HIGHLIGHT: PENNSYLVANIA
Harrisburg: Beaver County is among counties planning to defy Gov. Tom Wolf, advising residents it will operate under the looser coronavirus restrictions being allowed elsewhere in the state, an official said Wednesday. Beaver County, home to a severe outbreak in a large nursing home, is the only western Pennsylvania county where the Democratic governor has not lifted his tightest restrictions. Wolf tapped 13 counties in the region to see relief starting Friday. Dissatisfied, a growing number of Republican-controlled counties have vowed in recent days to join them, leading Wolf to threaten to block them from receiving pandemic aid.
ALABAMA Alexander City: About two dozen people have died at a veterans nursing home because of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, the state said Tuesday.
ALASKA Juneau: A legislative committee set aside lingering legal questions and agreed to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s plans for $1 billion in federal coronavirus relief aid. Many Legislative Budget and Audit Committee members said getting the money out was more important than haggling over legal authority for the spending, KTOO Public Media reports.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Gov. Doug Ducey said Tuesday that he’ll let gyms and public swimming pools reopen and will allow his stay-at-home order to expire this Friday.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state has ordered a large theater to abandon its plans to defy corona-virusrelated restrictions on gatherings by holding what could be the nation’s first major concert this far into the pandemic. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday that the state Health Department was sending a cease-anddesist letter to the Fort Smith venue, TempleLive, to postpone or cancel a concert Friday night by country rock singer Travis McCready.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: Californians unable to pay their rent because of the coronavirus crisis could have their payments covered by the Legislature, state Senate leaders announced Tuesday, as part of a massive $25 billion aid package. State and local officials have moved to delay evictions during the crisis, prompting concerns from landlords who could face foreclosure.
COLORADO Greeley: The Weld County jail violated inmates’ constitutional rights in the way it handled the coronavirus, a judge ruled. Judge Philip Brimmer found Monday that Sheriff Steve Reams failed to take adequate measures to protect inmates and that they are entitled to a limited preliminary injunction so the jail can “ameliorate those conditions,” the Greeley Tribune reports.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Gov. Ned Lamont made an example of himself Tuesday, getting screened for the coronavirus as the state looks to significantly increase testing before it begins the planned reopening of the economy May 20. “I am out there encouraging people to get tested right now,” Lamont said.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The state plans to hire about 200 workers to help trace the contacts of those who test positive for the coronavirus, state officials announced.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Mayor Muriel Bowser has extended D.C.’s stay-at-home order for an additional three weeks until June 8, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Orlando: After being shuttered for almost two months, Universal Orlando plans to allow the reopening of some restaurants and shops on a limited basis in the theme park resort’s entertainment district this week, company officials said Tuesday. Next week, Walt Disney World will allow some third-party shops and restaurants in its Disney Springs entertainment district to reopen. Neither has said when theme parks and hotels will reopen.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Georgians may be spending a lot of time at home, but it’s not stopping them from playing the state lottery. Lottery sales set a monthly record in April after dropping in March, said Brad Bohannon, the Georgia Lottery Corp.’s vice president for government relations.
HAWAII Honolulu: The state Department of Health on Tuesday asked lawmakers to appropriate about $2.5 million to fund a program at the University of Hawaii that would train workers to track the contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19.
IDAHO Boise: Authorities have approved a plan to prevent giant rangeland wildfires in southwestern Idaho by clearing vegetation along 435 miles of roads to create fuel breaks.
ILLINOIS Springfield: The state reported a one-day record high in COVID-19 cases Tuesday and its next-tohighest death toll, just a day after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that the peak in coronavirus infections originally projected for late April has been pushed into mid-June.
INDIANA Indianapolis: The state’s gas and electric companies are asking regulators to allow them to recover lost revenue from customers due to the pandemic, but critics argue that it would burden struggling consumers even more.
IOWA Iowa City: Restaurants, salons, barbershops and gyms will be allowed to reopen Friday under new restrictions intended to slow the coronavirus, the governor said.
KANSAS Holton: The Johnsonville meatpacking plant in the city has shut down after five employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The Kentucky Derby Museum announced it will donate more than $10,000 of its proceeds from online merchandise sales to coronavirus relief efforts in the state. The donations will go toward Gov. Andy Beshear’s Team Kentucky Fund and the One Louisville COVID-19 Response Fund, the museum said in a Facebook post.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: Dining in restaurants can resume in the city beginning Saturday – with reservations. The name and number for the reservation will have to be kept by the restaurant for 21 days to aid in contact tracing if needed.
MAINE Augusta: The state Department of Health and Human Services is promoting affordable insurance options for residents who’ve lost their health care coverage during the pandemic.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Residents used words like “soul-crushing” and “hell” to describe their experiences seeking unemployment benefits via a state website, testifying Tuesday during an online hearing with state lawmakers.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A veterans home that’s been the site of one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the nation will undergo a management overhaul, and going forward it will operate with fewer residents and new safety protocols, according to state officials. About $2 million in improvements are also being made to the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke to make it safer, said Daniel Tsai, deputy secretary of the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
MICHIGAN Lansing: Officials said Wednesday that 31,000 – nearly two-thirds of the total – state employees will take temporary layoff days through late July as the state confronts a budget shortfall amid the coronavirus pandemic.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Gov. Tim Walz has signed six bills into law as the regular session of the Legislature winds down toward its adjournment date Monday. One of the bills he signed Tuesday extended a state COVID-19 relief fund that expired this week.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday that he is tightening regulations in parts of the state seeing the fastest spread of the new coronavirus. The target area is seven largely rural counties in the east-central part of the state: Attala, Leake, Scott, Jasper, Neshoba, Newton and Lauderdale.
MISSOURI O’Fallon: The numbers of confirmed cases and deaths from the coronavirus in the state both reached somber milestones Tuesday: Cases topped 10,000, and the number of deaths exceeded 500.
MONTANA Great Falls: Actor Jeff Bridges is starring in a COVID-19 public service campaign urging Montanans to remain vigilant against the coronavirus threat as the state eases restrictions, the Montana Hospital Association said. The association launched “Stay the Course, Montana,” in which Bridges, a part-time Montana resident, encourages residents to keep up social distancing and to wear a face cloth covering whenever in public. “We can abide with this thing, man. We’ll get through this,” Bridges says.
NEBRASKA Grand Island: Nebraska State Fair officials are still planning to hold the 11-day event in Grand Island late this summer, according to a release from the fair’s interim director.
NEVADA Las Vegas: The casino workers’ Culinary Union held a protest drive up the Las Vegas Strip on Tuesday evening to call for casino companies to release their reopening plans and to adopt the union’s recommended safety protocols.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A panel tasked with reopening the state’s economy amid the easing threat from the coronavirus pandemic agreed Tuesday on proposals for seven sectors, among them lodging, outdoor attractions and gyms. The recommendations won’t be final until public health officials and Gov. Chris Sununu give their OK.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: Nonessential businesses, shuttered because of the coronavirus outbreak, will open next week for curbside pickup, as will nonessential construction, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is weighing whether to extend major provisions of an emergency health order that limits nonessential business activity and bans gatherings of more than five people.
NEW YORK New York: A fourth region of upstate New York has met the criteria to gradually restart its economic activity as the state prepares to slowly relax its pandemicinduced social restrictions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. The North Country, a sprawling, rural swath that includes the Adirondack Mountains, met all seven benchmarks the state requires before selected businesses can be approved for reopening, according to the administration.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Hundreds of state prisoners with COVID-19 are now deemed to have recovered based on government health guidelines.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state’s most populous county has recorded a daily high number of positive tests for the coronavirus, state health officials said Wednesday. Testing from Tuesday showed 69 cases in of COVID-19 in Cass County, which includes Fargo.
OHIO Columbus: After weeks of waiting, self-employed workers can apply for unemployment approved by the federal stimulus package.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Collections to the state’s main government operating fund missed projections by 44% last month, the biggest shortfall in modern history, state finance officials said Tuesday.
OREGON Portland: Portland Parks and Recreation will not open seasonal public swimming pools this summer and is canceling all camps and activities because of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Tuesday.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Brown University has canceled all its study abroad programs for the upcoming fall semester in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the school announced Wednesday.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state Senate rebuked Gov. Henry McMaster for part of his coronavirus response, saying he should have gotten permission from lawmakers to continue the state of emergency for the pandemic over two months.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday held off her threat to sue Native American tribes that have set up highway checkpoints intended to keep the coronavirus away from their reservations, saying she’d like to work out an agreement. The tribes cite the threat of the virus, combined with their vulnerable populations and poor medical facilities, as urgent reasons to control access.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Fear of contracting the coronavirus doesn’t meet medical criteria for voting by mail, state officials said Tuesday. Republican Gov. Bill Lee swiftly backed the interpretation of the state elections coordinator, telling reporters that “what we want to do in this state is remove a reason to have fear about going to the polling booths.”
TEXAS Houston: The state will begin widespread coronavirus testing in prisons where at least 30 people have died, officials announced Tuesday. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott also said he tested negative for the virus after his visit last week to the White House came on the same day that a valet to President Donald Trump tested positive.
UTAH Springdale: Zion National Park reopened its gates Wednesday after an extended closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a set of restrictions in place to encourage social distancing.
VERMONT Montpelier: The state is now offering free testing for the virus that causes COVID-19 to anyone who wants one, even people without symptoms, the Vermont Health Department announced.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam rejected a call Tuesday from several top GOP lawmakers to institute a moratorium on the release amid the coronavirus outbreak of certain inmates by the Virginia Parole Board, which has come under criticism for some recent decisions.
WASHINGTON Olympia: More than 1,300 people in the state have been trained and are ready to work with local health departments to do contact tracing once a case of the coronavirus has been confirmed.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday widened the most aggressive phase of his coronavirus reopening strategy to allow tanning salons to open just before Memorial Day weekend. The Republican governor said he has been overwhelmed with requests from tanning businesses to be included among the restaurants, big-box stores and recreational services reopening next week.
WISCONSIN Madison: The owner of a Christian-based children’s hair salon has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Gov. Tony Evers’ “safer at home” order that closed nonessential businesses is a violation of free speech and religious rights.
WYOMING Cheyenne: Access to the southern half of Yellowstone National Park will resume Monday by way of Wyoming, but park officials continue to talk with Montana officials about reopening the rest of the park after a seven-week closure due to the coronavirus, Superintendent Cam Sholly said Wednesday.