The Dude distances, LA beaches reopen, lottery soars: News from around our 50 states

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. The Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement the 23 deaths occurred at the Bill Nichols State Veterans Home in Alexander City, about 70 miles southeast of Birmingham in rural Tallapoosa County. The state-owned facility has a capacity of 150 residents, and 91 have tested positive for the coronavirus, the agency said. A worker at the veterans home who tested positive for the virus March 30 wasn’t allowed to enter, the statement said, and the first resident tested positive nine days later. All residents were tested April 18, and the home still has 41 active cases among the residents. A National Guard unit decontaminated the home, and residents who test positive are being isolated.

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 Monday that getting the money out was more important than haggling over legal authority for the spending, KTOO Public Media reports. The committee, made up of House and Senate members, previously agreed to Dunleavy’s plans for about $125 million, a fraction of his total request, while working through remaining items. Big-ticket items addressed Monday involved $586.6 million for communities, $290 million for small-business assistance and $100 million for fisheries. State law allows a governor to submit to the committee plans to accept and spend additional federal or other program funds on a budget item. It delays for 45 days use of the funds unless the committee earlier agrees.

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 as he continues easing the painful restrictions he imposed on businesses and individuals to tamp down the coronavirus outbreak. Gyms and pools, among the last remaining facilities that have not been allowed to operate, were permitted to open their doors Wednesday if they follow recommendations from health officials. The governor also invited professional sports to resume without fans. He warned, however, that lifting the restrictions does not mean a return to a normal way of life from before the pandemic, and he said social distancing is still important. “This is not a green light to speed,” Ducey said. “This is a green light to proceed, and we’re going to proceed with caution.”

Arkansas

Little Rock: The state has ordered a large theater to abandon its plans to defy coronavirus 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-and-desist letter to the Fort Smith venue, TempleLive, to postpone or cancel a concert Friday night by country rock singer Travis McCready. The event, expected to draw more than 200 people, would be held three days before Arkansas allows large indoor entertainment venues to reopen. “You can’t just arbitrarily decide when the restrictions are lifted. That is something that is done based upon a public health requirement,” Hutchinson told reporters. The state is allowing theaters, arenas and other entertainment venues to open Monday, but with audience limits. TempleLive did not immediately respond to messages Tuesday afternoon.

California

Los Angeles: Los Angeles County reopened its beaches Wednesday in the latest cautious easing of coronavirus restrictions that have closed most of the state’s public spaces and businesses for nearly two months. County beaches and many city-owned beaches along the 75 miles of coastline are open only for “active recreation,” such as walking, swimming and surfing. Sunbathing, picnicking and group sports such as volleyball are still banned, and strangers must stay well apart. Visitors also must wear masks when they’re out of the water. Some mayors warned that the state or county could close the beaches again if people disobey the restrictions and crowd the shoreline. “Please, hit the beach, do your thing, and leave. No hanging out for this first phase,” Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand urged in a Facebook post.

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. The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a lawsuit on behalf of several inmates who considered themselves to be in the high-risk category for COVID-19. The coronavirus first reached inside the jail in mid-March, court officials said. Reams has not instituted any specific precautions to protect medically vulnerable inmates, Brimmer concluded. He ordered Reams to take several steps, including instituting new policies inside the jail to curtail the spread of the coronavirus and compiling a list of medically vulnerable inmates currently held at the jail.

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. The governor, who did not immediately receive his test results, said the state has increased testing from about 18,000 per week two weeks ago to about 29,000 per week. He expects more than 42,000 tests will be conducted next week, giving the state a much better idea of how the virus has spread in the community. “I am out there encouraging people to get tested right now,” Lamont said. “I don’t want to see this hesitancy. I don’t want to hear people say, ‘Not for me; I’m worried about the possibility of a quarantine. I don’t want to hear what is going on.’ ” He said the state is moving to quickly test all residents and workers at nursing homes and significantly ramp up testing in prisons and among first responders.

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. Delaware was set to partner with the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago to build the new statewide contact tracing program, Gov. John Carney said in a statement Tuesday. “This contact tracing program brings us one step closer to returning Delaware to a new normal,” he said. Those who test positive for the virus would receive a call from a case investigator who would ask the patient for a list of their known contacts, according to the plan. Tracers would then then reach out to those contacts to help them quarantine and arrange resources, as well as get tested for the virus in some cases. The National Opinion Research Center also partnered with Maryland, and the two states agreed to share information to monitor the virus’s spread across state lines, officials said.

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. Originally, the order was set to expire May 15. Nonessential businesses are to remain closed until June 8, and mass gatherings are still banned in D.C. Bowser said infections have not declined enough to start officially reopening the capital, although new cases in the district have declined over the past four days. In order for the first phase of reopening to start, two weeks of that decline is expected. DC’s doubling time – the time it takes for total cases to double – has also slowed to more than a month for the first time. It’s a sign of the spread of infection slowing. “Our message remains the same: Stay home,” Bowser said.

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. About a half-dozen restaurants and eateries, as well as two retail shops and some merchandise carts, will reopen at Universal Orlando Citywalk on Thursday in a sign of the baby steps the city’s theme parks are taking to get back to business after they closed in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Next week, Walt Disney World will allow some third-party shops and restaurants in its Disney Springs entertainment district to reopen. Workers and guests will be required to wear face masks. Per state rules, indoor capacity will be limited to 25%, and dining tables outside must be more than 6 feet apart. Neither Disney World nor Universal officials have 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. “While most other forms of entertainment were limited, April sales rebounded extremely well,” Bohannon told the state House Higher Education Committee on Tuesday. That’s continuing in May, with Bohannon saying two of the five highest sales weeks in lottery history have come this month. He credited much of the increase to a 50% jump in use of the lottery’s online options, which allow people to buy tickets and play dozens of online gambling games at home. Proceeds from the lottery finance college aid called Hope Scholarships and preschool classes.

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 contacts of people who have tested positive for COVID-19. State epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said the department hopes this training will begin in the next month. She said the goal was to have the program train a total of 200 workers in two phases. With the help of a cellphone app that people can use to report their health condition to contact tracers and the more traditional method of making phone calls, each worker would be capable of tracking about 20 people per day. Altogether they would be able to track 4,000 people. Graduates of the program would join the Medical Reserve Corps and be available to augment staff contact tracers as the need arises.

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. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the work for the Idaho portion of the Tri-state Fuel Breaks Project that also includes breaks in southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada. The area contains sagebrush steppe that is key habitat for sage grouse and other wildlife on land also used by cattle ranchers and outdoor enthusiasts. The Idaho fuel breaks protect 2,500 square miles by creating 200-foot buffers on each side of roads. That adds up to about 32 square miles of cleared vegetation in Idaho. The two-phase plan is to put in fuel breaks on more heavily traveled Idaho routes and follow that up with breaks on interior routes, giving the area a jigsaw puzzle appearance. In theory, one piece of the puzzle might burn, but the fuel breaks would aid firefighters in preventing an adjacent piece from catching fire.

Illinois

Springfield: The state reported a one-day record high in COVID-19 cases Tuesday and its next-to-highest 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. The governor noted that the 4,014 new cases reported – nearly 900 more than the previous high May 1 – should come as no surprise given that the state received test results on more than 29,000 people in 24 hours, which is thousands more than in previous days. Testing availability, which continues to grow in Illinois, is key to tracking the disease and resuming a sidelined economy. The Democrat called on lawmakers – who have been kept from the Capitol by coronavirus restrictions since early March – to act “expeditiously” to put together a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and compile aid packages for those struggling financially. The Illinois House will convene for three days next week.

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. Ten companies, including Indianapolis Power & Light Co. and Duke Energy Inc., filed the request Friday with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. They want to charge customers for all “bad debt expense incurred” associated with an executive order that has suspended disconnections for nonpayment through June 4. Building closures across the state have caused an overall downturn in energy use, thus putting a financial strain on energy companies, the petitioners said. Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, a consumer group, called the request “unprecedented utility greed.” Essentially, utilities want to charge customers for energy that they did not sell, said Kerwin Olson, the group’s executive director.

Iowa

Iowa City: Restaurants, salons, barbershops and gyms will be allowed to reopen Friday under new restrictions intended to slow the coronavirus, the governor announced. Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday that she would lift an order closing restaurants in 22 counties, including the state’s largest metropolitan areas. Reynolds said she would also allow fitness centers, salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors and massage therapists to reopen in all 99 counties. The move came as deaths from the virus in Iowa surged for the second straight day, surpassing 300 since the beginning of the pandemic. It also came as Reynolds and the state’s medical director self-isolated after potentially being exposed to the virus at the White House last week. Reynolds said she felt confident reopening more of Iowa’s economy because the state has enough hospital beds and ventilators to treat patients, and its testing capacity has increased.

Kansas

Holton: A meatpacking plant has shut down after five employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The shutdown at the Johnsonville plant in Holton took effect Wednesday, WIBW reports. “It’s a tough decision to halt production, but we appreciate Johnsonville for doing this to help us stop the spread of COVID-19,” said Angie Reith, Jackson County Health Officer. Johnsonville said all employees will continue to get paid, and downtime will be used to implement even more aggressive safety protocols before reopening. Some new safety protocols include placing additional barriers between workstations where social distancing is not possible. Meanwhile, counties in southwest Kansas with plants continue to deal with outbreaks among employees. Ford, Seward and Finney counties together had more than 2,700 cases as of Monday, or 38% of the state’s total. They had the highest rates of cases per 1,000 residents in the state.

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 Tuesday in a Facebook post. After the 146th Kentucky Derby was postponed from May 2 to Labor Day weekend, the museum pledged last month to donate 20% of online sales from collectible merchandise with the original race date of May 2 to funds that help people who have been financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic. “Customers realized it was a great opportunity to purchase collectible Derby 146 merchandise while supporting a great cause,” Patrick Armstrong, president and CEO of the museum, said in a statement. The museum’s gift shop will reopen May 20 under state health guidelines, museum officials said.

Louisiana

New Orleans: Dining in restaurants can resume in the city beginning Saturday – with reservations. Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Tuesday announced a loosening of restrictions on businesses adopted to combat the spread of the new coronavirus. Restaurants, which have been limited to take-out orders in New Orleans, will be able to provide outside table service, as well as dine-in service at 25% capacity. But diners will have to make reservations. Walk-in diners will be allowed to enter, but they will have to provide a name and number for an on-the-spot reservation. The information will have to be kept by the restaurant for 21 days to aid in contact tracing if needed. “We know keeping the data will matter,” Cantrell said. Zoos, museums and aquariums will also be limited to 25% capacity and will have to stagger admission by using a reservation system. Retailers can open if they have exterior entrances and maintain social distancing.

Maine

Augusta: The state Department of Health and Human Services is promoting affordable insurance options for residents who’ve lost health care coverage during the pandemic. Maine residents who’ve lost a job may also have lost their employer-provided health insurance. Many may qualify for a free or low-cost plan through MaineCare or the federal marketplace, the DHHS said. A state website, CoverME.gov, provides a resource for health insurance options. Eligible Maine people may enroll in MaineCare at any time of year. Maine DHHS is also collaborating with the Maine Department of Labor to inform those applying for unemployment insurance that they may be eligible for affordable health insurance options.

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. More than 1,100 people signed up to testify before leaders of two Maryland Senate committees, which scheduled hours to hear from the first 270 who signed up to testify. A common complaint was the inability to reach someone for help using the website. “You can call thousands and thousands of times and be unable to get through,” said Beth Bell, who was laid off in mid-March. “If you do get through to one of them, you’ll end up in a circle and then get disconnected. It’s soul-crushing.” Others spoke of spending hours over several weeks trying to get through to someone for help. Bliss Martin said someone finally got back to her to help Monday, after she started sending emails about two weeks ago.

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, Daniel Tsai, deputy secretary of the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said Tuesday at a meeting of the home’s trustees. “We have been in quite a bit of a gauntlet, but we are not in the clear,” Tsai told Masslive.com. As of Tuesday, 74 residents of the long-term care facility for elderly and ill veterans who have recently died tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to state officials. Another 87 residents have tested positive. Several state and federal investigations into the deaths are underway.

Michigan

Lansing: Officials said Wednesday that 31,000, or nearly two-thirds, of state employees will take temporary layoff days through late July as the state confronts a budget shortfall amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the state will participate in a federal “work-share” program, allowing employees to work fewer hours but collect partial unemployment benefits to make up a portion of their lost wages. The furloughs – two layoff days per two-week pay period for non-managers – will start this Sunday and go through July 25. Higher-level managers will not be part of the work-share program but will take one layoff day every other pay period – a 5% pay cut. The move will save the state up to $80 million. The layoffs will not affect state troopers, prison guards and others working on the front lines.

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. Another allows the state to tap $17 million in federal election security funds. A third requires prescription drug manufacturers to make information public for large price increases. The elections bill includes preparations for increased absentee voting, switching some polling places to safer locations, and public outreach for implementing social distancing guidelines related to voting. But it doesn’t include a wholesale switch to mail-in voting for the August primary and November general elections, as Walz and other Democrats had sought. Republicans blocked that idea. Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann told the Star Tribune the governor is still looking at other options to make it easier to vote by mail, given that a second wave of COVID-19 could hit during the fall election season.

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. While Reeves previously suggested people wear masks in public, his new executive order makes that mandatory in some situations in the seven counties. In addition, businesses are required to screen employees for COVID-19 symptoms at the start of each shift, to provide hand sanitizer and to ensure employees remain at least 6 feet apart wherever possible. Reeves announced the new restrictions even as he has spent the past several days lifting some statewide limits by allowing the reopening of restaurants, barbershops, hair salons and gyms; those establishments must limit customers and take other precautions.

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. The state health department reported 88 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 10,006. Thirty-six new deaths were reported. Since March, 524 people in Missouri have died from the virus. St. Louis continues to be the hardest-hit region. State data shows that 53.4% of confirmed cases and 70.4% of deaths have occurred in St. Louis city and county combined. Nearly three dozen inmates at an eastern Missouri jail have tested positive for the coronavirus, along with five members of the jail staff. And the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston has reported 43 prisoners and 14 staff have tested positive for the virus.

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 Tuesday. 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. It is sponsored in part by the Murdock Charitable Trust. Bridges makes a brief reference to his character “The Dude” from the 1998 film “The Big Lebowski” when he says, “We can abide with this thing, man. We’ll get through this.” The commercials will be seen on TV, radio and digital media and will direct people to a new website, StaytheCourseMontana.com, which has tips on staying healthy, what to do if you’re sick, information about testing, how the public can help through donations and volunteer efforts, and more.

Nebraska

Grand Island: Nebraska State Fair officials are still planning to hold the 11-day event in Grand Island later this summer, according to a release from the fair’s interim director. Interim director Jaime Parr said the event starting Aug. 28 and running through Sept. 7 is still on, as is its Aksarben Stock Show set to rup from Sept. 24-27. “State Fair staff and Board are mindful of and monitoring the current COVID-19 impact to events and social gatherings,” Parr said. But plans to hold the fair could still change if the outbreak worsens, she said. Parr said that officials are assessing options should they become necessary and that staff recently met to begin looking at contingency scenarios.

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. The union has called for casinos to publicly release the detailed plans they are submitting to gambling regulators laying out how they plan to safely reopen when Nevada allows it. Gov. Steve Sisolak shuttered the properties in mid-March to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The governor said he’s allowing the Nevada Gaming Control Board to have the final say on when casinos can reopen. The union wants more extensive proposals, including testing staff for COVID-19 and screening people, including guests, with temperature checks upon entry. And the group has called for the regulators or elected officials to release all other casino plans and to include the union’s proposed rules as part of any reopening plan.

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. The task force unanimously recommended that hotels be limited to half their capacity, though the limit would not apply to motels with outdoor access to rooms or to inns and bed-and-breakfasts with 10 or fewer rooms. Face masks would be required for staffers and are recommended for guests, who would be asked at check-in about any possible exposure to the coronavirus. A reopening date of May 22 is recommended for lodging, but target dates for other sectors were not included.

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. Curbside pickup at businesses – like retail stores – and nonessential construction can start at 6 a.m. Monday under an executive order Murphy said he will sign. The state’s COVID-19 trends are headed in the right direction, he said, leading him to relax the nearly two-month-old business shutdown. Over the past two weeks, newly hospitalized people are down 28%, patients in hospitals are down 34%, and people in intensive care and on ventilators are down about 30%. Still, the state has higher hospitalization rates, positive cases and deaths per 100,000 people than any other state right now, Murphy said.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: The state is giving the green light for nonessential businesses including retailers and many services to reopen Saturday at limited capacity, while ordering that face masks be worn in public with few exceptions to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a news videoconference Wednesday that a new public health order will allow businesses to reopen at 25% of building occupancy limits. Large retailers can attend to 20% of maximum capacity set under fire safety regulations. New Mexico health officials cautioned that infections among children are surging, complicating efforts to reopen the economy and provide summer recreation programs. Lujan Grisham referred to children as potential “super-spreaders” of COVID-19. Strict limits on nonessential business will remain in place in northwestern New Mexico, which includes a portion of the vast Navajo Nation.

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 pandemic-induced 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. New York’s Southern Tier, the Mohawk Valley and the Finger Lakes previously met the standards, and regions are preparing to reopen in phases as early as Friday. New York’s 10 regions can start reopening once they demonstrate that COVID-19-related deaths and hospitalizations are down; that there are enough hospital beds to meet any new surge in cases; and that there is sufficient local testing and contact-tracing efforts.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Hundreds of state prisoners with COVID-19 are now deemed to have recovered based on government health guidelines. The state Department of Public Safety calculated that more than 500 of the over 640 offenders testing positive for the new coronavirus meet criteria to be released from medical isolation. Most of the prisoners presumed recovered are housed at the Neuse Correctional Institution, which underwent prisonwide testing four weeks ago. There have been 467 positive tests among inmates at Neuse. Five prisoners statewide have died from COVID-19-related illness. “We are not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot,” Commissioner of Prisons Todd Ishee said in a news release this week, pointing to efforts to clean prisons, isolate the sick and limit prisoner movement. “We must remain vigilant.”

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. The county reported two deaths, both women in their 90s with with underlying health conditions. Cass County reported 60 positive cases in the two previous days combined. There were a total of 76 cases reported statewide from Tuesday, the highest number since a mass testing event last month for LM Wind Power employees and others in Grand Forks. It increased the total number of positive tests in North Dakota to 1,647. The state tested about 1,100 people Tuesday, for a daily positive test rate of about 7%. That compares to 6.5% from Monday, when more than 2,100 people were tested. There have been 40 deaths in North Dakota; 37 people are currently hospitalized.

Ohio

Columbus: After weeks of waiting, self-employed workers can apply for unemployment approved by the federal stimulus package. Ohio Department of Job and Family Services started accepting applications from self-employed workers, 1099 tax filers and part-time workers Tuesday. The first payments will go out this weekend, Director Kimberly Hall said Wednesday. About 210,000 Ohioans who preregistered for benefits received an email Tuesday informing them that they could apply for benefits. As of Wednesday morning, 84,000 people had submitted claims, and 15,000 had been approved for payment, Hall said. All benefits are retroactive to the date a person lost their job because of the novel coronavirus, as far back as Feb. 2. The additional $600 per week is available from March 29 through July 25.

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. Postponing the income tax deadline from April to July, plummeting energy prices and the coronavirus-related shutdown of businesses across the state amounted to a “threefold economic gut punch,” said Office of Management and Enterprise Services Director Steve Harpe. “Missing this month’s estimate is not a surprise, but the magnitude is notable,” he said. Overall collections to the state’s general fund in April totaled $529 million, which is 44% below the monthly estimate. Total collections to the fund through the first 10 months of the current fiscal year were about 8.5% below the estimate, Harpe reported. April is historically the month with the largest revenue collections.

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. Parks, trails and nature areas remain open, and park greeters will be there “to make sure people know how to use their park system safely during the pandemic,” The Oregonian/OregonLive reports. But other programs on which families rely – including outdoor camps, Summer Free For All and the Portland World Soccer Tournament – are canceled. Portland Parks and Recreation Director Adena Long said in a statement Tuesday that the department will focus its efforts this summer on urgent community needs, including the Lunch + Play program, which provides free lunch to Portland kids all summer.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: Beaver County is among the counties planning to defy Gov. Tom Wolf, advising residents that 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 on residents leaving their homes and businesses that can operate. Wolf tapped 13 counties in the region, including the Pittsburgh area, to see relief from his tightest pandemic restrictions starting Friday, joining 24 other counties across northern Pennsylvania that began emerging last week. 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.

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. “Given the uncertain nature of the global health crisis’s continued effects on both public health and on travel between countries, Brown has made the difficult decision to cancel all university-sponsored undergraduate study abroad for fall 2020,” the Ivy League university’s Office of International Programs posted on the school website. The office said it remains optimistic about its ability to offer study abroad programs in the spring 2021 semester, but the final decision has not been made. The Providence-based school is working on a plan to bring students back to campus this fall and expects to announce a decision by July 15.

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. The resolution rapping McMaster’s knuckles Tuesday was the last order of business on what appeared to be the last day of a regular session during which lawmakers had only met two days in the past two months. Every Democrat in the chamber sided with the Republican governor, and McMaster signed another 15-day state-of-emergency order Tuesday as the Senate met. None of the senators directly criticized McMaster’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. They did reject a proposal to call for the governor to immediately end any restrictions on businesses because of the coronavirus and not issue any more stay-at-home orders or rules closing businesses.

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 instead that she would like to work out an agreement. The Republican governor gave two tribes – the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe – 48 hours from Friday afternoon to remove checkpoints from state and federal highways or face a lawsuit. She said her office has been getting complaints that the checkpoints have caused a headache for people trying to enter the reservations for ranching or store deliveries. But the tribes kept the checkpoints, citing the threat of the virus, combined with their vulnerable populations and poor medical facilities, as urgent reasons to control access. Noem described the conflict as a “sticky situation” among federal, state and tribal authorities.

Tennessee

Nashville: Fear of contracting the coronavirus doesn’t meet medical criteria for voting by mail, state officials said Tuesday. The determination comes as the state recommends preparations as though all 1.4 million registered voters 60 and older will cast mail-in ballots in the August primary within its pandemic election contingency plan. The document was prepared by the state Division of Elections, dated April 23, and obtained by the Associated Press. “In consultation with the Attorney General’s office the fear of getting ill does not fall under the definition of ill,” Elections Coordinator Mark Goins told the AP in a statement Tuesday about the viral outbreak. 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, and Houston will furlough about 3,000 workers as the economic shutdown and unsteady oil prices wallop the nation’s fourth-largest city. 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. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced that tens of thousands of COVID-19 tests are on the way to the state’s prisons, where inmates have tested positive at a dramatically higher rate than the rest of Texas. The tests are designed to be self-administered, and a dozen “strike teams” are receiving training this week, agency spokesman Jeremy Desel said. More than 1,700 prison inmates have tested positive, according to the agency.

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. Limited operations were scheduled at the park, with the gates only open during daylight hours and the usual visitor shuttle system still closed. Multiple trail closures remained in effect, including popular attractions like The Narrows and the top section of Angels Landing. The park was closed for more than a month after Utah implemented restrictions limiting gatherings to 10 or fewer people. Tourism-reliant businesses in the gateway town of Springdale struggled with the steep drop in visitors. A reported 75% of Springdale hotel room reservations being canceled in April and May, according to a presentation from the county’s tourism office earlier this month.

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. No referral from a health care provider is needed, although people are asked to make appointments in advance, the state said in a news release issued late Tuesday. State officials are scheduling a series of pop-up clinics where people can be tested as part of a broader effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Vermont officials say the state has one of the lowest rates of growth in people infected with the virus, and few people are showing symptoms, which means they are not requesting tests. Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine has said the state has ample testing supplies, and there is not a lot of demand for testing.

Virginia

Richmond: Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam rejected a call Tuesday from several top GOP lawmakers to institute a moratorium on the release of certain inmates by the Virginia Parole Board, which has come under criticism for some recent decisions. The request from the lawmakers, including the House and Senate minority leaders, came a day after state officials disclosed that Virginia’s government watchdog is conducting an administrative investigation into the board’s decision to grant parole to a man who has served decades of a life sentence for the killing of an on-duty Richmond police officer. Northam’s spokeswoman, Alena Yarmosky, said in a statement that the governor “rejects” the Republicans’ proposal. “The Governor and his administration have worked tirelessly to create a fairer and more equitable criminal justice system, and safe parole is an important part of that work,” she wrote.

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 in a county. At a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee said that of those already trained, 351 are from the National Guard, 390 are from the Department of Licensing, and 630 are state or local health professionals. He said that number could be expanded even more in the coming weeks. Inslee said that while the social distancing efforts that have been in place since March have been frustrating, they have been “significantly effective.” “Now as we attempt to transition to open back up our economy, we are simultaneously moving to this second initiative of testing, contact tracing and isolation,” he said.

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. “I never dreamed in all my life that we’ve gotten all these calls in regard to the tanning businesses or tanning beds. We continue to get all kinds of calls,” he said, adding that health officials now think it’s safe for people to tan. Justice has picked May 21, the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, to stage the biggest step in his reopening plan, while warning that a second wave of the virus could cause catastrophic damage to the state.

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. The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the third legal challenge to the order issued by the Democratic governor that runs until May 26. Two other lawsuits are pending in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. One was brought by Republican lawmakers alleging that Evers’ health secretary exceeded her authority in issuing the order. The other was brought by two men who argue Evers’ policies interfere with their free speech and religious rights. The third lawsuit was filed by Jessica Netzel, the owner of Kingdom Kuts in Appleton. Netzel asked U.S. District Judge William Griesbach to lift the order and allow her hair salon to be treated like businesses that Evers has deemed essential.

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. The partial reopening comes as other national parks begin or prepare to raise their gates at the urging of President Donald Trump. Complicating Yellowstone’s reopening, Wyoming recently lifted a 14-day self-quarantine order for out-of-state visitors on nonessential business, but one remains in Montana. Sholly nonetheless described Yellowstone’s split approach as a good way to help rangers get ready for a new visitor experience that will discourage shoulder-to-shoulder crowding at thermal features – summer scenes common in Yellowstone. “I would prefer it’s not just a light switch and the park is open and we get inundated and overwhelmed and aren’t able to handle it,” Sholly said.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports