News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: The state Senate has approved two bills limiting the governor’s emergency powers, the products of tensions in the past year over Gov. Kay Ivey’s actions addressing the COVID-19 outbreak.

ALASKA St. Paul: The community has issued an emergency stay-athome ordinance after seeing its first known case of the coronavirus.

ARKANSAS Mountain Home: The Mountain Home School District will keep in place its current mask policy, which calls for students in third grade and up to wear face coverings, after Gov. Asa Hutchinson lifted a statewide mandate last week.

CALIFORNIA Calexico: The state is vaccinating farmworkers on a large scale by taking the shots to where they live and work, protecting a population disproportionately hard-hit by the pandemic. At a recent event in Delano, a festival-like atmosphere featuring DJs and free food drew some 1,000 people from the Central Valley. On the border in Calexico, volunteers with Salud Sin Fronteras, Spanish for Health Without Borders, inoculate arriving essential workers.

COLORADO Fort Collins: While the pandemic took much from many businesses over the past year, online retail thrived. In January and February, Fort Collins shoppers spent more than $90 million at online retailers, which generated nearly $3.5 million in city sales tax revenue, according to the city’s most recent tax report.

CONNECTICUT Storrs: The University of Connecticut has put five dorms under quarantine after a coronavirus outbreak that officials say may be related to several large, offcampus parties last weekend.

DELAWARE Wilmington: The state is opening COVID-19 vaccinations to every resident 16 and older Tuesday. Appointments can be made through the state starting at 10 a.m. at vaccinerequest.delaware.gov.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Mayor Muriel Bowser said capacity limits for entertainment venues, special events, pools, recreational activities, retail stores, libraries and museums will be increased May 1, WUSA-TV reports.

FLORIDA Gainesville: Any adult in the state is now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, and teens ages 16 and 17 can also get a shot with parental permission. In an effort to get students inoculated, the University of Florida’s Athletics Department is working with UF Health and the local health department to administer vaccines at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

GEORGIA Savannah: The state’s correctional facilities have been hit hard by COVID-19, with 3,260 recorded infections among incarcerated people and 93 deaths, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. But only 700 of Georgia’s nearly 46,000 inmates had been vaccinated as of Wednesday.

HAWAII Honolulu: Hundreds of athletes with intellectual disabilities have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Physicians and medical employees from Kaiser Permanente worked with Special Olympics Hawaii to administer shots at Consolidated Theatres Kapolei on Saturday.

IDAHO Boise: A huge income tax cut and rebate, legislation to limit the governor’s authority during emergencies, and a proposed constitutional amendment allowing lawmakers to call themselves back into session all remain on the Legislature’s to-do list when it reconvenes Tuesday. The House and Senate both recessed abruptly March 19 after at least six of the 70 House members tested positive for the coronavirus in a week.

ILLINOIS Springfield: A local teen’s “Vaccinated” shirts aim to promote the spirit of unity, with proceeds going to the Central Illinois Foodbank and micropantries in Sangamon County. The T-shirt Springfield High School freshman Aliyah Hashmi helped design says: “We are all in this together. For you. For me. For all.”

INDIANA Indianapolis: The city has reopened its rental assistance program for residents struggling to pay for housing because of the pandemic. IOWA Des Moines: The state opened vaccination eligibility to everyone 16 and older Monday, while dealing with increasing spread of the coronavirus and a seven-day death rate that was among the highest in the nation.

KANSAS Wichita: Wichita State University is dropping its coronavirus restrictions after GOP lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s latest mask order.

KENTUCKY Louisville: The state is no longer asking its citizens to avoid domestic travel – as long as they’re fully vaccinated. “You still need to wear your mask,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “You’d still need to follow all the protocols.”

LOUISIANA Abbeville: The Giant Omelette Celebration is returning this fall after taking a year off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

MAINE Portland: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state is growing just as the number of people eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine is also about to surge. Maine is opening up shots to everyone 16 and older Wednesday in by far its broadest expansion yet.

MARYLAND Annapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration failed to follow state procurement regulations when it bought 500,000 coronavirus tests from a South Korean company last year, and the first batch that later had to be replaced at an added $2.5 million cost had not been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a state audit released Friday.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The number of COVID-19 infections in schools is growing, but a state official insists schools are “very safe.” Russell Johnston, senior associate commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, told the Boston Globe that coronavirus transmission among public school children is largely happening outside classrooms, at family events, afterschool activities and sports games.

MICHIGAN Lansing: The state is facing another public health threat on top of COVID-19: soaring domestic violence cases. The Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence has seen an outpouring of need from victims. An inability to raise funds during COVID-19, limited shelter space and a statewide effort to limit incarcerations have created a perfect storm of need and danger for victims.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Gov. Tim Walz and the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced plans for a mass vaccination site to open at the state fairgrounds in St. Paul next week.

MISSISSIPPI Booneville: Northeast Mississippi Community College plans to use leftover COVID-19 relief funds to offer free summer tuition for all students, WCBI-TV reports. MISSOURI St. Louis: After weeks of declining COVID-19 transmissions across the state, experts worry that the drop has stalled. “Every time you think this pandemic is going to keep going down, it throws you a new curveball,” Dr. Alex Garza, the head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

MONTANA Browning: On March 15, 2020, just two days after the coronavirus was detected in Montana, the Blackfeet Nation declared a state of emergency – and it stayed closed for a year. The tribe enforced curfews, and its schools adopted remote learning. With more than 95% of adults on the Blackfeet Reservation inoculated, the tribe has now reopened Glacier National Park’s east entrance and local businesses, restaurants and bars.

NEBRASKA Omaha: The state cleared a path Monday for adults of all ages to sign up for COVID-19 vaccinations, but officials said they’re still trying to overcome “vaccination hesitancy,” especially in some minority communities.

NEVADA Reno: Researchers who sampled Truckee Meadows wastewater over the past year found spikes of the coronavirus roughly seven days before an increase in cases, according to a study by the University of Nevada, Reno.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Federal appellate judges on Monday questioned whether the state House has undermined the Americans with Disabilities Act by insisting on inperson sessions during the coronavirus pandemic, while also suggesting that vaccinations have made the issue moot.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: The state will allow people 16 and older to get the COVID-19 vaccine in two weeks, a dramatic expansion of eligibility ahead of schedule, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: All public school districts in the state are expected to be open for in-person learning this week, with the largest, in Albuquerque, welcoming students back Monday with some hiccups due to a bus-driver shortage.

NEW YORK New York: The New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts are accelerating the reconstruction of Geffen Hall because of the lull granted by the pandemic and now plan to reopen the auditorium in fall 2022, about a year and a half early.

NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: The pandemic has sent home prices soaring, muscling many locals out of the market as out-of-towners paying cash grab up houses where they can work remotely.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: New coronavirus cases leaped in the state in the week ending Sunday, rising 13.2% as 1,055 were added. OHIO Columbus: The state will consolidate its many health orders into one, with masks and social distancing still required, Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday. The health department will focus on four priorities: wearing masks, maintaining distance, washing hands and spending more time outside rather than inside. The only capacity limits will be at indoor events, restricted to 25%. “People are tired,” DeWine said. “They’ve been at this for a year, and so it has to be simple.”

OKLAHOMA Miami: Restaurants and their customers are doing their part to ease pandemic heartache, one meal at a time. Cafes in and around this close-knit town have put up “receipt walls,” allowing diners to prepay for meals and the needy to grab what they like, have a seat and refuel – judgment-free, no questions asked. Many recipients are homeless or have otherwise hit hard times since the pandemic rolled into Miami .

OREGON Portland: The state’s top public health official says the governor needs to “start raising a ruckus” over what he sees as an unfair vaccine supply from the federal government compared to other states.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Medical professionals are attributing the state’s new surge in coronavirus cases to a combination of virus fatigue and a false sense of security surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. New cases have more than doubled between March 25 and Friday.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state is getting about $40 million in federal relief funding to address the hunger crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, authorities said Monday. Demand for food assistance at member agencies of the Rhode Island Food Bank is up 26%, officials said.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Eight mass COVID-19 vaccination sites will be open across rural South Carolina in the coming days. U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and officials with the Department of Health and Environmental Control say the sites in Hampton, Allendale and Bamberg counties will be open to all adults.

SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Tourism officials see indications the summer season is shaping up nicely after a year of limited travel due to the pandemic. Traffic on the state’s tourism website is “through the roof,” according to Tourism Secretary Jim Hagen.

TENNESSEE Nashville: The state Department of Human Services has announced it will once again partner with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to provide support to help keep child care agencies open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TEXAS Houston: A historic theater that director Richard Linklater called his “film school” – one that for decades was the place to catch hard-tofind independent and foreign films – has closed for good, another victim of the pandemic. After nearly 82 years in business, the River Oaks Theatre turned off its projectors last month.

UTAH St. George: Nearly a year after the Bureau of Land Management closed visitor centers to mitigate the pandemic, Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitor Centers have reopened.

VERMONT Burlington: In the latest sign that pandemic restrictions are easing, the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival will be back on the streets in June with in-person performances.

VIRGINIA Richmond: State Attorney General Mark Herring says he wants businesses to help put a stop to sales of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards purporting to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WASHINGTON Yakima: State apple industry officials say the fruit’s exports have dropped substantially compared to recent years. The export of apples has remained a challenge as a result of the pandemic and trade issues with other countries.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday submitted a congressional inquiry with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding an HIV outbreak in the state’s largest county. The Democrat asked for the inquiry on behalf of the Kanawha County Commission two months after a CDC official warned that the outbreak was “the most concerning in the United States,” a claim the commission worried was “made without factual and empirical evidence.”

WISCONSIN Madison: All residents 16 and up became eligible for COVID19 vaccines Monday, the same day an outbreak of a more contagious coronavirus variant was reported at a Dane County child care center and cases statewide continued to rise.

WYOMING Gillette: Some rock climbing routes on Devils Tower have been closed to protect nesting falcons. The annual closures also protect climbers.