50 ★ States
ALABAMA Montgomery: Some Alabama residents spent the holiday weekend struggling to claim their weekly unemployment benefits. The Alabama Department of Labor told local news outlets that about 53,000 people were blocked from filing the required weekly report but it had resolved the problems.
ALASKA Juneau: The Juneau Assembly could approve more than $1 million in funds to help licensed child care providers whose businesses have been hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.
ARIZONA Kayenta: Although the Navajo Nation recently surpassed New York to have the highest COVID-19 infection rate in the country, President Jonathan Nez said Monday “the curve is flattening on the Navajo Nation.”
ARKANSAS Little Rock: A federal judge has eased some petition rules for an Arkansas group trying to get a redistricting measure on the ballot, but declined to delay the deadline for submitting the petitions because of the coronavirus pandemic.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Mendocino County public health officials said Sunday that six more people who participated in a Mother’s Day service at Assembly of God Church in Redwood Valley contracted the new coronavirus, raising the number of cases to nine and making the outbreak responsible for a third of local infections.
COLORADO Denver: Restaurants in Colorado can reopen at reduced capacity this week and day camps will be allowed to open next week, Gov. Jared Polis said Monday.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Coronavirus hospitalizations in Connecticut increased slightly on Sunday, with five new admissions making for a total of 706, according to state data released Monday.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Gov. John Carney has lifted Delaware’s temporary ban on short-term rentals and the requirement for out-of-state travelers to quarantine for 14 days. Outdoor gatherings of up to 250 people, including weddings and ceremonies, will also be allowed in the coming week, the governor said Tuesday. Cloth face coverings must be worn and people must stand 6 feet apart.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: As the city looks to begin its initial phase of reopening Friday, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the addition of two new testing sites in the District, WUSA-TV reported.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: With customers losing jobs and employees facing health threats, Gulf Power saw a drop in payments for electric service in April as it also spent money to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a regulatory filing showed.
GEORGIA Atlanta: The Georgia Army National Guard continued a recent string of honorary flyovers Monday, with two featuring UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, one in metro Atlanta and one in coastal and southwest Georgia.
HAWAII Honolulu: The University of Hawaii said the SAT and ACT will be optional for applicants for the fall 2021 semester as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
IDAHO Boise: Ramping up COVID-19 testing and tracing is key to Idaho’s containment strategy, Gov. Brad Little said Friday, as authorities said they hope to be consistently testing 2% of the state’s population in the coming months.
ILLINOIS Chicago: The chief judge of federal courts in Northern Illinois said things will look “quite different” as some operations resume at courthouses in Chicago and Rockford. Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said in a video message released Monday that a task force has been planning for how courts can proceed safely during the coronavirus pandemic.
INDIANA Terre Haute: Three inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, according to the federal government.
IOWA Iowa City: Gov. Kim Reynolds said Tuesday she will lift a moratorium on evictions and allow gatherings of more than 10 people to resume as she continues to ease restrictions meant to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
KANSAS Topeka: Dr. Lee Norman, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, urged Kansans who joined large gatherings at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks during the Memorial Day weekend to self-quarantine for 14 days to prevent spreading the new coronavirus.
KENTUCKY Lexington: The University of Kentucky will use portions of its contingency fund to save nearly 100 school jobs in the next fiscal year amid continuing furloughs at the school, the university’s president said in a news release.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: City officials are sounding the alarm after data from neighborhood testing showed that the city’s Hispanic community is being disproportionately infected with the new coronavirus.
MAINE Portland: Some summer camps have decided to cancel their seasons, but others are finding a way to operate under new rules designed to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
MARYLAND Ocean City: Photos of a crowded boardwalk in Ocean City fueled conversation throughout the holiday weekend during a time where gatherings of more than 10 people or dining in a restaurant are not permitted. The scene did not elicit praise from Delaware Gov. John Carney. “That looks to me like not the way to do things,” Carney said. “What I saw in Rehoboth, and what I heard is the situation along the Delaware coast, is the way to do it.” Carney was likely referring to the decision to open Delaware beaches and community pools under “strict” social distancing guidelines, starting May 22.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The EcoTarium, a science and nature museum in Worcester that closed to the public in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic, is planning to reopen on a limited basis next month.
MICHIGAN Lansing: A group organizing a ballot drive to add LGBT anti-discrimination protections to Michigan’s civil rights law sued the state Tuesday, saying coronavirus restrictions made it impossible to collect the 340,000 voter signatures needed.
MINNESOTA Crookston: The University of Minnesota Crookston’s fourth installment of a six-part series designed to help businesses and communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic will take place at noon Wednesday.
MISSISSIPPI Biloxi: With water and amusement parks reopening visitors at one Gulf Coast attraction said they believed they were safe from coronavirus infection.
MISSOURI Springfield: The school district is changing how it distributes grab-and-go meals this summer but will add enough food to cover the weekend.
MONTANA Billings: A Yellowstone County woman in her 80s has died of COVID-19, the county’s health department said Tuesday. The woman died Monday at a Billings hospital, RiverStone Health announced. She is the 17th person in the state to die of the respiratory virus and the third in the county.
NEBRASKA Omaha: An eighth resident at a western Omaha nursing home has died from COVID-19, as Nebraska health officials reported three new deaths and 145 news cases of the virus.
NEVADA Carson City: The Trump administration is warning Nevada’s Democratic governor that his plan for reopening the state during recovery from the coronavirus fails to treat religious and secular gatherings equally.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The New Hampshire chapter of the National Endowment for the Humanities has distributed $400,000 to libraries, historical societies, museums and cultural nonprofit groups struggling financially because of the coronavirus pandemic.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: New Jersey schools can hold outdoor graduation ceremonies starting July 6, Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The New Mexico Department of Health and the State Personnel Office began accepting applications Friday to fill 200 to 250 contact-tracing positions around the state as the fight against the coronavirus pandemic moves into the next phase. The positions range from entry level through supervisory.
NEW YORK New York City: New Yorkers marked Memorial Day with car convoys and small ceremonies instead of big parades as the coronavirus pandemic reshaped the solemn holiday, blending tributes to virus victims and front-line workers with the traditional remembrance of the nation’s war dead.
NORTH CAROLINA Southport: A coastal town in North Carolina has installed hand sanitizer stations on sidewalks in its downtown.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: State health officials on Tuesday reported 43 new cases of COVID-19, including 38 in the state’s most populous county that contains Fargo.
OHIO Columbus: A federal court panel temporarily stopped Ohio ballot campaigns Tuesday from proceeding under less restrictive signature-gathering rules they had been granted amid the coronavirus pandemic.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: A citybased hospital system on Tuesday began allowing limited visitation to most patients, including those with the new coronavirus, as the state continues to reopen. Integris Health said some patients can designate one person as a “patient representative” who can visit between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily.
OREGON Portland: A rural Oregon judge said he won’t dismiss his ruling which tossed out Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-at-home orders to fight the spread of the new coronavirus. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Baker County Circuit Judge Matthew B. Shirtcliff told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday he will not alter the preliminary injunction that declared Brown’s directives “null and void.”
RHODE ISLAND Newport: The City Council is expected to consider a resolution this week that would go beyond state rules and mandate mask-wearing at all hours on some city streets. The measure introduced by Councilwoman Susan Taylor, if passed at a special meeting Wednesday, would go into effect Friday.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Coronavirus-related changes to this year’s South Carolina primary elections, including universal absentee voting, mean that elections officials are expecting a high volume of absentee ballots, as well as possibly a long wait for results.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: South Dakota health officials reported 67 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday but no new deaths in the state tied to the pandemic.
TENNESSEE Nashville: State lawmakers marked their return to legislative offices Tuesday by advancing an anti-transgender proposal after abruptly recessing three months ago because of the coronavirus outbreak.
TEXAS Austin: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be a headliner of Texas Democrats’ virtual convention, which was moved online over fears of the new coronavirus. The announcement Tuesday gives Texas Democrats one of their most prominent convention speakers in recent years.
UTAH Logan: Restrictions aimed at reducing the use of single-use plastic bags have been put on hold in northern Utah during the coronavirus pandemic, but officials close to the issue said the efforts will not be forgotten.
VERMONT Burlington: A nonprofit group that protects public access to some swimming holes in Vermont’s rivers and streams is urging people who use them to be safe. The advice from The Vermont River Conservancy, which works to protect land along the state’s waterways, comes as the state is getting its first dose of extended hot, summer weather.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Local governments across the state are set to start receiving their first share of federal funding designated to cover spending related to the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON Vancouver: The number of employees at a Vancouver fruit processing facility who have tested positive for COVID-19 is now up to 65. KGW reported that Firestone Pacific Foods said 87 employees have tested negative for the virus, and there are still a few of its employees who need to be tested.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state’s Board of Law Examiners will go ahead with the bar examination this summer, with policies worked out with government and medical experts amid the coronavirus pandemic. The dates for the exam are July 28-29.
WISCONSIN Madison: State courts can resume in-person hearings and jury trials if they can come up with plans to protect participants and observers from the new coronavirus, under an order from a divided state Supreme Court.
WYOMING Cody: Results are negative so far during testing for signs of the new coronavirus in sewage. Park County Public Health officer Dr. Aaron Billin presented the first round of results to Cody city officials Monday. The samples were taken April 28 at the city’s wastewater treatment center. Billin said the results are encouraging and show that local public health efforts have been successful.