50 ★ States

ALABAMA Birmingham: Crowds gather every year at 16th Street Baptist Church to mark the anniversary of the horrific day when a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klansmen went off just before worship, killing four Black girls. This year’s observance will be virtual because of the pandemic. Al.com reports the downtown church is asking people this year to watch a video replay of the 2019 memorial service, which included an appearance by former Vice President Joe Biden, now the Democratic presidential nominee. The replay will begin at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday on the church’s Facebook page to coincide with the day of the bombing in 1963.

ALASKA Anchorage: The city will receive support from four federal staffers to aid in the suppression of a coronavirus outbreak in its homeless population.

ARIZONA Tempe: Arizona State University President Michael Crow alleges several restaurant-bars near campus have violated the safety protocols by which businesses must abide to operate amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Crow sent a letter to Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ and the head of the state Department of Liquor Licenses and Control about the alleged violations by some Mill Avenue eating and drinking establishments.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: State health officials on Sunday reported 508 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 12 additional deaths.

CALIFORNIA Palm Springs: After the wheels fell off the state’s COVID-19 testing system in August, California announced Friday that it would begin testing whether a system designed by Apple and Google would provide a more accurate public health tool to track exposure to the coronavirus.

COLORADO Fort Collins: Gov. Jared Polis officially extended the state’s mask order Saturday due to the coronavirus pandemic. “The mask-wearing is a key part of continuing the forward progress, and it’ll be with us for the next 30 days,” Polis said.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: An hourslong meeting Friday with the organization that oversees high school sports in the state failed to convince Connecticut’s top public health official, acting health commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford, that a fall football season should go forward, she said.

DELAWARE Dover: The mayor says the city will move forward with plans to allow Halloween trick-or-treating and to host an annual holiday celebration in December.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Gyms and boutique fitness facilities in D.C. are fighting to reopen in full, saying their facilities shouldn’t have the same restrictions as bars and restaurants, WUSA-TV reports.

FLORIDA Winter Park: A 70-year-old man was beaten after he asked a man who wasn’t wearing a mask to practice social distancing inside a gas station, police said.

GEORGIA Albany: A man hopes to profit by giving people a guilt-free outlet for venting their frustrations amid the prolonged pandemic. Quentin Collins of Albany is the owner of No Consequences Rage Room. For prices ranging from $25 to $80, Collins provides his customers in search of a stress-relieving outburst with TV sets, windshields, cups, bottles and other items to smash using a baseball bat or sledgehammer.

HAWAII Hilo: The federal Department of Veterans Affairs has sent a team of health care staffers to help contain a coronavirus outbreak at the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home, officials said Friday.

IDAHO Nampa: The city has announced a small-business grant program to help local businesses with COVID-19 expenses.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Schools reported roughly 84% citywide attendance for the first day of remote classes last week, but some schools had fewer than half of students log in.

INDIANA Indianapolis: State health officials are developing the criteria they will use to decide who is entitled to receive a coronavirus vaccine when one becomes available. Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box expects the supply of doses will be extremely limited once the federal government approves a vaccine for widespread human use, she said.

IOWA Des Moines: Another three people with COVID-19 have died, and 406 more cases have been confirmed, the state reported Monday. Iowa has been changing how it reports testing data, leading to spikes in the rate of positive data.

KANSAS Wichita: Several bars and nightclubs have been ignoring the city’s 11 p.m. coronavirus curfew, with one owner saying he has to do it for his business to survive. City and county officials say the venues that have been flouting the curfew put in place by Sedgwick County health officials could lose their liquor licenses and expose themselves to lawsuits if patrons or employees get sick.

KENTUCKY Louisville: Roughly a month after resuming in-person classes, the Archdiocese of Louisville has more students with active COVID-19 cases than any of the state’s school districts. Schools in the archdiocese had 80 active cases among students as well as 13 active cases among staff, according to Friday data from the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Students in East Baton Rouge Parish are planning to resume on-campus learning five days a week in October.

MAINE Bangor: The state is preparing this week for the first trials since March. Judges, clerks, attorneys and advocates are watching closely for potential pitfalls for trials held during a pandemic.

MARYLAND Salisbury: Health officials say 50 crabmeat pickers on the Eastern Shore contracted COVID-19 this summer. Workers’ rights advocates said a lack of personal protective equipment and a language barrier that kept workers from communicating concerns to employers contributed to the outbreaks.

MASSACHUSETTS Dover: A second high school in the state is delaying the beginning of in-person learning after students held a house party amid the pandemic. Andrew W. Keough, superintendent of DoverSherborn Public Schools, said in an email to parents Monday that school would begin remotely for all high school students as a result of the party Friday, WFXT-TV reports.

MICHIGAN Lansing: The state on Monday launched a $5 million ad campaign to urge people to wear a mask to fight the coronavirus, with a focus on appealing to those who believe the state’s requirement infringes on their rights. The “spread hope, not COVID” message includes public service announcements that feature military members saying they wear a face covering to protect their freedom and the freedom of others, saying it can reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 by 70%.

MINNESOTA St. Cloud: Thanks to reinforcements to the federal dairy safety net and a generous coronavirus relief package, fewer dairy farmers are going out of business, and their outlook has brightened despite the pandemic. “People’s morale has definitely lifted,” said Shelly DePestel, an owner of the Lewiston Dairy in southwest Minnesota, among the state’s largest.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Gov. Tate Reeves is extending a statewide mask mandate through the end of September, saying Monday that he believes it is helping to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

MISSOURI Jefferson City: The state is temporarily making it easier for people to become substitute teachers in anticipation of a potential shortage because of the pandemic.

MONTANA Missoula: As hunters brace for a 2020 field season in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic, they still have to deal with a more persistent wildlife disease problem: chronic wasting disease. “It still isn’t going away,” Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 1 spokesperson Dillon Tabish told the Missoulian newspaper. “It’s not as if there weren’t enough disease issues in the world now.”

NEBRASKA Omaha: A former TV weatherman and mayoral spokesman has taken a plea deal months after being accused of emailing death threats to a local health department director over her handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Ronald Penzkowski, 57, pleaded no contest Friday to two misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

NEVADA Carson City: State health officials on Sunday reported 317 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths. Johns Hopkins University data analyzed by the Associated Press showed seven-day rolling averages for Nevada’s daily new cases and daily deaths dropping over the past two weeks.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Portsmouth: The 26th annual Portsmouth Halloween Parade, which draws as many as 25,000 spectators, has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers say.

NEW JERSEY Newark: NJ Transit on Monday announced a pilot program for its mobile app that allows passengers preparing to board to see how many other passengers are riding their bus or train.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Health officials on Sunday reported 103 new confirmed coronavirus cases with two additional deaths in the state.

NEW YORK New York: The 9/11 Memorial Museum opened to the public Saturday for the first time since cultural institutions across the city shut down six months ago to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Visitors have to wear masks, and only 25% of the museum’s maximum capacity is permitted inside.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: An employee in the Wake County Sheriff’s Office has tested positive for COVID-19, a development that could cause a disruption in responding to an unprecedented number of pistol permit applications. The Sheriff ’s Office has issued 32,700 pistol purchase permits in 2020, vs. 10,499 during the same period last year.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: State officials on Sunday confirmed 431 new positive cases of the coronavirus, after more than 8,500 tests in the past day.

OHIO Columbus: There have been 20,597 fewer reports of child abuse and neglect in the state during the coronavirus pandemic than during the same period last year, but experts say that does not mean incidents are going down. It’s most likely that they are being reported less frequently than when children were around people required to report incidents since the COVID-19 shutdown, said Lindsay Williams, executive director of the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state reported 869 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday. The number of active cases grew by 422 and now exceeds 10,000 – an all-time high in the state.

OREGON Salem: The Oregon Health Authority reported five new deaths Sunday related to COVID-19. The state’s death toll has reached 509.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Gov. Tom Wolf ’s pandemic restrictions that required people to stay at home, placed size limits on gatherings and ordered “non-life-sustaining” businesses to shut down are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Monday.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Children across the state returned to school Monday as the state launched its coronavirus testing program for students, teachers and staffers.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: As officials make plans for the future dissemination of a coronavirus vaccine, the state’s public health department is rolling out a new network to help manage all of South Carolina’s vaccine-related information. The Department of Health and Environmental Control said the Statewide Immunization Online Network would help immunization providers keep track of inventory and allow state officials to address coverage rates.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The South Dakota Department of Health reported Monday that another 163 people in the state have tested positive for the coronavirus. The plurality of the state’s 2,499 active infections are among people ages 20-29.

TENNESSEE Nashville: The extra $300 unemployment payments available to the state’s residents amid the pandemic are ending, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

TEXAS Austin: More Texas homeowners are falling behind on their mortgage payments during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to a new industry report.

UTAH Ogden: As if COVID-19 weren’t enough to worry about, flu season is gearing up, giving those already jittery about every cough and sneeze more to fret over. Accordingly, Utah health officials are urging the public, now more than ever, to get vaccinated against the flu, the Standard-Examiner reports.

VERMONT Montpelier: If the number of COVID-19 cases continues to remain low at the state’s colleges, universities and schools, Gov. Phil Scott may announce the easing of some restrictions on the hard-hit hospitality industry this week, he said.

VIRGINIA Ashland: In-person classes are expected to begin this week at a Hanover County middle school after the start of the school year was delayed when three employees tested positive for COVID-19. Liberty Middle School Principal Donald Latham posted on the school’s website Sunday that officials determined in-person learning can begin Tuesday.

WASHINGTON Bremerton: Three people’s deaths have been linked to the COVID-19 outbreak at St. Michael Medical Center, Kitsap Public Health officials said.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra has canceled the first half of its season this fall due to the pandemic.

WYOMING Cheyenne: The 1952 marquee on The Lincoln Cheyenne is lit up again downtown – no longer with movie titles but with names of bands and music artists to perform in concert at the 1928 building. New owners have renovated and added state-ofthe-art sound and lighting equipment to the building, which previously housed a movie theater. The venue seats 1,250, while restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic currently limit the audiences to 250.