50★States SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The University of South Carolina is joining a handful of universities nationwide to implement saliva tests for COVID-19, as part of its plan to reopen for classes this week.
ALABAMA Montgomery: Auburn University said a number of students are quarantined after four COVID-19 cases were reported in a campus residence hall and a fraternity house, a university spokesman said Wednesday.
ALASKA Anchorage: The University of Alaska Anchorage will drop its men’s hockey program and three other sports next year because of significant reductions in state funding, the university said Wednesday. The school also will cut men’s and women’s skiing and women’s gymnastics. The moves will save about $2.5 million a year, chancellor Cathy Sandeen said. “This comes at a difficult time as they are already facing much uncertainty surrounding this year’s season due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sandeen said.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Arizona’s downward trend of coronavirus cases means parts of the state could meet all three metrics the state’s health and education departments set for at least a partial reopening of schools by Labor Day, according to a former state health director.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Arkansas is seeking $300 in additional weekly federal unemployment benefits, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday as the state reported 729 new confirmed coronavirus cases.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that he authorized shutting off utility services at a home in the Hollywood Hills that has been the site of raucous parties despite a ban on large gatherings during the pandemic.
COLORADO Pueblo: With the looming start of the 2020 Colorado State Fair, Pueblo County’s COVID-19 testing site will be temporarily relocated.
CONNECTICUT Storrs: University of Connecticut officials evicted several students from on-campus housing after learning of a crowded dormitory room party with no mask-wearing or social distancing, which violated the school’s coronavirus rules.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Delaware and New Castle County are giving out $100 million in grants for small businesses and nonprofits in the state.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: As of Wednesday, 600 people have died from COVID-19 in the District of Columbia, WUSA-TV reported.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: With more than 28% of Florida voters casting ballots, Tuesday’s pandemic-shaded elections drew the largest state primary turnout in 18 years – setting the stage for what could be another record in November.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Gov. Brian Kemp defended his administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in fiery remarks Wednesday after a report from the White House coronavirus task force said Georgia led the nation last week in new cases per capita.
HAWAII Honolulu: The Hawaii attorney general’s office denies threatening a Republican state House of Representatives candidate with arrest for violating a traveler quarantine mandated to protect the islands from the spread of the coronavirus.
IDAHO Boise: Gov. Brad Little on Wednesday called the part-time Legislature back into a special session because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Republican governor in a news release said the special session will start Monday.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Gov. J.B. Pritzker touted a University of Illinois saliva test on Wednesday as a potential “game changer” in the fight against COVID-19. The test, which involves spitting into a test tube, can offer results in hours and is expected to cost about $10.
INDIANA Indianapolis: State officials are working to develop a public website that will track the number of coronavirus cases among students, teacher and other employees at Indiana’s K-12 schools.
IOWA Coralville: An increase in coronavirus cases prompted Iowa prison officials on Wednesday to stop admitting inmates from county jails to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. The Department of Corrections said 59 inmates tested positive in the last week out of nearly 800 tests conducted at the center.
KANSAS Lawrence: University of Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod is seeking permission to obtain a $20 million, short-term line of credit in case the coronavirus pandemic significantly modifies the 2020 football and basketball seasons.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has ruled that the state cannot force religious schools to close as long as they are following health recommendations put in place to protect against the coronavirus.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: As college students return to campus, Gov. John Bel Edwards is urging them to take precautions against the coronavirus, worried the schools could undercut progress the state has made in fighting the pandemic.
MAINE Portland: The largest school district in Maine has approved a plan for the upcoming school year that will mix in-person learning with remote instruction. The Portland Board of Public Education unanimously approved the proposal on Wednesday.
MARYLAND Towson: Multiple Maryland inmates have filed federal lawsuits alleging a leak spilled sewage into cells for days and that rules meant to protect against the coronavirus are being repeatedly ignored in state facilities.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Ten people who work at a Massachusetts courthouse have tested positive for the coronavirus, and the building will remain closed until further notice, according to a court official.
MICHIGAN Lansing: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that her administration is assessing the risk of reopening Michigan businesses that have been closed for five months under her orders to curb the spread of the coronavirus, saying she will have more to say next week. Movie theaters, gyms and indoor pools are among the places that remain barred from operating in much of the state amid the pandemic.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Minnesota’s unemployment rate fell to 7.7% in July from 8.6% a month earlier, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development said Thursday, but cautioned that job growth is slowing as the coronavirus pandemic persists.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Outbreaks of the new coronavirus have been found at two of Mississippi’s eight public universities within the first days of students returning to campuses, the state health officer said Wednesday.
MISSOURI St. Louis: A businessman who went to prison in June after pleading guilty in a pay-toplay scandal that brought down a top St. Louis County elected official has asked to be released because he has the coronavirus.
MONTANA Billings: Visitation to Yellowstone National Park has increased substantially despite the coronavirus pandemic, park officials said. Visitation rates were higher in July than they were in the same month last year.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Thirty-five confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Omaha-area schools in the early weeks of the school year, Douglas County health director Adi Pour said.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Communities can require that voters and poll workers wear face coverings on Election Day to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to state officials.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: The agency that oversees high school sports in New Jersey has decided that indoor fall sports will be delayed until early next year, but outdoor sports will start their seasons in about a month. The plan also prohibits outof-state competition except for “exceptional circumstances” and states postseason play will be limited and local, with no statewide championships.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The Albuquerque Public Schools Board voted to extend online instruction through the end of the first semester. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had said classes would take place remotely until at least Sept. 7.
NEW YORK Albany: Gov. Andrew Cuomo dismissed concerns that his state’s coronavirus death toll in nursing homes could be a significant undercount, saying it makes sense to include only those residents who died on the home’s property. Unlike the federal government and every other state with major outbreaks, only New York explicitly said that it counts just residents who died on nursing home property and not those who were transported to hospitals and died there.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Certain touch-screen ballot-marking machines will remain in use in North Carolina this fall, a judge ruled in a case in which voters questioned the equipment’s accuracy and health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Gerald VandeWalle, North Dakota’s longest-serving Supreme Court justice, is expected to be released from a hospital this week, where he has been recovering from COVID-19. VandeWalle, who has been on the court for 42 years, has been hospitalized at Sanford Health in Bismarck since Aug. 3. The 87-year-old justice said the virus has been much more debilitating than a typical cold or flu.
OHIO Middletown: A 9-year-old girl who fought brain inflammation, COVID-19 and body paralysis for nearly three months died Wednesday, according to the family's online fundraiser.
OKLAHOMA Stillwater: Mayor Will Joyce has signed an emergency proclamation limiting the number of people in bars and requiring people to be seated in order to be served after videos emerged last weekend of packed bars in the city that’s home to Oklahoma State University.
OREGON Salem: Democratic and Republican lawmakers said county governments should directly receive tens of millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief funds rather than having the state government funnel them to communities.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Republican-sponsored legislation that would give Pennsylvania school districts the final say over whether to hold sports and other activities during the pandemic cleared a House committee Thursday, a day before the governing body for interscholastic sports was to decide the fate of the fall season.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Rhode Island’s slow recovery from the economic shutdown prompted by the coronavirus continued last month as the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 11.2% and the economy added nearly 14,000 jobs, the state Department of Labor and Training said Thursday.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: State health officials warned Thursday that a number of people who attended the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally this month, including some who came from out of state, have come down with COVID-19.
TENNESSEE Nashville: State authorities cannot pursue perjury charges against voters who seek mail ballots by concluding on their own that they, or someone in their care, have a health condition that increases their risk for COVID-19, an attorney for the state said in court Thursday.
TEXAS Austin: Texas on Thursday joined the growing list of states that will pursue President Donald Trump’s plan to offer a stripped-down boost in unemployment benefits to millions of Americans amid the pandemic.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Utah overhauled crisis guidelines Thursday that could have put people with disabilities at the back of the line if hospitals become overwhelmed during the pandemic, adopting a new plan that federal officials said should serve as a national model for removing bias from life-or-death decisions.
VERMONT Montpelier: Federal coronavirus relief funding is now available to Vermont farmers, sugar makers, meat processors and agricultural food and forest products businesses to help cover losses and costs related to the pandemic.
VIRGINIA Hopewell: A prison staff union representative said nearly a third of inmates at a federal correction facility in Virginia have tested positive for the coronavirus. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Wednesday that the outbreak is at the Federal Correctional Institution Petersburg complex.
WASHINGTON Spokane: Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday updated his coronavirus proclamation so that it requires agricultural employers to test their workforce broadly when health officials identify an outbreak that passes certain thresholds.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: A child has a rare, serious immune system condition associated with the coronavirus, health officials said Thursday. The Department of Health and Human Resources said the child was the first in the state to be diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C.
WISCONSIN Green Bay: Fifty-seven people have tested positive for the coronavirus at the Green Bay Correctional Institution, according to state officials.
WYOMING Casper: The total number of coronavirus cases in Wyoming grew by 67 on Wednesday, with the number of confirmed cases rising by 59, the Casper Star-Tribune reported, according to the Wyoming Department of Health’s daily