worked together to identify and schedule 2,600 school staff still needing shots.
MINNESOTA St. Cloud: More than 900,000 Minnesotans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state health department, and 467,300 have completed their vaccine series.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Gov. Tate Reeves’ COVID-19 executive order expires Wednesday, and coronavirus numbers are improving, but with spring break approaching, State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs is urging residents to avoid travel.
MISSOURI O’Fallon: Thousands of urban dwellers have been traveling to rural communities in hopes of getting vaccines that remain elusive in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. Last week, a mass vaccination event at the Knights of Columbus in Leopold had 2,000 doses available – far more than needed by the town’s roughly 65 residents.
MONTANA Great Falls: Montana reported far fewer new coronavirus cases in the week ending Sunday, adding 1,175. That’s down 14.7% from the previous week’s toll.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The state could get its first doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine this week, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday. He said the greater flexibility of the one-dose vaccine could help in rural areas or with groups that are harder to reach for a follow-up shot.
NEVADA Carson City: People who work in the Legislature were offered access to their first rounds of vaccines Thursday, almost one month into the 2021 session. Republicans have said they want to open the doors of the legislative building to the public, but leading Democrats have urged caution.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Some maple producers are welcoming visitors this season, with pandemic restrictions in place. March is considered Maple Month in New Hampshire, with open houses held at maple businesses. The state’s “Maple Weekend” is March 20-21.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: Teachers, support staff and public transportation workers will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine March 15, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Education officials have clarified plans to seek a partial waiver from federal testing requirements as many students remain in remote or hybrid learning programs. State Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said the New Mexico Public Education Department has not canceled spring endof-year assessments.
NEW YORK Albany: The state says when wedding receptions resume this month, guests will be allowed to hit the dance floor only with members of their immediate party, household or family seated at the same table. Even then, they must wear masks and stay within their own distanced “dancing zones.”
NORTH CAROLINA Greensboro: The White House says it will include the state in its federal pilot program of community vaccination centers with a site opening March 10 at the Four Seasons Town Centre.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler is encouraging public school students and families to take part in an online survey from the Department of Public Instruction to describe their K-12 learning experiences this school year.
OHIO Columbus: Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that residents 60 and older and those with certain conditions or professions that put them at higher risk will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines Thursday.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Less than a year after lawmakers temporarily granted Gov. Kevin Stitt unprecedented emergency powers, they’re looking to curb his authority. Several GOP legislators have introduced bills aimed at telling the Republican governor what he can and cannot do, even though Stitt has taken a more reserved approach than most of his counterparts to combating COVID-19.
OREGON Salem: On the one-year anniversary of the state’s first coronavirus case being reported, Gov. Kate Brown praised the way people in Oregon have handled themselves during the pandemic. “Today and every day, we remember the more than 2,200 Oregonians we have lost,” Brown said in a statement Sunday.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The state is easing restrictions on large gatherings and eliminating a quarantine requirement for out-of-state travelers, reflecting a sustained slide in new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the Wolf administration announced Monday.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Brown University is investigating an uptick in coronavirus cases, a spokesperson said. The Ivy League school has reported 58 new cases in the past seven days as of Sunday, according to its testing dashboard, but spokesperson Brian Clark said there were few connections behind the surge.
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Officials at Bob Jones University said Monday that the private Christian college is stepping down mask requirements as it experiences fewer COVID-19 cases on campus. Beginning Tuesday, masks will no longer be required in classrooms once students are seated and instruction has begun, President Steve Pettit said.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state is expected to receive 7,000 doses this week of Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the state’s total allotment to just over 25,000 doses of vaccines per week. South Dakota Department of Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a great option for people who have trouble being able to schedule a second dose.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Residents in need of rental assistance because of the pandemic can now sign up for help from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency.
TEXAS Austin: Compared to the rest of the state, Travis County has the highest percentage of people who want to get vaccinated against COVID-19, at 38%, according to a poll by the Episcopal Health Foundation.
UTAH St. George: The American Red Cross is hosting blood drives throughout southern Utah through March 15. The organization will test blood, platelet and plasma donations for coronavirus antibodies.
VERMONT Montpelier: The state is preparing to make it possible for more government employees to return to their pre-pandemic workplaces, Administration Secretary Susanne Young said Monday.
VIRGINIA Buffalo Gap: Augusta County Public Schools requires spectators at sporting events to wear masks, but photos taken at Buffalo Gap’s home football game Saturday show more than half of fans not wearing them.
WEST VIRGINIA Madison: Services at the Boone County Health Department have been suspended following an investigation. The state Bureau for Public Health found deficiencies with operations, including that the county agency did not have written policies for infection prevention, hand hygiene or environmental cleaning, news outlets report.
WISCONSIN Madison: Assembly Republicans urged Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday to divert more federal COVID-19 relief dollars to schools offering in-person classes.
WYOMING Laramie: The University of Wyoming is seeing far fewer coronavirus cases on campus this semester than in the fall, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. The school’s positivity rate for virus tests has fallen to 0.07% after nearing 1% at one point last semester, according to the paper, which cited a news release from the university.