50 ★ States

ALABAMA Montgomery: A different take on “Masks We Wear,” an original, contemporary piece that previously focused on the Mardi Gras party scene, dances its way into downtown Saturday. Montgomery Ballet’s “Masks We Wear in the Neighborhood” is a completely different ballet with new music, storylines and metaphors, said the ballet’s artistic and executive director, Danny Mitsios. ALASKA Juneau: The state had 24,100 fewer jobs in December than a year earlier amid economic repercussions from the pandemic, according to the state labor department. ARIZONA Luke Air Force Base: As COVID-19 vaccine production ramps up, the next focus for officials needs to be ensuring people want to get the shot, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly said Tuesday. “We built the distribution system. Now we’ve got a supply problem,” Kelly said. “What’s probably coming next is we’re going to have a customer problem.”

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Gov. Asa Hutchinson lifted some restrictions Tuesday on smaller indoor events and school sports as coronavirus cases continued trending downward. CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: The state is moving toward easing restrictions on businesses now that it has emerged from the deadliest surge of the pandemic and is seeing rapid declines in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.

COLORADO Woodland Park: The mayor has died weeks after being diagnosed with the coronavirus, officials said. Mayor Pro Tem Hilary LaBarre said Tuesday that Val Carr, who was less than a year into his mayoral term, had been battling COVID-19 for about two months, The Gazette reports. He was 71.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: Essential workers, including teachers, and people with underlying medical conditions should learn in about 10 days when they can begin making their COVID-19 vaccination appointments, Gov. Ned Lamont said Tuesday. DELAWARE Dover: State officials are partnering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to open a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination site for six days beginning Saturday at Dover International Speedway, specifically for those who already got their first dose at a state-run mass vaccination site last month. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an executive order Wednesday to declare gun violence a public health crisis following a rise in shootings in the city, WUSA-TV reports. FLORIDA Tallahassee: Restaurants would be able to keep selling alcohol for takeout and delivery under a bill approved by a state Senate committee Tuesday that would would make permanent a suspension of rules that Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed earlier in the pandemic.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Gov. Brian Kemp faces a renewed political battle over his plan to revamp Medicaid in the state after the Biden administration put the proposal on hold a few months after it had won approval under Donald Trump. Elizabeth Richter, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ acting administrator, said in a letter that the plan’s eligibility requirement that recipients work or perform some related activity, such as attending college full time, would be “unreasonably difficult or impossible” to meet during the pandemic. HAWAII Wailuku: The state Department of Health said suicide rates decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with previous years. IDAHO Boise: Lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday to trim a governor’s powers and increase their own during declared emergencies such as the coronavirus pandemic. The state House vote total is big enough to overcome a potential veto.

ILLINOIS Springfield: The area’s first mass vaccination site to inoculate against COVID-19 opened Wednesday on the Illinois State Fairgrounds for people 65 and older and others in the state’s high-priority groups. INDIANA Indianapolis: The state Department of Health’s weekly tracking map updated Wednesday labeled no counties in the highest-risk red category for the coronavirus for the first time since late September.

IOWA Des Moines: Republicans in the state Senate advanced a bill Tuesday that would broaden exemptions for childhood vaccinations, forbid employers from requiring employees to be vaccinated and provide other protections for people who decline immunizations. KANSAS Topeka: The state is likely to have pockets of a new, more contagious coronavirus variant first identified in the United Kingdom, and public health officials believe it could become the state’s dominant strain, the head of the state health department said Tuesday. KENTUCKY Frankfort: Bourbon tourism slowed to a trickle last year as the pandemic led to the first drop-off in visitors in more than two decades. Attendance at Kentucky Bourbon Trail distilleries plummeted by 66% in 2020, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association said Tuesday. LOUISIANA New Orleans: Coronavirus-related restrictions for Mardi Gras included canceled parades, closed bars and a near-shutdown of rowdy Bourbon Street. But satire survived. A group of masked revelers in one neighborhood, poking fun at the tight restrictions, pulled around a giant voodoo doll with Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s face and dubbed her “Queen Destroya.” MAINE Portland: The state’s attorney general has issued a warning to health care providers against administering COVID-19 vaccines to ineligible people after MaineHealth gave shots to out-of-state consultants hired to fight an effort to unionize nurses. Attorney General Aaron Frey said ignoring state protocols risks hurting the public trust in the response to the pandemic. MARYLAND Annapolis: Proposed legislation would allow deductions of up to $1,000 from state income tax for donations of diapers or feminine products to a qualified charitable organization. The pandemic has brought a heightened demand for such products, which go quickly at distribution centers, advocates said. MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Residents 65 and older can begin booking appointments for COVID-19 vaccines, state health officials said Wednesday. People with two or more serious medical conditions, including asthma, can also start receiving shots beginning Thursday. MICHIGAN Ionia: Ninety cases of a coronavirus variant believed to be more contagious have been found in inmates and staff at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, and dozens of test results are pending, officials said.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Citing progress on the vaccination front, Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday announced plans to let more middle and high school students return the classroom for in-person learning as early as Monday.

MISSISSIPPI Oxford: A festival that usually attracts thousands of people is being canceled for a second year because of the pandemic. The Double Decker Arts Festival usually takes place in downtown Oxford on the final weekend of April.

MISSOURI O’Fallon: Rural counties are both the most and least successful at getting residents vaccinated, according to data from the state’s coronavirus dashboard Wednesday. Shelby County, with 6,400 residents, has given at least one dose to 20.7% of residents. Pulaski County, with 52,000 residents, has the lowest rate at 4.2%. MONTANA Browning: Blackfeet Community College is offering a free online Piikani language course to revitalize and preserve Blackfoot language and culture, much of which was lost in the 1800s and 1900s as Native American children were forced to attend boarding schools where they were abused for speaking their languages. COVID-19 has put elders who now try to preserve that knowledge at risk. NEBRASKA Lincoln: The state said nearly 200,000 Nebraskans so far have registered to be notified when they are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Officials estimate 6.5% of the state’s population has received both required doses. NEVADA Carson City: A crowd of teachers rallied Monday for lawmakers to find new revenue streams to help fund schools – regardless of the pandemic and the state’s budget problems. “The fear is that the legislators are hiding behind (the pandemic) as a way to just kick the ball down the road again,” said Nevada State Education Association President Brian Rippet, a science teacher. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Plymouth State University is returning to online classes, citing a growing number of student COVID-19 cases. The university said Tuesday that it has just about run out of quarantine and isolation space.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: Businesses with 100 or fewer workers can get a 65% discount on personal protective equipment. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority said eligible companies can apply online at ppe.covid19.nj.gov.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The world’s largest powwow has been canceled for a second year because of the pandemic. The Albuquerque Journal reports the Gathering of Nations Powwow will be entirely online. Founder Derek Mathews said it wouldn’t be right to risk people’s safety, especially given how the coronavirus has devastated tribal communities.

NEW YORK Albany: The state is suing Amazon, claiming the company failed to provide workers with a safe environment at two warehouses in New York as COVID-19 infections surged nationwide. NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Children who have struggled to adapt to virtual learning would be greatly helped by a summer school program designed to target K-12 students at risk of academic failure, House Speaker Tim Moore said Tuesday while unveiling the proposal. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state Department of Health said a new coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom was identified in two state residents.

OHIO Columbus: Although many nursing homes continue to accept new residents, the state’s two homes for veterans still aren’t accepting additional patients nearly a year after the pandemic first hit the state. OREGON Portland: About a dozen police officers guarded dumpsters filled with perishable food outside a Fred Meyer on Tuesday as people attempted to take items that were discarded when the store lost power. The Oregonian/Oregon Live reports employees threw out thousands of items that were deemed no longer safe for consumption because the store was one of many that lost power following a weekend winter storm. PENNSYLVANIA Roaring Springs: A paper mill that has been operating since 1866 will be closing its doors, idling nearly 300 workers, and cited the pandemic as a key factor. The (Altoona) Mirror reports Appvion Inc. officials announced Monday that the company’s Spring Mill will be shutting down this spring.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state has started taking appointments for residents 75 and older at two mass vaccination sites. The state-run sites at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence and the former Citizens Bank headquarters in Cranston are scheduled to open Thursday. SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Lawmakers agreed Tuesday to spend up to $208 million to bolster vaccination efforts across the state.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state Department of Health will be lowering the age for COVID-19 vaccinations to those who are 65 and over next week, officials said Wednesday. TENNESSEE Nashville: The state is expanding eligibility for vaccinations to teachers, as well as people at least 65 years old, beginning Monday. TEXAS Austin: The state reported 52 more deaths Tuesday from the coronavirus, but COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to fall.

UTAH Salt Lake City: A snowstorm postponed free coronavirus testing at several sites Wednesday, weather officials said.

VERMONT Montpelier: The state’s congressional delegation says the vendor picked for the latest round of a federal food distribution program in Vermont is failing to meet the needs of hungry residents amid the pandemic. The U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary-designate Tom Vilsack on Friday saying New Jersey-based Global Trading Enterprises LLC, which won the contract for the latest round of Farmers to Families Food Box Program, “submitted a bid that is seemingly too low for them to deliver food boxes to the areas promised under the contract.” VIRGINIA Richmond: The state agency that handles unemployment insurance estimates it has paid out more than $40 million in benefits for claims submitted on inmates’ behalf, according to a federal court filing. WASHINGTON Seattle: A rare winter storm that dumped a foot of snow on Seattle couldn’t keep a 90-year-old woman from her first appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine. The Seattle Times reports Fran Goldman walked 6 miles round-trip to get her shot. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Weekly COVID-19 deaths from mid-January to the week ending Sunday dropped 60%. “It is amazing what has happened in West Virginia,” Gov. Jim Justice said of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, credited with bringing down deaths and hospitalizations. WISCONSIN Milwaukee: As President Joe Biden prepared to pitch his coronavirus relief package Tuesday night at the Pabst Theater, activists with Voces de La Frontera gathered at City Hall to call on him to address issues related to immigrant workers in the plan. A historic 74% of eligible Latino voters in Wisconsin voted for Biden in November, said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of the group. She said they were inspired by the hope of economic relief amid the pandemic, as well as permanent protections for undocumented immigrants, as they work in highrisk jobs with no federal assistance. WYOMING Cheyenne: Another 15 residents who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.