50 ★States
ALABAMA Montgomery: Breaking with other Southern Republican governors, Gov. Kay Ivey extended the state’s mask order for another month Thursday but said the requirement will end for good in April.
ALASKA Juneau: City leaders have approved changes to local coronavirus testing requirements for travelers, including waiving a $250 testing fee for nonresidents who are tested at the airport and exempting “fully vaccinated” individuals from strict social distancing requirements after testing.
ARIZONA Phoenix: The state Senate has voted to designate gun stores as essential businesses allowed to remain open during an emergency.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state’s highest court on Thursday ordered Arkansas to immediately make the COVID-19 vaccine available to judges, prosecutors and other court employees, but Gov. Asa Hutchinson said they’ll have to wait if they’re not already eligible for the shots.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: The state will begin setting aside 40% of all vaccine doses for its most vulnerable neighborhoods in an effort to inoculate people most at risk from COVID-19 and get the state’s economy open more quickly.
COLORADO Denver: Gov. Jared Polis is engaged to longtime partner and first gentleman Marlon Reis, the Colorado Sun reports. Reis, 39, told the Sun that Polis, 45, got down on one knee Dec. 6 when Reis’ condition was deteriorating after testing positive for the coronavirus, and he was preparing to go to the hospital and trying to reassure his children. “I said to him, ‘I couldn’t breathe before. Now I really can’t breathe,’ ” Reis said. He has since recovered from COVID-19.
CONNECTICUT Meriden: First lady Jill Biden and new U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona went back to school Wednesday in a push to show districts that have yet to transition back to in-person learning that it can be done safely. “Teachers want to be back,” Biden, a community college English professor who’s been teaching virtually, said at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School. The visit also served as a homecoming for Cardona, who is from Meriden and was so warmly praised that Biden referred to the welcome as a “love fest.”
DELAWARE Wilmington: The state will be hosting its first events using the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this weekend, at Seaford High School on Saturday and the Delaware City DMV on Sunday. Appointments are being offered via email, drawing from people 65 and older on the state’s waiting list.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: After numerous technical difficulties plagued the rollout of D.C.’s vaccine eligibility expansion, the health department and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office announced they will unveil a new preregistration system March 11, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Miami: Gov. Ron DeSantis and state health officials came under deeper scrutiny amid revelations that seniors in a wealthy enclave received vaccinations as early as mid-January, giving ammunition to critics who say the Republican governor is favoring wealthy constituents. DeSantis pushed back Thursday, saying that a local hospital – not the state – was behind the vaccinations of more than 1,200 residents of the exclusive Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Gov. Brian Kemp said the state will open five more mass vaccination sites later this month in Columbus, Emerson, Sandersville, Savannah and Valdosta.
HAWAII Honolulu: Gov. David Ige on Tuesday signed legislation temporarily reducing the unemployment insurance tax rate employers must pay for their workers. The surge in joblessness since the start of the pandemic last year rapidly depleted Hawaii’s unemployment insurance trust fund.
IDAHO Boise: A new, centralized system will launch this month that allows residents to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments, state health officials announced.
ILLINOIS Springfield: The state’s economy will soon recover, but economic problems that plagued Illinois prior to COVID-19 will make that recovery slower and increase the risk of more problems, according to a report by Moody’s Analytics on Wednesday.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Officials opened up vaccine eligibility Wednesday to residents 50 and up, a day after the state health department began allowing those 55-59 to register for appointments. Gov. Eric Holcomb also said he wouldn’t follow fellow Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi in lifting or further easing their statewide mask mandates, with Indiana’s to stay in place at least through March 31.
IOWA Des Moines: A decision by the superintendent of the state’s largest school district to stick with remote learning in the midst of a pandemic could end up costing him his job. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners is seeking to strip Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Ahart of his administrator license.
KANSAS Topeka: Republican legislators bargained Thursday over what power executives should have in future public health emergencies. The House voted 81-40 in support of a bill that would require the governor to confer with the attorney general and get legislative leaders’ approval before issuing executive orders during states of emergency.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The Forecastle Festival will take a break again because of the pandemic, and when it returns in 2022, the music festival is moving from the height of summer to Memorial Day weekend.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Trying to get more vaccines in arms, the state is using nearly half its first shipments of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine to hold large walkup and drive-thru immunization events at community sites.
MAINE Lisbon: A celebration of a beloved soda has been canceled by the pandemic for the second straight year. The Lisbon Town Council has voted to skip the Moxie Festival this summer, the Times Record reports. Moxie, a bitter cola invented by a Maine native and patented in 1885, was declared the state’s official soft drink in 2005.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Unemployment claims have increased greatly amid the pandemic, and more than half filed in the state since January were found to be fraudulent.
MICHIGAN Lansing: Business groups on Thursday urged Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to let employers reopen their offices for in-person work rather than extend a restriction set to expire in mid-April.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Crowds at most high school tournament games and events this month and next will be limited to 250 people, according to the Minnesota State High School League.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: People 50 and up are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday on Twitter.
MISSOURI Columbia: Local health officials would be prevented from ordering businesses and schools to close for more than 15 days during an emergency without permission from elected officeholders under a Republican bill that got initial backing Wednesday in the state House.
MONTANA Helena: Three cases of a variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain were detected in Gallatin County, officials said Wednesday, marking a first for the more contagious strain in the state.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Well-known former state Sen. Ernie Chambers, 83, got his second shot of COVID-19 vaccine publicly Wednesday to encourage other people to get shots. “This is so important to me that Black people, Latino people, older people get information from a source they might have confidence in,” Chambers, who is Black, told the Omaha World-Herald.
NEVADA Las Vegas: School and elected officials are acknowledging the mental and emotional strain of the pandemic on children, releasing a suicide-prevention public service announcement Wednesday that reminds kids they are not alone. Clark County school officials have tallied 21 student suicides since March 2020, a district spokesman said Wednesday – more than double the nine cases the previous year.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to a COVID-19 catchall bill that seeks to protect nursing home residents and give a boost to live performance venues and the state’s smallest businesses.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: The state’s supply of vaccines, far below demand, will “explode” around Easter, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday, offering a promise of possible relief one day shy of the anniversary of New Jersey’s first reported case.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The state’s top insurance regulator is putting medical providers on notice that people cannot be charged for coronavirus testing after reports that residents have been required to pay for rapid-result tests.
NEW YORK Poughkeepsie: Three new mass vaccination sites will open Friday in Poughkeepsie, Batavia and Olean as part of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: All Republicans and several Democrats in the state House are trying to get more spectators at school sporting events and college graduations this spring beyond what Gov. Roy Cooper’s recent COVID-19 order allows. The House voted Wednesday for two bills that attempt to raise the capacity of venues from Cooper’s 30% limit to as high as 50%.
NORTH DAKOTA Devils Lake: North Dakota State University’s spring commencement ceremonies will be held in person May 15, at the Fargodome, and streamed online. “We are working closely with the venue to adjust seating arrangements and ceremony elements,” associate registrar Jackie Schluchter said.
OHIO Columbus: Schools still would have to administer nearly all the usual tests this spring, despite the pandemic, but would have an extra week in April or May to conduct most in person under legislation passed by the state House in a bipartisan vote Thursday.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Unemployment payments since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic a year ago have surpassed by nearly $1.5 billion the payments made in the state in the prior 10 years combined, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission said Thursday.
OREGON Salem: More than 1 million people in the state have been vaccinated against COVID-19, officials said Wednesday. Approximately 1 in 5 eligible Oregonians has received at least one dose, officials said.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Vaccine clinics for teachers, school staff and child care workers will begin next week, run by the Pennsylvania National Guard and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, officials said Thursday.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Restaurants and gyms can welcome more customers and funeral homes can host more mourners starting Friday, authorities announced Thursday. The state is also hoping to up the capacity limit at catered events, including weddings, by early April, state Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor said, and is working on a plan to start vaccinating teachers and school support staff by the end of the month.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state’s largest hospice provider is partnering with state health officials to pilot an effort to vaccinate the homebound. Agape Care and the Department of Health and Environmental Control announced they’ll launch the pilot program in Hampton and Jasper counties and hope to expand it statewide by April.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: Family members of Gov. Kristi Noem received more than $600,000 in funds from a state grant program pushed by the governor that directed federal coronavirus relief to small businesses.
TENNESSEE Nashville: In the seven weeks since vaccinations began at all of the state’s long-term care facilities, coronavirus infections among residents and staff have fallen about 90% – the most compelling evidence yet that vaccines are working to ease the crisis in the Volunteer State.
TEXAS Austin: Most Austin-area school officials say they will continue to require students and staff to wear masks despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s order Tuesday lifting state-mandated rules for face coverings. The Texas Education Agency on Wednesday updated its pandemic-related guidance for school districts but kept its regulations on masks in place.
UTAH Provo: Students at Brigham Young University wore rainbow colors this week in support of the LGBTQ campus community, a year after the school said what it characterized as “same-sex romantic behavior” was prohibited and would lead to discipline under school code. “Color the Campus” organizer Bradley Talbot said LGBTQ students on the private campus continue to face challenges, KUTV-TV reports.
VERMONT Burlington: The Vermont National Guard-run clinics in South Burlington on Friday and this weekend still had numerous available appointments for first-dose vaccines for people 65 and older, the state Health Department said Thursday.
VIRGINIA Richmond: A child under age 10 has died of complications from COVID-19 and a chronic health condition – the first reported death of a young child in Virginia since the pandemic began a year ago, state health officials said Thursday.
WASHINGTON Seattle: The city’s public teachers union has voted to not return to classrooms, saying it has no confidence in the district to keep them safe amid the pandemic.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The consumer sales tax rate would rise from 6% to 7.9% – the highest rate of any state – under a proposal submitted to the Legislature on Thursday to eliminate personal income tax.
WISCONSIN Madison: A highly contagious coronavirus variant is becoming more prevalent in the state, but vaccine shots should be available to everyone by midsummer, pushing the state closer to the end of the pandemic, health officials said Thursday.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The state health department reported 11 more coronavirus-related deaths among residents Tuesday.