Why US gas prices are at a record and why they'll stay high for a ...

New York CNN Business —

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a major reason that US drivers are paying record prices for gasoline. But it’s not the only reason.

Numerous factors are combining to push gas prices up to a record. Gas hit $4.25 for a gallon of regular gas, according to AAA’s survey Wednesday.

Gas prices were already expected to breach the $4 a gallon mark for the first time since 2008, with or without shots fired or economic sanctions imposed in Eastern Europe.

“I think we reach $5 somewhere between this weekend and Juneteenth/Father’s Day weekend,” he said.

It was back in March that prices first broke the record of $4.11 a gallon, which had stood since 2008. That now seems like the good old days: The national average has been rising steadily for the past month, setting 27 records in the last 28 days.

More than one out of every five gas stations nationwide is now charging more than $5 a gallon for regular, and just more than half are charging $4.75.

There are 10 states, plus Washington, DC, where the average price is already at $5 or more: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Several more are within a penny of $5, so those states’ prices are likely only a day or two at most from crossing the mark.

That’s because there’s a number of reasons beside the disruption of Russian oil exports driving prices higher according to Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for the OPIS, which tracks gas prices for AAA. And making predictions about where prices will go has proved difficult. Wednesday’s record is already higher than Kloza a few weeks ago expected prices would reach. As school let out and summer travel picks up, so will gasoline demand and price, he said.

“Anything goes from June 20 to Labor Day,” Kloza said.

Here’s what’s behind the record price surge:

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Russia is one of the largest oil exporters on the planet. In December it sent nearly 8 million barrels of oil and other petroleum products to global markets, 5 million of them as crude oil.

Very little of that went to the United States. Europe got 60% of the oil and 20% went to China in 2021. But oil is priced on global commodity markets, so the loss of Russian oil affects oil prices around the globe, no matter where it is used.

The concerns about disrupting global markets led western nations to initially exempt Russian oil and natural gas from the sanctions they put in place to protest the invasion.

On Tuesday the United States announced a formal ban on all Russian energy imports. The UK government said it, too, will phase out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 and explore ways of ending natural gas imports.

China lockdowns ending

One factor keeping oil prices somewhat in check has been the surge of Covid cases, and strict lockdown rules in much of the country. That was a major drag on demand for oil.

But as the Covid surge has started to retreat, the lockdowns are being lifted in major cities such as Shanghai. And more demand without increased supply can only drive up prices.

Video Ad Feedback This is what determines the price of gas 01:57 - Source: CNN

Less oil and gasoline from other sources

When pandemic-related stay-at-home orders around the world crushed demand for oil in the spring of 2020, oil plunged, briefly trading at negative prices. OPEC and its allies, including Russia, agreed to slash production as a way to support prices. Even when demand returned sooner than expected, they kept production targets low.

US oil companies don’t follow those types of nationally mandated production targets. But they have been reluctant or unable to resume producing oil at pre-pandemic levels amid concerns about the prospect of tougher environmental rules that could cut future demand. Many of those tougher rules have been scaled back or failed to become law.

“The Biden administration is suddenly interested in more drilling, not less,” said Robert McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group. “People are more worried about high oil prices than anything else.”

It takes time to scale up production, particularly when oil companies are facing the same supply chain and hiring challenges as thousands of other US businesses.

“They can’t find people, and can’t find equipment,” McNally added. “It’s not like they’re available at a premium price. They’re just not available.”

Oil stocks have generally lagged the broader market over the last two years, at least until the recent run-up in prices. Oil company executives wanted to redirect cash to buying back stock and other ways to help their share price rather than increase production.

“Oil and gas companies do not want to drill more,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James. “They are under pressure from the financial community to pay more dividends, to do more share buybacks instead of the proverbial ‘drill baby drill,’ which is the way they would have done things 10 years ago. Corporate strategy has fundamentally changed.”

One of the starkest examples: ExxonMobil (XOM) last month announced first quarter profits of $8.8 billion, more than triple the level of a year ago when excluding special items. It also announced a $30 billion share repurchase plan, far more than the $21 billion to $24 billion it expects to spend on all capital investment, including searching for new oil.

Not only is oil production lagging behind pre-pandemic levels, there’s also less US refining capacity. Today, about 1 million fewer barrels of oil a day are available to be broken into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum-based products.

State and federal environmental rules are prompting some refineries to switch from oil to lower carbon renewable fuels. And some companies are closing older refineries rather than invest the money it would cost to retool to keep them operating, especially with massive new refineries set to open overseas in Asia, the Middle East and Africa in 2023.

And major US refineries have yet to return to full operation after two were damaged by hurricanes last year and another by an explosion.

“Economics mandate you make more jet and diesel fuel to the detriment of gasoline,” said Kloza.

And with prices in Europe even higher than in the United States, both Canadian and US oil producers have increased exports of oil and gasoline to the continent. That has also limited the US supply.

Strong demand for gasoline

Record job gains in 2021, and the strongest economic growth since 1984, have combined to fuel the rebound in driving, as did pent-up demand for travel after the first year of the pandemic.

Video Ad Feedback How to save money on gas by being more fuel efficient 01:40 - Source: CNN

The US economy had record job growth in 2021, and while those gains have slowed, they remain historically strong. Demand is getting another boost as the many employees who have been working from home for much of the last two years return to the office.

The start of the summer travel season on Memorial Day weekend is likely to spark the typical annual increases in demand for gas and jet fuel. US airlines all report very strong bookings for summer travel, even with airfares climbing above pre-pandemic levels.

The end of the Omicron surge and the removal of many Covid restrictions is encouraging people to get out of the house for more shopping, entertainment and travel well. US trips in passenger vehicles have increased 25% since the beginning of this year, according to the mobility research firm Inrix.

“Come hell or high gas prices, people are going to take vacations,” said Kloza.

There may not be quite as much commuting as before the pandemic. Many who plan to return to the office will be there only three or four days a week, rather than five. The total number of jobs is still slightly below 2019 levels.

“Even before Ukraine, I was expecting to break the record,” Kloza said. “Now it’s a question of how much we break the record by.”

UK mortgage borrowers are in for a nasty shock from soaring rates ...

London CNN Business —

Millions of mortgage borrowers in the United Kingdom are bracing themselves for huge hikes to their monthly payments as a consequence of the run on the pound.

Markets have been in turmoil since UK finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng announced the biggest tax cuts in 50 years on Friday, together with a big rise in government borrowing, sending the pound falling to a record low against the US dollar.

Some analysts now expect the Bank of England to hike the cost of borrowing to 6% next year, up from 2.25%, to shore up the currency and convince markets that it’s committed to getting inflation under control.

“It is hard not to draw the conclusion that [recent events] will require a significant monetary policy response,” Huw Pill, the central bank’s chief economist told the Barclay’s-CEPR International Monetary Policy Forum on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report.

Markets had already been expecting the central bank to raise interest rates to 4.75% by next spring. That would have added £201 ($217) to a typical homeowner’s monthly payment on an outstanding fixed-rate mortgage of £146,000 ($157,000), Laura Suter, head of personal finance at investment firm AJ Bell, told CNN Business. Now borrowers face an even bigger cliff edge.

There are 9 million outstanding residential mortgages in the United Kingdom, according to UK Finance, an association of banks and financial services firms. About 20% of those loans are tracker, or variable rate products, that typically become more expensive when the central bank hikes rates. The rest are fixed-rate loans.

But as many as 1.8 million borrowers will have to refinance next year, according to the Resolution Foundation. Neal Hudson, a housing market analyst at research firm BuiltPlace, estimates that about 300,000 fixed-rate deals will come to an end between October and December. Those borrowers face a sudden increase in their monthly payments should they refinance.

If the base rate rises to 6%, a person refinancing a 20-year fixed-rate mortgage of £146,000 ($157,000) will have to pay an extra £309 ($333) per month, according to Suter. That’s £108 ($116) more than estimated before the pound’s crash.

Many borrowers won’t be able to cope. Samuel Tombs, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in a Tuesday report that a 6% mortgage rate would “lead to a sharp rise in mortgage defaults.”

He calculates that the average household refinancing a 2-year fixed rate mortgage in the first half of next year would see its monthly repayment jump by a whopping 73% to £1,490 ($1,607), an increase equivalent to about 14% of disposable income.

“Mortgage arrears and default would rise just as house prices likely would be tumbling, placing huge strain on banks’ balance sheets,” he said in the report.

Some mortgages have been withdrawn and rates are already rising

Banks are already becoming more risk-averse as they struggle to reprice their mortgages in such volatile markets.

Since Friday, lenders have withdrawn more than 350 mortgage products in response to the turmoil, according to Moneyfacts, a financial product comparison website.

Halifax, owned by Lloyds Bank (LLDTF), removed some of its mortgage products, while Virgin Money stopped taking mortgage applications from new customers until later this week.

On Tuesday, Santander (SAN) said it would remove mortgages worth 60% and 85% of a property’s value for new UK customers, and increase rates for “new and existing customers from 10 p.m. this evening.”

“Customers who have already applied by this time will not be impacted,” a company spokesperson told CNN Business in a statement.

Borrowers are worried. Online searches for “remortgage” more than doubled in the United Kingdom on Monday, according to analysis of Google search data by Loan Corp, a mortgage broker.

Some may now struggle to find any deals at all.

“Those with smaller deposits or who are trying to borrow at their maximum affordability might find it harder to get a mortgage deal or that they are paying even higher rates to do so,” Suter said.

— Julia Horowitz contributed reporting.

Why is North Korea firing so many missiles -- and should the West ...

Seoul, South Korea CNN —

Tensions are running high in the Korean Peninsula, as the United States and its allies respond to North Korea’s flurry of recent missile tests – including one that flew over neighboring Japan without warning.

North Korea has tested ballistic missiles seven times since September 25 – a prolific number, even in a year that has seen the highest number of launches since leader Kim Jong Un took power in 2011.

The aggressive acceleration in weapons testing has sparked alarm in the region, with the US, South Korea and Japan responding with missile launches and joint military exercises this week. The US has also redeployed an aircraft carrier into waters near the peninsula, a move South Korean authorities called “very unusual.”

A US aircraft carrier and submarine, and South Korean and Japan warships, seen during a joint exercise on September 30. Handout/Getty Images

International leaders are now watching for signs of a further escalation such as a potential nuclear test, which would be the hermit nation’s first in nearly five years – a move that would present US President Joe Biden with a new potential foreign policy crisis.

Here’s what you need to know about North Korea’s rush toward nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles, why they’re ramping up now – and what, if anything, the US can do to counter Kim Jong Un.

First, some context

The testing itself isn’t new – North Korea’s weapons development program has been ongoing for years.

Tensions reached near-crisis levels in 2017 when North Korea launched 23 missiles throughout the year, including two over Japan, as well as conducting a nuclear test. The tests showcased weapons with enough power to put most of the world in range, including the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Relations thawed in 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump held a landmark summit with Kim. The two leaders “fell in love,” Trump said; in return, Kim praised their “special” relationship. North Korea pledged to freeze missile launches and appeared to destroy several facilities at the nuclear test site, while the US suspended large-scale military exercises with South Korea and other regional allies.

But the talks ultimately fell apart, and hopes for a deal that would see the North curtail its nuclear ambitions dwindled by the end of Trump’s term.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, pushing North Korea further into isolation. The already-impoverished country sealed its borders entirely, with foreign diplomats and aid workers fleeing en masse. During this time, the number of missile launches also remained low – just four in 2020 and eight in 2021.

Video Ad Feedback How should the Biden administration handle the rising tensions with North Korea? 04:33 - Source: CNN

So why are they ramping up now?

Experts say there are a few reasons North Korea is accelerating its testing so rapidly now.

First, it could simply be the right time after the events of the last few years, with Kim declaring victory against Covid in August, and a new US administration in place that has focused on shows of unity with South Korea.

“They’ve been unable to test for quite a few years due to political considerations, so I’d expect North Korean engineers and generals to be very eager to make sure their toys are going to work well,” said Andrei Lankov, a professor at South Korea’s Kookmin University.

Jeffrey Lewis, a weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said it’s also normal for North Korea to pause testing during the stormy summer and resume once weather improved in the fall.

A television screen at Seoul Station in South Korea shows news of North Korea firing ballistic missiles on October 6. Kyodo News/Sipa USA

But, several experts said, Kim could also be sending a message by deliberately showcasing North Korea’s arsenal during a period of heightened global conflict.

“They want to remind the world that they should not be ignored, that they exist and their engineers are working around the clock to develop both nuclear weapons and delivery systems,” said Lankov.

Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii, echoed this sentiment. Kim “launches missiles to generate attention towards himself, but also to create pressure for Japan and the United States to engage him,” he said.

He added that North Korea might also feel emboldened to act now while the West is distracted with the war in Ukraine.

A worker observes the launch of an F/A-18E Super Hornet aboard a US aircraft carrier in the Sea of Japan on October 5. Communication Specialist Seaman Natasha Chevalier Losada/US Navy

“(The missile tests) started in January, which is about the time we were beginning to report on what Russian President Vladimir Putin was doing opposite Ukraine,” said Schuster. “Kim Jong Un is doing what he thinks he can get away with – he’s not expecting any kind of strong US reaction.”

Lankov said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have also boosted Kim’s confidence because “it demonstrated that if you have nuclear weapons, you can have almost impunity. And if you don’t have nuclear weapons, you’re in trouble.”

What can the US and its allies do to stop North Korea?

Despite the US and its allies’ quick military response this past week, experts say there’s little they can do to stop or prepare for North Korea’s weapons tests.

“The Americans sent the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. South Koreans are launching these missiles, which are not necessarily working well,” said Lankov, referring to a South Korean missile on Wednesday that crashed right after launch. “What is the impact of all these American aircraft carriers cruising around Korea? Pretty much nothing.”

South Korean and US fighter jets fly over the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea's missile launch on October 4 at an undisclosed location. , 2022 at an undisclosed location. South Korean Defense Ministry/Getty Images

Though these shows of force might serve to deter North Korea from “starting a war” – which likely isn’t Kim’s plan, anyway – it does little to prevent further weapons development or missile testing,” he said.

“It’ll probably make some people in the US and (South Korea) a bit happier, but it’ll have zero impact on North Korea’s behavior and decision making.”

A lack of hard intelligence also means the US is largely left in the dark when it comes to Kim’s plans.

The North lacks the widespread use of technology that not only facilitates economic and societal advances, but also provides critical windows and opportunities to glean information for the intelligence services of the US and its allies.

“Since so much of what North Korea does is driven by the leader himself, you really have to get inside his head, and that’s a hard intelligence problem,” said Chris Johnstone, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

And on the international stage, the US’ efforts to punish North Korea have faltered due to pushback from Moscow and Beijing.

In May, Russia and China vetoed a US-drafted UN resolution to strengthen sanctions on North Korea for its weapons testing – the first time either country had blocked a sanction vote against the North since 2006.

What is North Korea trying to achieve?

Kim has spearheaded an aggressive weapons development program that far outstripped efforts by his father and grandfather, both former North Korean leaders – and experts say the country’s nuclear program is at the heart of Kim’s ambitions.

In September, North Korea passed a law declaring itself a nuclear weapons state, with Kim vowing to “never give up” nuclear weapons.

The law also demonstrated North Korea’s hopes of strengthening its ties with China and Russia, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

An Army Tactical Missile System is fired during a joint training session between the United States and South Korea, on October 5 at an undisclosed location. South Korean Defense Ministry/Getty Images

After China and Russia’s open opposition to new sanctions against North Korea, Kim “knows he has their backing,” said Schuster.

He added that Kim’s weapons testing serves a dual purpose: apart from making a statement to the international community, it also boosts his own image domestically and cements the regime’s power.

“It’s a very paranoid regime – (Kim) is as worried about the people under him as he is worried about regime change from the outside,” said Schuster. With the tests, Kim, is telling his own senior people, “We can deal with whatever the threat the West, the US and South Korea can come up with,” he said.

However, in terms of wider public perception, KCNA, North Korea’s state-run media, has made no mention of missile launches for months – since its last report of a launch in March.

Lewis, the expert at the Middlebury Institute, added that North Korea will likely continue developing weapons such as ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missile until “they get to a point where they’re satisfied with that – then I think they’ll probably express an interest in talking again.”

Is a nuclear test coming?

The concern in the short-term is whether North Korea will launch a nuclear test, which Lewis said could come “anytime.”

However, Schuster and Lankov both said that given the friendly relationship between North Korea and China, Kim might wait until after China holds its high-profile Communist Party Congress later this month – if it happens at all.

The meeting of the party elite is the most significant event on the Chinese political calendar – especially so this year, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping expected to be appointed to a third term in power, further cementing his status as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades.

Kim “depends too much on Chinese aid to keep his country afloat,” meaning he can’t afford to “do anything to detract from the Party Congress,” said Schuster. “So although China can’t dictate to him what he must do … he will not cause them problems.”

After October, however, the runway is clear for any more significant weapons tests, said Lankov.

South Korean and US officials have been warning since May that North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear test, with satellite imagery showing activity at its underground nuclear test site.

This story has been updated to accurately reflect the number of missile launches since September 25.

Jessie Yeung Paula Hancocks Yoonjung Seo

Biden asked Congress to loosen visa restrictions on highly educated ...

CNN —

President Joe Biden has asked Congress to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make it easier for highly educated Russians to obtain visas to work in the United States, according to a section of the White House’s Ukraine supplemental budget request submitted to lawmakers last week and reviewed by CNN.

The request, if enacted, would allow Russians with a masters or doctoral degree in the fields of science, technology, engineering or math to apply for a visa without first obtaining an employer sponsor in the US.

The amendment would also require the Department of Homeland Security “to expedite consideration of such applications,” the document says, “as appropriate” and with the necessary vetting.

The administration explained in the document that the authority “would help the US attract and retain Russian STEM talent and undercut Russia’s innovative potential, benefiting US national security.” The authority would expire four years after the date that it is enacted, according to the document.

“We want to seize on this opportunity to provide top Russian scientists with a clear pathway to leave Russia for good and come to the United States, robbing Putin of his best innovators and his best brains,” a White House official told CNN. “We believe this will advance our own national security and bolster our economy by adding highly skilled individuals to our workforce, and that it will also weaken Russia’s innovation base while simultaneously strengthening our own.”

The official noted that there is precedent for this request, most recently the Soviet Scientists Immigration Act of 1992 that also provided top Soviet scientists with a pathway to immigrate to the United States without a sponsoring employer. That proposal allowed about 450 Russian scientists to emigrate to the US, the official said, and the administration believes the number this time around will be “much higher given the current political climate.”

Tens of thousands of highly educated Russians have reportedly fled Russia since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine just over two months ago. The Biden administration is hoping to take advantage of that brain drain and lure some of those workers to the US, officials said.

The document says the visa changes would apply to Russians with degrees in fields including, but not limited to: hypersonics, advanced nuclear energy technologies, advanced missile propulsion technologies, directed energy, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and space technologies and systems.

The US has already sought to curtail Russia’s ability to remain technologically competitive by imposing severe export restrictions on materials like semiconductors that are found in thousands of electronic products.

Bloomberg first reported that the administration was weighing loosening the visa restrictions.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Jon C. Ogg

24/7 Wall St.

Is the lottery the new American dream? Imagine becoming vastly wealthy overnight. Being a winner of a multimillion dollar lottery certainly will be a life-changing event for almost every single lottery winner. But what about when the prize is an astronomical sum of $100 million, $200 million or $300 million? Various Powerball and state lotteries have reached vast sums, and lotteries elsewhere have as well.

Future Powerball and state lottery ticket winners will become incredibly wealthy in an instant. Imagine being Joe Somebody and turning into Sir Joe the Magnificent overnight. Now imagine the unthinkable, where Sir Joe becomes Joe the Village Idiot in a very short time. Supposedly most lottery winners end up broke again. That just doesn't seem right at all.

24/7 Wall St. wants its readers, particularly those few who are lucky enough to win the lottery, to avoid some of the simple and complex mistakes that have taken other lottery winners into bankruptcy. Some lottery winners have even died.

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24/7 Wall St. has decided to offer 12 important things not to do if you are a lottery winner. We have looked around at many research papers and other articles on the matter about those who land in instant riches against all odds. Doesn't it seem cruel to imagine that many lottery winners become losers? There is a saying that newly wealthy people need to commit to memory: you should only have to get rich once. The reality is that some people just cannot help themselves in avoiding the pitfalls of instant wealth.

2015 may not have broken the record books on the highest lottery winnings in America. Still, there was a $310 million winner from the Powerball lottery in Michigan. In February of 2015, the Powerball drawing with a $564.1 million jackpot there were three different winners who got to split this top prize. New York's March lottery drawing brought a jackpot worth $136 million. There have been other U.S. lotteries in years past with jackpots north of $500 million, and as mentioned a year-end lottery is up for grabs with a Powerball jackpot of $300 million and a Mega Millions jackpot of $117 million.

While many lists explain what you should do if you win, it is surprising how few actual warnings are out there that can be used a scare-tactic guide that makes lottery winners do the right thing. Did you know that you might become a marked target if you are a lotto winner? Some people find instant enemies, and some people become their own worst enemy. It might have been very hard to spend $30 million in 30 days in "Brewster's Millions" during the mid-1980s, but spending $10 million, $50 million or even $100 million can now be done faster than you can imagine. Some people now could even manage to spend that much just in a single day or two.

Some points about what to do, or not do, may overlap or seem redundant. The problem is that there are many pitfalls that snag lottery winners who become vastly wealthy overnight or those who find themselves incredibly wealthy in a very short period. This list of tasks also has many lessons for those who win big legal judgments, who unexpectedly inherit millions of dollars and who get sudden windfalls of cash from a business deal or a business sale.

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Here are 12 things not to do if you win the lottery … or 13 things if the runner-up counts!

Forget to sign a ticket, or forget to report it to the state.

After doing some research, we find this is apparently the simplest and easiest error to make. Can you imagine losing a lottery ticket? Then imagine what can happen if someone else snags your ticket and shows up to collect the prize. Fighting over this is no simple task, and disputes have arisen over who owns what ticket. In a way, lottery tickets are almost considered the last form of bearer bonds that anyone can collect on if they show up with the coupons and bonds. Lottery tickets expire at different times from state to state, but they generally expire in 90 days to one year.

Tell everyone you know.

If you win millions of dollars, chances are pretty high that you will to want to brag about it and share some of your new joy. How could you not? The problem is that telling everyone you know before you collect your winning puts you in danger, and in more ways that just one. Everyone who has ever done anything for you now may come with their hands out asking for something, or worse. You probably have heard of kidnap and ransom insurance before. One lottery winner was even murdered. If you can manage it, and if your state allows it, try to remain anonymous for as long as humanly possible. How you became vastly wealthy will be found out in time anyway, but there is no need to alert everyone.

Automatically decide to take the up-front cash instead of the annuity.

Getting tens of millions of dollars at once probably sounds better than getting a paycheck for the next 30 years or so. Now consider that close to 70% of lottery winners end up broke, many within a couple or few years. Let's say that you can choose to get $172 million up front, or you can choose to receive a payout of $300 million slowly over the course of a lifetime. Most people choose the lump sum rather than the annuity payment as it is instant empire-making money. Go see a reputable and visible tax professional and a reputable investment advisor at a top money management firm with a widely recognized company name and a long corporate history. This theme of "reputable and visible" will echo throughout. Do this before you make the decision about a lump-sum or annuity option.

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Think that you are the smartest person to manage your money and finances.

If you go from living paycheck to paycheck, does it sound right that you will know the best things to invest in and the best tax and asset protection strategies? There are many ways to invest and protect that fortune, and that might not include just buying some stocks and bonds and letting it ride. Your drinking buddy might also not be the best choice as an advisor and expert. Having a solid and respectable team of advisors and managers in place will act as your buffer that protects your assets now and in the future. Also, don't think that this money is a tax-free payment as you probably will have to pay the top tax bracket to the IRS and the highest state and local income taxes. Do you know how to protect your assets against all threats and know exactly how to protect your estate in case you die or become incapacitated? Here is a hint: If you answered yes, you probably did not bother playing the lottery.

Let your debts remain in place.

If you get the "I'm rich and don't have to pay anymore" bug, you might be dooming yourself. One lottery winner in California was strapped with debt from property purchases and what seemed to be excessive insurance policies. Whether you take the lump-sum or the annuity option, if you have a single penny of debt in the immediate future and distant future, then something is seriously wrong. For that matter, you should not have a single debt ever again. If you manage to go broke down the road and still have a mortgage, car payments, student loans, credit card debt and personal bills, you will have lost the right to be mad when all of your friends and family members ridicule you every day for the rest of your life.

Become the excessive high-roller, living the Big Life.

If you go from living a simple life to instantly being able to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) per week, what do you think happens to your expectations in life ahead? Chances are high that you will want more of the same. If you start gambling in Las Vegas and are not happy until you are gambling with hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) per play, you are dooming yourself. Wait until the real con men find you. Taking you and your favorite 50 people on a luxury cruise around the world can become very expensive, very fast. Having an entourage generally only works for people who keep making more money, and entourages have bankrupted many musicians and athletes.

Buy everything for everyone, or even for yourself.

Do not go out and buy dozens of cars, followed by houses and whatever else, for you and your friends and family members. This will start you on a bad path, and you could easily become the next friends and family personal welfare department. If you start buying everything for everyone, chances are high that they might expect that to last forever. The other end of the story is that you do not have to be a cheapskate either. Still, after hearing a real life personal story of one lucky winner buying more than 30 cars and multiple houses in three months, it is just crazy.

Say to hell with a budget.

Maybe it sounds crazy that you have to live within means when you get empire-making money. After all, most lottery winners are instantly wealthier than everyone they know combined. This also goes back to having advisors and being prudent, but at the end of the day you do still have a finite sum of money. Chances are very high that you will make some serious purchases and your lifestyle will be changed forever. Without setting limits for yourself and for what you do with others is a recipe for disaster. Again, many lottery winners go broke. If they went broke in a very short period, what do you think the reflection about wishing for a proper budget would be?

Become the business backer for all your friends and family.

One common theme that has come up with lottery winners (and judgment winners) who suddenly get vast sums of cash is that their friends and family start pitching them on endless business ideas. Sure, some will sound great and some will sound crazy. If someone has no knowledge of a particular business and does not know what it takes to actually run a business, will that person do better because a lottery winner who lucked into vast wealth provided money to start it? If your answer is yes, you seriously need to protect yourself (from yourself).

Give away the whole enchilada.

This is probably not the case for most lottery players, but some people might want to give away just about all their money to a charity or to a religious institution. You can be more than generous without doing the unthinkable. Imagine what you will feel like down the road when a serious crisis arises in your life or your family's life, knowing that you no longer had the means to change it. Should you be charitable? Absolutely! Should you give it all away just because a church or a charitable group does good things? Absolutely not, at least not while you are alive! If you insist on giving it all away, structure your will and estate to give it all away upon your death.

Get celebrity and athlete envy.

Keeping up with the Jonses is bad enough, but definitely do not try to keep up with the Kardashians or other celebrities. It may seem cool to own a 200-foot yacht. It may seem practical that certain celebrities have an entourage, or to have a film crew following you around. It may seem cool owning castles in Europe. Owning an original Picasso painting sure sounds impressive. Having a big new private jet makes sense for a lot of people. Trying to dodge taxes might even sound appealing to misguided people. Now go add up the price tags of these things, plus the cool cars and houses and the rest of it. You can go broke real quick. Just ask people like Nicolas Cage, Wesley Snipes, M.C. Hammer, Evander Holyfield and many other famous people who had it all and ended up broke or close to broke how they feel about things.

Think that laws and decency standards no longer apply.

It is true that the wealthier you get, the better attorneys and legal defense you can afford. That being said, living a reckless life without concerns about the laws of the land will not keep you from going to prison (or worse). You still have to live under the "good citizen" laws and you still likely will have to pay taxes. A good sports coach will tell any star athletes upfront that chances are high they will have to be human for far longer than they are going to stars. Movies often glamorize scoundrels, but what good does it do you if you are incredibly wealthy and such a pariah that no one will associate with you? Remember, you don't get to take any of your wealth with you. And how fun will it be to be paying out all of your winnings to attorneys fighting to keep you out of jail or fighting civil suits looking to take your new wealth away?

Is there a thirteenth runner-up thing not to do?

Forget to wonder if the lottery you are playing is solvent and financially sound.

The State of Illinois did not have a budget resolution for much of 2015. The state's finances have been challenged for years, and the state did not have the funds legally in place to pay out its top lottery winners. Imagine getting the winning numbers, only to receive a state voucher. It gets pretty hard to change your life in this manner on a state voucher that is nothing more than an IOU.

Again, 24/7 Wall St. would not want anyone who wins the lottery to end up without a penny to their name (or worse). Following a list of things to do or not do sounds easy enough. Unfortunately, life's temptations can get in the way of logic.

24/7 Wall St. is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

Product launch blunders: 50 worst flops of all time

Michael B. Sauter, Evan Comen, Thomas C. Frohlich and Samuel Stebbins

24/7 Wall Street

Some product launches can be spectacular failures, and Google Glass, an eyeglasses shaped head-mounted device with smartphone capabilities, failed in such a manner several years ago. It was meant to be the first piece of technology to connect the typical consumer to augmented reality.

Google continues to attempt to find a place for the product, but its original launch was a definitive failure. In 2017, the internet giant announced the relaunch of the device to target to businesses rather than the general public, but whatever happens, it will be adopted by a meaningfully narrower audience.

Just like success, failure is part of doing business. Entrepreneurs and large companies often take big risks, hoping for success but not always achieving it.

These failures take many different forms. When a product doesn’t sell, when it is recalled or discontinued, or when it otherwise does not come close to meeting a company’s expectations or plans, it can be marked as a failure. While failures are expected, some can be so catastrophic they can lead to permanent damage to a company’s reputation, layoffs, and even complete financial ruin.

Sometimes, it can take years, or even decades for a product flop to disappear from the market. This was the case with Betamax a video format which Sony introduced, expecting it to replace VHS. Despite being technologically superior to VHS, Betamax lost market share until it eventually vanished.

24/7 Wall Street reviewed some of the greatest product launch blunders throughout history. Today, these product flops exist as case studies companies use to avoid future failure. They range from Ford’s Edsel in 1958 to 2016’s Galaxy Note 7. Many of these products led to losses in the hundreds of millions, and sometimes billions. In tech, film, the internet, the pharmaceutical industry, and more, these are the biggest product flops of all time.

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1. Google Glass

Company: Google

Google Year introduced: 2013

2013 What it was: Wearable technology

Google first announced Google Glass -- an eyeglasses shaped head-mounted display with smartphone capabilities -- to the public in 2012. The announcement began with a statement of principle: “We think technology should work for you -- to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.” After two years of disappointing sales, it was clear consumers did not need Google Glass. Google stuck to its principle, and in 2015 discontinued the product’s development. Privacy concerns, reported bugs, low battery life, bans from public spaces, and an inability to live up to the hype all stymied public adoption of the technology.

2. The Newton

Company: Apple

Apple Year introduced: 1993

1993 What it was: Personal digital assistant

While the personal digital assistant would become a popular consumer electronics product in the late 1990s, the first PDA was one of the biggest product flops of all time. One year after Apple CEO John Sculley coined the term “PDA” in 1992, the company released the Newton MessagePad. While the device incorporated innovative technology such as a pen-based touch screen and the ability to sync with software on a personal computer, Apple sold only 50,000 units of the product in its first four months on the market. The Newton product line was discontinued in 1998.

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3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Company: Atari

Atari Year introduced: 1982

1982 What it was: Video game

Several video games have failed over the years, but arguably none as spectacularly as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The video game was created/developed shortly after the release of Steven Spielberg’s classic film. With only five weeks spent in development -- games typically take months, if not years, to program -- the game was notoriously difficult and sold miserably. Atari spent $21 million to purchase the rights to the franchise and $5 million on promotion of the game. The company made 4 million copies of the game, but sold only 1.5 million. Atari buried the leftover copies in a landfill.

4. Satisfries

Company: Burger King

Burger King Year introduced: 2013

2013 What it was: French fries

In 2013, Burger King introduced a new menu item advertised as a healthy alternative to their traditional french fries. Satisfries used a less porous batter, which caused the fry to absorb less oil than regular fries during cooking. While Satisfries were made with a healthier recipe, Burger King failed to convey the difference to customers. The fries were also more expensive than Burger King’s regular french fries, and failed to gain traction with consumers. The company discontinued the fries in 2014, less than a year after they were introduced.

5. Premier smokeless cigarettes

Company: RJ Reynolds

RJ Reynolds Year introduced: 1988

1988 What it was: Cigarette

R.J. Reynolds, the second largest U.S. tobacco company, began marketing in 1988 a smokeless tobacco product that was intended to be a safer way to use a cigarette. In addition to concerns over the product's actual safety, smokers missed the familiar elements of traditional cigarettes -- the smoke, the burn, and the flick. Another issue was the widely-reported unpleasant chemical taste, which one user described as resembling “burning plastic.” Reynolds sunk close to $1 billion into the product before pulling it off the market within a year.

6. Cheetos Lip Balm

Company: Frito-Lay

Frito-Lay Year introduced: 2005

2005 What it was: Lip balm

Popular lip balm brands such as Chapstick, Blistex, and Burt’s Bees, have successfully sold their products to Americans for decades. Many prefer such flavored varieties as cherry, mint, and vanilla bean. Not every popular flavor can be successfully turned into a lip balm, however, a lesson PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay learned the hard way in 2005. While Cheetos has been a popular snack for more than six decades, Cheetos-flavored lip balm failed to catch on with consumers.

7. Terra Nova

Company: Fox

Fox Year introduced: 2011

2011 What it was: TV show

Every year, TV shows are cancelled before the end of their first season. While Terra Nova, which aired for one 13-episode season, is not unusual in this regard, it may go down as the most costly cancelled television show of all time. Documenting the time-traveling adventures of a 22nd century family fleeing a dystopian society for a prehistoric past, the pilot of the show alone cost Fox between $16 and $20 million to make. Terra Nova encountered numerous production mishaps while filming in Australia, including a flood that nearly killed a crew member. Ratings failed to meet expectations, and the show was not renewed for a second season. Fox is estimated to have spent more than $50 million on the failed show, not including marketing costs.

8. Touch of Yogurt shampoo

Company: Clairol

Clairol Year introduced: 1979

1979 What it was: Shampoo

In keeping with the 1970s trend of incorporating natural food ingredients like lemon, herbs, and honey into beauty and hygiene products, Clairol -- at the time a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb -- thought a yogurt shampoo was just what the American consumer wanted. It turned out the company had grossly miscalculated. Many consumers were apparently confused as to what they had bought, as there were reported cases of people eating the shampoo.

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9. New Coke

Company: Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola Year introduced: 1985

1985 What it was: Soft drink

Over the 15 years leading up to 1985, Coca-Cola’s flagship cola drink had been losing market share to Pepsi Cola. To compete, the company changed the drink’s formula for the first time in 99 years -- but the move today is considered one of the greatest flops of all time. New Coke was met with public outrage and lasted only a few months. The company reintroduced its older formula, rebranded as Coca-Cola Classic.

10. Windows Vista

Company: Microsoft

Microsoft Year introduced: 2007

2007 What it was: Operating system

Introduced in 2007 as a follow-up to Windows XP, the Windows Vista operating system was everything its popular predecessor was not -- in all the wrong ways. Panned by customers and IT professionals alike, Vista reduced PC performance and caused a number of internet problems for users. As a result, Dell began offering Windows XP again on new laptops a few short months after Vista was introduced. Windows announced this month that it would no longer provide support for Vista, driving the final nail into the operating system’s coffin.

11. Kitchen Entrees

Company: Colgate

Colgate Year introduced: 1982

1982 What it was: Frozen meal

Many of the worst product flops in recent memory were caused by otherwise popular brands wandering too far outside of their area of expertise. Colgate Kitchen Entrees may be the best example of such a product failure. When it came to pre-prepared frozen meals, Americans had plenty of options in the 1980s. Perhaps because consumers naturally associated the Colgate name with toothpaste, there was never much of an appetite for pre-made meals bearing the Colgate logo.

12. Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water

Company: Coors

Coors Year introduced: 1990

1990 What it was: Sparkling water

Coors and Coors Light are two of the most popular beers in the United States. Introducing Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water to the public in 1990, the Coors Brewing Company also sought to capitalize on the fast-growing bottled water segment in the United States. The water was Coors' first non-alcoholic product since Prohibition. The Coors brand name did not help to sell the product, however, as the beer-name branding may have confused or even frightened consumers. Coors let its trademark of Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water expire in 1997.

13. Harley Davidson perfume

Company: Harley Davidson

Harley Davidson Year released: 1994

1994 What it was: Perfume

Harley Davidson is one of the most iconic and valuable brands in the world. It is also one of the most masculine brands. The company has not deviated considerably from this manly personality, although it has tried. The company released Legendary Harley-Davidson, a cologne for men, among several other varieties, starting in 1994. Another perfume, Black Fire, hit the market as recently as 2005. All are now discontinued. In the 1990s, the company released a number of other products, including wine coolers and aftershave, which after failing miserably have also become classic cases of brand overextension.

14. Persil Power

Holding company: Unilever

Unilever Year released: 1994

1994 What it was: Stain remover

Unilever introduced Persil Power detergent to the market in 1994. The product utilized a newly patented stain removal formula called Accelerator. The company was so confident in the Accelerator catalyst that it carried out its $300 million introduction of Persil Power without any formal test marketing. Over time, it became clear the detergent was damaging clothes at high temperatures. After nine months on the shelves, the company replaced Persil Power with Persil New Generation, a detergent without the Accelerator compound.

15. Cosmopolitan yogurt

Company: Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan Year introduced: 1999

1999 What it was: Yogurt

Cosmopolitan is a popular women’s magazine, full of fashion advice, dating tips, celebrity gossip, and horoscopes. What the magazine’s leadership was thinking when they expanded the brand’s reach from the magazine aisle to the dairy aisle remains a mystery. Few will likely remember the 1999 debut of Cosmopolitan’s yogurt line, as the short-lived product was only available for 18 months. Like many other products on this list, Cosmopolitan yogurt was a case of a brand reaching too far beyond its area of expertise.

16. DH 106 Comet

Company: De Havilland

De Havilland Year introduced: 1949

1949 What it was: Airplane

We now take jet travel for granted, but the development of a commercially viable jetliner involved a great deal of trial, error, and some utter failures. De Havilland, a British aircraft manufacturer, developed the Comet, the first commercial jet airliner. Unfortunately, within a few years of its 1949 debut, the Comet encountered several unexplained fatal crashes, including planes overrunning the runway and one exploding in midair. The Comet's reputation plummeted, and while De Havilland scrambled to redesign the plane, American companies Douglas and Boeing took over the industry.

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17. DeLorean DMC-12

Company: Delorean Motor Company

Delorean Motor Company Year introduced: 1981

1981 What it was: Sports car

In 1973, auto executive John DeLorean left General Motors to form the DeLorean Motor Company. After years of production delays, the DeLorean DMC-12 was released in January 1981. The car’s unique design was poorly received, however, and by 1982 less than half of the 7,000 DeLorean units produced had been sold. The DeLorean is widely recognized due to its use as a converted time machine in the “Back to the Future” series. However, the first of these films was released in 1985, far too late to save the ill-fated brand. DeLorean filed for bankruptcy in 1982.

18. EZ Squirt

Company: Heinz

Heinz Year released: 2000

2000 Company revenue when released: Ketchup

Before EZ Squirt, ketchup was always varying shades of red. To cater to kids, who were -- and still are -- among ketchup’s largest groups of consumers, Heinz began producing purple, green, and blue EZ Squirt ketchup in matching, vibrantly colored squeeze bottles. At first, the colorful ketchup was a huge success. The novelty wore off quickly, however, and not long after its introduction, sales of EZ Squirt began to decline. In January 2006, less than six years after its debut, Heinz halted production of the product.

19. United States Football League

Company: USFL

USFL Year introduced: 1982

1982 What it was: Sports league

Conceived as a way to satiate America's appetite for football in the spring and summer months, the United States Football League was introduced in 1982. The league originally consisted of 12 teams, one of which, the New Jersey Generals, was owned by President Donald Trump. The league was beset with problems, not the least of which was finding stadiums to play in. Ultimately, over half a dozen teams folded when the league’s brain trust decided to compete directly with the NFL by scheduling games in the fall. By 1985, the league was finished.

20. Home

Company: Facebook

Facebook Year introduced: 2013

2013 What it was: Mobile phone app

With rising mobile phone use and social media engagement, Facebook in 2013 decided to launch a family of apps that combine these trends. Facebook Home converts the home screen of a smartphone into the Facebook news feed. While most of Facebook’s over 1 billion users log in to their accounts on a smartphone, the social media giant’s new product never caught on. Early users cited clunky operation, the inability to toggle between Facebook Home and the original phone interface, and lack of options for customization, among other snags.

21. Edsel

Company: Ford

Ford Year introduced: 1957

1957 What it was: Car

Ford spent a year aggressively marketing the Edsel -- named after Henry Ford’s son -- ahead of its 1957 release. It was to be the “car of the future,” made available on dealership lots on what Ford dubbed “E-Day." Despite the hype, the car was a commercial disaster. It was considerably overpriced, disappointingly not futuristic, and generally ugly. Ford ceased the car's production after only two years, losing an estimated $350 million.

22. Friendster

Company: Friendster

Friendster Year introduced: 2002

2002 What it was: Social media site

Social media site Facebook is one of the biggest corporate success stories in recent memory. Unfortunately, when it comes to social media, for every success story there is at least one flop -- as in the case of Friendster. The site’s users suffered through slow page loading times and the company’s developers failed to scale up when the number of subscribers spiked. Ultimately, competitors such as Facebook provided a much better user experience. Introduced in 2002, Friendster discontinued its services in mid-2015.

23. WOW! Chips

Company: Frito-Lay

Frito-Lay Year introduced: 1998

1998 What it was: Snack

PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay introduced its line of WOW! Chips in 1998. The chips, which were made with the fat substitute olestra, were marketed as a healthy snacking alternative. While WOW! Chips were an initial success with $347 million in sales in their first year -- the most of any new product in 1998 -- sales slowed when the unpleasant side effects of olestra, such as diarrhea and cramps, became better known. To add to the product’s problems, the Food and Drug Administration instituted labeling requirements for all products containing olestra to carry warnings of “abdominal cramping and loose stools," and by 2000, sales of WOW! Chips were roughly 60% of what they were in the year of their release.

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24. Zune

Company: Microsoft

Microsoft Year introduced: 2006

2006 What it was: MP3 player

In an attempt to compete with Apple's dominant iPod MP3 player, Microsoft released the Zune in 2006. As of November 15, 2015, Microsoft discontinued all streaming, downloading, and other music services for the Zune. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, Microsoft recorded a 42% decline in revenue in its non-gaming devices segment -- a decline largely attributable to the Zune’s poor performance. While the device might have been a reasonable choice for consumers, a number of reported bugs did not help sales. On December 31, 2008, most if not all 30GB Zunes stopped functioning simply because the underlying code had failed to account for the extra day in leap years.

25. Relenza

Company: GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline Year introduced: 1999

1999 What it was: Influenza pandemic drug

In 1999, a flu pandemic fear caused by the spread of avian flu created demand for antiviral medications. The FDA approved two flu drugs during the pandemic -- Tamiflu and Relenza. The former went on to report massive sales, while the latter became one of the worst product flops in the pharmaceutical industry. The powder form of the drug caused respiratory problems in some patients and was only approved as a treatment for influenza rather than a preventative measure. GlaxoSmithKline sold just $13 million worth of the drug in the first quarter of 2006. By comparison, Roche reported $770 million in Tamiflu sales in the first half of the year.

26. Google+

Company: Google

Google Year introduced: 2011

2011 What it was: Social media site

No all product flops are necessarily discontinued. Sometimes, despite failing to live up to company expectations, they linger. Such is the case with Google+, the social media platform the Silicon Valley giant launched in 2011 to compete with Facebook. However, even with a monumental marketing campaign, Google+ failed to distinguish itself from Facebook and never took off in the same manner. While the site experienced an initial surge in subscribers, by April 2015, Google+ had experienced a 98% decline in user engagement. Today, Google+ has some active user groups and is often used to share photos.

27. HP Touchpad

Company: Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Year introduced: 2011

2011 What it was: Tablet computer

The TouchPad was Hewlett Packard’s attempt to compete with Apple’s wildly successful iPad. Hewlett Packard unveiled the device in the middle of 2011 with an extremely costly advertising campaign. The rollout incorporated numerous celebrity contracts. By late summer, however, box stores such as Best Buy were sitting on excess inventory, and HP began offering steep discounts. Many discounted TouchPads were sold at a loss, and it is estimated the company lost hundreds of millions on the product in all.

28. Kellogg's Breakfast Mates

Company: Kellogg's

Kellogg's Year introduced: 1998

1998 What it was: Breakfast food

In 1998, Kellogg’s introduced Breakfast Mates, an all-in-one package containing a serving of cereal, a small carton of milk, and a plastic spoon. The product was designed as a time saver that would appeal busy families with two working parents. The stated convenience of the all-in-one packaging did little to save time, largely because traditional cereal is already relatively convenient to consume. In a controlled test reported by The New York Times, preparing a bowl of cereal the traditional way took only one second longer than preparing a bowl of Breakfast Mates. To make matters worse, the product’s $30 million ad campaign sent a mixed message, depicting a family eating the supposedly portable cereal around the kitchen table. In August 1999, Kellogg’s announced Breakfast Mates would be discontinued due to low sales.

29. Maxwell House Brewed Coffee

Company: Maxwell House

Maxwell House Year introduced: 1990

1990 What it was: Coffee

Maxwell House Brewed Coffee was pre-brewed coffee sold in a carton with a picture of a hot mug of coffee on the packaging, a misleading visual cue for a product meant to be stored in the refrigerator. Adding to the product’s issues, the carton was lined with foil and could not be microwaved. For a product marketed for its convenience, this was an especially problematic feature for consumers. The product was discontinued shortly after it was released.

30. Arch Deluxe

Company: McDonald's

McDonald's Year introduced: 1996

1996 What it was: Hamburger

McDonald’s introduced several failed products throughout its 60-year history, but none so monumental as the Arch Deluxe. Introduced in 1996, the Arch Deluxe was marketed as a more gastronomic hamburger with “a grown-up taste." One commercial featured a child unable to enjoy the sophisticated burger, stripping its toppings to satisfy his unrefined palate. The Arch Deluxe’s advertising budget was an estimated $200 million, the most of any fast food product at the time. However, the approach failed and sales of the Arch Deluxe missed the $1 billion expectation set for its first year. The Arch Deluxe was eventually discontinued.

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31. HD DVD

Company: Toshiba

Toshiba Year introduced: 2006

2006 What it was: Media storage/playback device

Blu-ray’s succession of the DVD was not preordained. Before Blu-ray was the dominant medium for video playback, it was competing with Toshiba’s HD DVD. Essentially the same product, HD DVD was effectively taken out to pasture when in January 2008, Warner Bros. announced it would only support Sony’s Blu-ray format. Toshiba was not the only loser in the battle against Blu-ray. Millions of Americans found themselves stuck with HD DVD players and laptops after the dust settled.

32. Microsoft Bob

Company: Microsoft

Microsoft Year introduced: 1995

1995 What it was: User interface

Microsoft released Microsoft Bob in March 1995. Intended as a simple, easy-to-use OS interface at the time, Bob presented the desktop as a house, with familiar objects corresponding with different computer applications. Clicking on the stationary lying on a desk, for example, opened the word processor. Despite its simple appearance, Bob required more processing power than most home computers had in 1995. Bob was also considered too expensive and poorly designed, and was overshadowed by the release of Windows 95 later that year. Bob was discontinued roughly a year after its release.

33. 47 Ronin

Company: Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures Year introduced: 2013

2013 What it was: Movie

The 2013 fantasy action film “47 Ronin”, starring Keanu Reeves, is now notorious as one of the biggest box office flops of all time. The movie lost nearly $150 million on a $225 million budget and left Universal Pictures in the red for the fiscal year. Insiders point to multiple rewrites of the screenplay as well as several post-production changes that were made as filmmakers and studio executives attempted to find creative balance while appeasing moviegoers. In the end, the film failed to strike a chord with audiences and critics alike.

34. Qwikster

Company: Netflix

Netflix Year introduced: 2011

2011 What it was: DVD rental service

Before Netflix became the media streaming giant we know today, it was exclusively a deliver-by-mail DVD rental service. In an ill conceived of strategy, CEO Reed Hastings announced in September 2011 the company's plan to spin off its DVD rental service into a separate company, known as Qwikster. The move, which was meant to allow Netflix to focus more on its streaming services, would have cost consumers about 60% more if they wished to continue to have access to both services. Unpopular with customers and widely criticized, Hastings scrapped the plan less than a month after it was announced.

35. Virtual Boy

Company: Nintendo

Nintendo Year introduced: 1995

1995 What it was: Portable game console

Virtual Boy was game console maker Nintendo’s early foray into virtual reality technology. However, the company discontinued the portable console less than a year after its 1995 release, selling just 770,000 units globally. It is known as one of the company’s worst failures. To cut costs and reduce battery drain, Nintendo used only black and red shades in Virtual Boy games, which bothered some users. Using the Virtual Boy also caused eye strain in some users, which led Nintendo to include an automatic shutoff mechanism.

36. MeeGo

Company: Nokia/Intel

Nokia/Intel Year introduced: 2010

2010 What it was: Operating system

Unlike Windows Vista, another operating system on this list, smartphone OS MeeGo was not necessarily a flawed product. By most accounts, the MeeGo operating system just came at the wrong time. Not long after its introduction, the operating system was dropped by then Nokia CEO Stephen Elop in favor of Windows Phone 7 operating system. Though it has not been used in years, MeeGo may find a second life as a tablet operating system.

37. Crystal Pepsi

Company: Pepsi

Pepsi Year introduced: 1992

1992 What it was: Soda

Crystal Pepsi was introduced to soda lovers across the United States in 1992. The product tasted like regular cola but was clear and caffeine free in an attempt to convey purity and heath. Crystal Pepsi was heavily promoted, with the company even buying an ad slot during Super Bowl XXVII. Despite strong initial sales, the public’s interest quickly waned and the soda was discontinued less than two years after its release.

38. Hot Wheels and Barbie computers

Company: Mattel / Patriot Computers

Mattel / Patriot Computers Year released: 1999

1999 What it was: Toy computer

In 1999, Mattel announced that it had entered a licensing agreement to sell Barbie and Hot Wheels computers. The computers would be manufactured and sold by the Patriot Computer Corporation, a privately held company based in Toronto. The move was part of an attempt to reconcile the declining sales of Barbie dolls and growing sales of software and CD-ROMs.

The computers, however, had many manufacturing flaws, and the resources Patriot devoted to fixing and replacing broken computers drove it out of business. By December the following year, the company had fired its 200 employees and filed for bankruptcy.

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39. LaserDisc

Company: Phillips

Phillips Year introduced: 1978

1978 What it was: Media storage/playback device

LaserDisc was effectively a precursor to the DVD, offering consumers a higher quality picture and sound than VHS tapes. The product’s numerous drawbacks, however, outweighed any benefits. Unlike VHS players, LaserDisc players could not record television shows -- an important feature before the days of TiVo. LaserDisc players, as well as LaserDiscs themselves, were also relatively expensive. Introduced in the 1970s, LaserDisc made a brief comeback in the 90s, but ultimately failed to gain traction.

40. Dreamcast

Company: Sega

Sega Year introduced: 1999 (North America)

1999 (North America) What it was: Game console

In the 1990s, Sega was a dominant player in the consoles and games business. Sega had such success with its Sonic the Hedgehog games and Genesis console, that at one point the company held 60% of the North American market. The Dreamcast launched in 1999 in North America, within a few years of successful predecessors like the Nintendo 64 and Sony Playstation. Many consider the Dreamcast to have been ahead of its time -- it was the first console to introduce worldwide network compatibility -- but the system just never caught on. Dreamcast sold miserably and was discontinued after just over two years, in part due to the success of the PS2, which launched in 2000. While it was not Sega’s only failure, it may have been its most colossal, marking the end of the company’s attempts at game consoles.

41. S&W Mountain Bikes

Company: Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson Year introduced: 2002

2002 What it was: Mountain bike

Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson has been making police bicycles for about 20 years. The company also attempted to sell mountain bikes to the general public in 2002. Like many other products on this list, the company’s consumer bike segment likely failed because bicycles were too far beyond the scope of the Smith & Wesson brand and what most Americans associate with it.

42. Lisa

Company: Apple

Apple Year introduced: 1983

1983 What it was: Personal computer

Before Apple hit its stride in the 2000s and became the most profitable corporation in history, the company was responsible for some of the worst product flops of all time. Designed as a high-end personal computer with a graphical user interface for business customers, the Apple Lisa took three years and $50 million to develop before its release in 1983. However, the computer’s $9,995 price tag, which is equivalent to roughly $25,000 today, was too high for many consumers. After selling just 100,000 units in two years Apple discontinued the Lisa in 1985.

43. Betamax

Company: Sony

Sony Year introduced: 1975

1975 What it was: Video cassette format

In the early 1970s, videotapes were still a novel technology, and the VHS tape had yet to become the standard video cassette format. Sony introduced the Betamax format in 1975, one year before JVC introduced the VHS tape. While Betamax tapes had superior resolution and sound quality, Sony refrained from licensing its technology to other manufacturers, in turn limiting the variety of movies available on the format. Meanwhile, JVC licensed its VHS technology to any interested manufacturer. The Betamax’s share of the VCR market fell from 100% in 1975 to 10% in 1988, and continued to dwindle in the following years.

44. Too Human

Company: Silicon Knights

Silicon Knights Year introduced: 2008

2008 What it was: Video game

Released in 2008 after years of costly development delays, “Too Human” failed to live up to expectation and became one of the worst flops in video game history. A legal ruling eventually removed the game from the marketplace and pushed Silicon Knights, the game’s developer, into bankruptcy. The game’s production budget skyrocketed to an estimated $100 million after the game engine developer, Epic Games, failed to deliver the engine on time, forcing Silicon Knights to build it own game engine. When Silicon Knights sued Epic Games for missing the deadline, the latter counter-sued, which resulted in a court order forcing the developer to destroy all unsold copies of the game.

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45. Mobile ESPN

Company: ESPN

ESPN Year introduced: 2006

2006 What it was: Mobile phone service

In 2006, ESPN attempted to capitalize on the desire of sports fan to have access to sports stats, scores, and video on the go. Mobile ESPN required users to buy a specific phone, which would include access to ESPN content as part of the subscription. However, the only phone Mobile ESPN offered, a Sanyo, cost $400, and the service was $40 per month, too rich for many sports fans. The service shut down within a year. Disney, ESPN’s parent company, spent $150 million on the failed venture.

46. Life Savers soda

Company: Life Savers

Life Savers Year introduced: 1995

1995 What it was: Soft drink

Though Life Savers soda tested well in focus groups, it failed to gain traction with the broader consumer market. Many attribute the soft drink’s failure to the prevailing perception that it was liquid candy. The soda was available in some of the candy’s popular fruit flavors, including pineapple, orange punch, grape punch, and lime punch. Life Savers did not release a mint flavored soda, however.

47. Mars Needs Moms

Company: Walt Disney Motion

Walt Disney Motion Year introduced: 2011

2011 What it was: Studio film

Released in March 2011, Disney’s “Mars Needs Moms” grossed just $6.9 million in its opening weekend. Produced with a $150 million budget, “Mars Needs Moms” was one of the worst flops in cinema history. Film critics partially blame animation studio ImageMovers Digital for the film’s box office failure. The movie was animated using an expensive motion-capture process, a technology still in its infancy. According to one viewer, “The movie looked downright creepy.” ImageMovers Digital was closed after the studio wrapped production on the film.

48. EONS

Company: Eons.com

Eons.com Year introduced: 2006

2006 What it was: Social media site

In July 2006, Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor launched Eons.com -- a social network for baby boomers and other internet users over the age of 50. According to surveys conducted by Pew Research Center, an estimated 32% of seniors over the age of 65 used the internet at the time of the website’s launch compared to 86% of young adults aged 18 to 29. While the share of seniors on the internet has doubled over the past decade, Eons failed to gain traction and was sold to Crew Media in 2011.

49. Supertrain

Company: NBC

NBC Year introduced: 1979

1979 What it was: TV show

When NBC’s “Supertrain” premiered in 1979, it was the most expensive TV series ever aired. Set aboard a nuclear-powered train that travels between New York City and Los Angeles at speeds nearing 200 miles an hour, the show’s production required a model train set that cost around $3 million in today’s dollars. The model crashed during its first demonstration, and the show as a whole soon followed. Debuting to poor ratings and negative reviews, “Supertrain” was cancelled after just nine episodes.

50. Galaxy Note 7

Company: Samsung

Samsung Year introduced: 2016

2016 What it was: Tablet phone

Samsung, which has overtaken Apple in the smartphone market last year, also had one of (the larger and--optional) more recent product flops. The Note S7, a phablet that launched in August 2016, was initially well received. However, it had a serious flaw. A problem with the battery software resulted in the phones catching fire on several occasions, including once on a SouthWest Airlines flight, which had to be evacuated. Soon, the Department of Transportation made it illegal to bring a Note 7 on a commercial flight. By October, after an extremely expensive recall, Samsung suspended worldwide production of the Note 7. The company lost what is estimated to be over $3 billion due to the debacle, and Apple once again took the lead in the global smartphone market earlier this year.

More: Can you afford that new vehicle? 25 most expensive car models to insure

Detailed findings and methodology

Hindsight is 20/20, and while many of these gaffes might not have been predictable at the time, the reasons for their failure are often much clearer today. The reasons for the failures often fall into one of a several categories: overpricing, timing, bad advertising, product flaws, and reaching beyond what consumers of a brand are willing to accept.

Sometimes products are sold at a premium because they offer features competitors do not, either perceived or actual. When customers do not feel a product is superior to another -- rightly so or not -- they will not pay the premium price. While Apple is able to sell computers at a premium today because of its brand perception, the Lisa, introduced in 1983, failed largely as a result of its nearly $10,000 price tag.

Many of the products on this list could have been perfectly viable, possibly even a hit, if they had been introduced at a different time. Sega’s Dreamcast was the first major console to introduce global network connectivity, but this was before every home had a stable connection fast enough to make the Dreamcast viable at the time.

For some flops on this list, it appears poor market research doomed these products. McDonald’s Arch Deluxe was marketed as a burger for those with refined palates, turning away kids, as well as many adults, from the ill-fated item. Coca-Cola completely misjudged the desire of its customers when it changed its classic flavor and introduced New Coke.

Sometimes, brands overextend their reach, introducing products that clash with their image and target demographics. One does not need to dig too deep to understand why Colgate, a brand associated with toothpaste, failed to make its line of frozen dinner products a success. The same can be said for Cosmopolitan’s brand of yogurt, Smith & Wesson’s mountain bike line, or Harley Davidson’s perfume.

Of course, many of the products on this list were simply poorly designed or faulty -- at times downright dangerous. Such was the case with Mattel’s line of seriously flawed Hot Wheels and Barbie computers, or the Galaxy Note 7, plagued by battery fires that caused the phone to be banned on airplanes, recalled, and eventually discontinued.

Despite their disappointing launches, some of these products still exist today. Google’s Glass and Google+ each became the butt of jokes after failing to live up to lofty promises. One day, we may see one of these flops become the product it was meant to be.

24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

Acadia boom, robot servers: News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Montgomery: Gov. Kay Ivey is calling lawmakers into special session this month to vote on a prison construction plan that would use part of the state’s coronavirus relief funds to jump-start the building of three new lockups. In a letter to lawmakers announcing the special session, Ivey painted the construction project as a partial solution to the state’s long-standing prison woes, which have included a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit over violence and a separate federal court order to improve mental health treatment behind bars. “Failure to timely resolve these issues outlined in federal lawsuits could result in detrimental consequences for our state,” Ivey wrote to lawmakers. “Achieving an Alabama solution to these problems – rather than a federal court-ordered solution – is paramount.” While proponents said the construction would be a partial solution, one lawmaker said it would put “old problems in new buildings” unless the state made additional reforms. “Just building prisons without engaging in some sort of comprehensive criminal justice reform is the definition of kicking the can down the road,” said Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa. On the use of federal pandemic funds on the project, England said there are “obviously better uses of the money.” Ivey said the special session would begin Sept. 27.

Alaska

Anchorage: Dozens of Afghan refugees will be resettled in the state over the next six months, according to a resettlement organization. Between 50 and 100 refugees will come to Alaska starting in September, Catholic Social Services Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services said in a statement. Resettlement will continue through March. Catholic Social Services Alaska CEO Lisa Aquino told the Associated Press it wasn’t known when the first refugees would arrive in Alaska, but the organization will be ready for them. The refugees were described as being in vulnerable populations, such as children, women and the elderly. Many worked for the U.S. government or the military in Afghanistan in positions like translators. Thousands of Afghanis were evacuated after American forces left Afghanistan last month. They were first sent to military bases in the Lower 48 for screening and preparing to be sent to destinations around the U.S. The refugees, including individuals and families, will work with program staff in several areas like employment and English-language skills after arriving in Anchorage. Aquino said it wasn’t known how many would settle in other parts of the state, but it’s expected a majority would remain in Anchorage.

Arizona

Tucson: As the state’s biggest hospitals fill up with COVID-19 patients – most unvaccinated – physicians in some smaller, more rural communities say their patients who need specialty care are paying the ultimate price. The inability to find a bed has left smaller facilities such as Santa Cruz Valley Regional Hospital in Green Valley frustrated. A Tucson gastroenterologist drove to Green Valley last week to operate on a patient who couldn’t be transferred anywhere in the state to get the surgery. The hospital has filed a complaint with the Arizona Department of Health Services about the inability to transfer, the Arizona Daily Star reports. The patient lived “only because this doctor was nice enough, was human enough to save his life,” said Stephen Harris, the hospital’s CEO. In Cochise County, Dr. Cristian Laguillo, a senior physician with Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, said he has never felt this helpless trying to assist patients – even while serving a tour in Afghanistan as a combat medic. A surge line was created in April 2020 by the state Department of Health Services to facilitate transfers of COVID-19 patients across the state. But it’s meant to be used to track down beds for COVID-19 patients. Laguillo said he thinks the state surge line has to change to be for all patients in critical need, not just virus patients.

Arkansas

Lonoke: A former sheriff’s deputy charged with manslaughter for fatally shooting a white teenager whose death has drawn the attention of civil rights activists was released Monday on $15,000 bond. Michael Davis, a former sergeant with the Lonoke County sheriff’s office, is set to appear again in court Nov. 15, Little Rock television station KTHV reports. Davis was charged Friday with felony manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain. Davis, who is also white, shot Brittain during a June 23 traffic stop. Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley fired Davis in July, saying the former deputy did not turn on his body camera until after the shooting. Investigators have said Brittain was holding a container at the time of the shooting, and they did not find any firearms in or around the teen’s truck. Davis’ attorney has said the former deputy plans to plead not guilty. Brittain was eulogized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and two attorneys who represented George Floyd’s family. They said the teen’s death highlighted the need for interracial support for changes in policing. Brittain’s family and friends have regularly demonstrated outside the Lonoke County sheriff’s office, demanding more details on the shooting.

California

Sacramento: Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved two measures to slice through local zoning ordinances as the most populous state struggles with soaring home prices, an affordable housing shortage and stubborn homelessness. He signed the most prominent legislation despite nearly 250 cities objecting that it will, by design, undermine local planning and control. The outcome marks the latest battle between what’s come to be thought of as “NIMBY vs. YIMBY.” While most agree there is an affordable housing shortage, proposed construction often runs into “not in my backyard” opposition. “The housing affordability crisis is undermining the California Dream for families across the state, and threatens our long-term growth and prosperity,” Newsom said in announcing his approval Thursday. He also announced the state will put $1.75 billion into what his administration is calling a new California Housing Accelerator, which he said will speed building 6,500 affordable multifamily units that had been stalled for lack of tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credits. It’s part of $22 billion that the state plans to spend to spur new housing and ease homelessness along with the new laws. The bill by Senate leader Toni Atkins would require cities to approve up to four housing units on what was a single-family lot.

Colorado

Denver: A state panel has recommended that a mountain peak west of Denver be renamed in honor of a Native American woman who acted as a translator for tribes and white settlers in the 19th century. Thursday’s recommendation comes amid national efforts to address a history of colonialism and oppression against Native Americans and other people of color after last summer’s protests calling for racial justice reform. It is the first of several name changes being considered by the state panel. The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board recommended changing the name of Squaw Mountain, located in Clear Creek County about 30 miles miles west of Denver, to Mestaa’ehehe Mountain, which is pronounced “mess-taw-hay.” The name honors an influential Cheyenne translator known as Owl Woman who facilitated relations between white settlers and Native American tribes in the early 1800s, The Colorado Sun reports. The word “squaw,” derived from the Algonquin language, may once have simply meant “woman.” But over generations, the word morphed into a misogynist and racist term to disparage Indigenous women, according to experts.

Connecticut

New London: One restaurant is taking an unorthodox approach to addressing staff shortages: robot servers to serve meals. The operator of the New London location of the Shaking Crab told The Day the ocean-themed restaurant will use regular waiters and waitresses to explain the menu and take orders, but the robots will deliver the meals to the tables. Gulshan Soni told the newspaper the robots can be summoned with a bell. The innovation is partly for showmanship and to draw in customers with something unique, he said, and partly to address staffing shortages being experienced across the industry. The four robots cost between $6,000 and $22,000, Soni said. The restaurant is scheduled to open to the public in early October. The Shaking Crab has more than two dozen locations in the northeastern U.S. and China, according to its website.

Delaware

Wilmington: In uplifting news for environmentalists, Delawareans can no longer release balloons into the sky, thanks to a law Gov. John Carney signed Friday. The bill that lawmakers passed in June makes it illegal to intentionally release balloons in the First State. Releasing up to four balloons is considered littering and can mean a fine of $25 or more. Releasing five or more balloons brings a fine of $250 and up to eight hours of community service for the first offense. Maryland and Virginia passed similar laws earlier this year. While Carney has dedicated much of his tenure to a litter-reduction campaign, the bill isn’t just intended to prevent residents from suffering the sight of latex balloon remnants scattered across the state. The new law is also meant to protect wildlife, according to environmentalists. “Balloons have long polluted shorelines of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, adding to the plastic pollution that threatens both marine life and the roughly 225,000 jobs in the three states that depend on a clean coast,” Oceana field campaigns manager Caroline Wood said in a statement. Delawareans can still throw water balloons as long as they pick up the trash after they pop. People planning celebrations or mourning events can visit preventballoonlitter.org to find other ideas in lieu of balloon releases.

District of Columbia

Washington: After showing signs of coughing, sneezing and a lack of appetite, nine big cats at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo tested positive for the coronavirus. The Smithsonian said Friday that six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers exhibited symptoms and tested presumptive positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. The final results are expected in the coming days, the Smithsonian said on its website. “All lions and tigers are being treated with anti-inflammatories and anti-nausea medication to address discomfort and decreased appetite,” the zoo said on its website. “In addition, all are being treated with antibiotics for presumptive secondary bacterial pneumonia. They remain under close observation.” Due to the social distance between visitors and animals, the public is at no risk for the coronavirus. The zoo confirmed no other animals were exhibiting symptoms as of Friday. Zookeepers conducted an investigation of all staff and animals, and the source of the outbreak wasn’t found, according to the website. The first round of the COVID-19 vaccine made for zoo animals by Zoetis has been authorized for use by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The National Zoo has said it will disburse the first round of vaccines among “susceptible species” in the coming months.

Florida

Ocala: A woman floating on a paddleboard in the Silver River used her paddle to push away a large alligator that swam directly toward her in a frightful, up-close encounter captured in startling videos and photographs. The alligator came within inches of Vicki Baker, 60, of Ocala. She estimated the reptile to be nearly as long as her 10-foot paddleboard. It hissed loudly at her. She said at one point it opened its mouth, revealing large teeth and its powerful jaw as it floated on the surface. “What are you doing? Get away from me! Get away from me!” she yelled at the alligator as it swam inches from her paddleboard. “No! Oh, my God, I had to push him away with my paddle!” Nearby, off camera in the video, an employee at Silver Springs State Park can be heard on a speaker advising her: “Ma’am, I’m going to suggest backing up considering you just made him pretty mad.” Baker said she remains puzzled over the encounter. She said she presumed someone else on the water had been feeding the alligator, desensitizing it to humans and helping it associate paddlers on the river with food. “I was afraid,” she said. “I’ve seen them my whole life and have never been afraid.” The encounter happened near Silver Springs, where deep springs feed the Silver River, and the water is so stunningly clear that tourists board glass-bottom boats.

Georgia

Marietta: The Cobb County district attorney’s office is offering warm, furry support to crime victims and staff. District Attorney Flynn Broady announced Friday that Rose, a 3-year-old black Labrador retriever, is joining the office. The victim witness unit has been working to bring Rose on board, according to a news release from the office. “The level of stress and anxiety that victims of domestic violence experience is drastically reduced with the introduction of assistance animals,” unit director Kimberly McCoy said. “It’s been a long process, but we are excited.” The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office partnered with the Pups with a Purpose program to donate the dog. Pups with a Purpose matches people held in the Forsyth County jail with volunteer citizen dog trainers and Forsyth County Animal Shelter dogs. Rose received specialized training from Rucker Dog Training to prepare her to help crime victims in court, the release said. “Child victims will have the opportunity to have Rose there to calm them down and assure them that they are in a safe place so they can tell their story and not feel afraid of what happens if they tell it,” Broady said.

Hawaii

Honolulu: The state Board of Education has approved changing Central Middle School’s name to honor the Hawaiian princess who once owned the downtown Honolulu property. At a meeting Thursday, the board approved naming the campus Princess Ruth Ke’elikolani Middle School. School and community leaders have been trying since 2019 to rename the school. The princess’ home, Keoua Hale, once stood on the grounds of the current campus, and when she died in 1883, her property was bequeathed to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, according to documents supporting the name change. After Pauahi’s death in 1885, the board of education purchased the property for what became Honolulu High School in 1895, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. It later became Central Grammar School before it was changed briefly to Ke’elikolani School. It became Central Junior High School in 1928, then Central Intermediate School in 1932 and Central Middle School in 1997, the newspaper reports. “In the 1930s, because people couldn’t pronounce the name, they changed it back to Central,” said the school’s principal, Joseph Passantino, Hawaii News Now reports. “So the significance is huge, especially for the staff who’s dedicated over two years to give her that duty and honor.”

Idaho

Caldwell: The principal at a southwestern Idaho public charter school has died due to COVID-19, the school’s board said. The school board at Heritage Community Charter School in Caldwell announced the death of Javier Castaneda in a letter to parents. The school’s website links to a GoFundMe page created Friday that said Castaneda died unexpectedly Wednesday as a result of becoming ill with COVID-19. He is survived by his wife and seven children. The school board said in the letter first reported by KTVB-TV that the school will provide counseling resources and other support for children. The school has some restrictions in place due to COVID-19. It made face masks optional. The school said on its website that it focuses on a classical liberal arts education and uses a dual Spanish-language immersion program to provide a strong foreign language emphasis.

Illinois

Springfield: All 18 of the state’s job centers offering services for people searching for work are accepting in-person appointments after shifting to remote operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Department of Employment Security announced. In-person appointments began Monday at five offices in Burbank, Chicago, Joliet and North Aurora. Other centers began accepting appointments in August and in early September. Officials encouraged people to use the agency’s website to apply for unemployment benefits, search for work and use other services. Appointments, have to be made at least 24 hours in advance by calling the agency’s hotline, at (217) 558-0401, and last 20 minutes. Anyone entering an office must wear a mask and should reschedule their appointment if they feel sick or have been exposed to COVID-19. Help will still be available over the phone as the job centers reopen for in-person services.

Indiana

Terre Haute: Organizers of a planned museum about basketball great Larry Bird are starting to assemble thousands of items ahead of its expected opening next year. The museum will be part of the new Terre Haute Convention Center, which remains under construction with an anticipated completion date of March 2022. It will include items donated by Bird and others from his career with the Boston Celtics, Indiana State University and the U.S. Olympic team. The site for work on cataloging the memorabilia is being modified for security and should be ready within weeks, the Tribune-Star reports. “As other items are collected, they can be housed in one location,” memorabilia consultant Shelly Keen said. “It’s just going to make things move a little more swiftly than what it was before.” Bird grew up in the southern Indiana town of French Lick. He created excitement during his days at Indiana State in Terre Haute when he led the school to the NCAA title game in 1979, although the Sycamores lost to Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team. When the Celtics won the 1984 NBA Championship, Bird dedicated the win to Terre Haute. He was the Indiana Pacers coach and a top team executive after his playing career.

Iowa

Waterloo: The city’s first Black police chief is facing intense opposition from some current and former officers as he works with local leaders to reform the department, including the removal of its longtime insignia that resembles a Ku Klux Klan dragon. Joel Fitzgerald said his 16-month tenure in Waterloo, a city of 67,000 with a history of racial divisions, is a “case study” for what Black police chiefs face as they seek to build community trust and hold officers to higher standards. In an interview with the Associated Press, he said the attacks were driven by misinformation and racism toward him and his boss, the city’s first Black mayor. “I don’t think there’s been any police chief in America in a small- or medium-sized department that have endured this for the reasons I have endured it, and I think the reasons have to do with race,” said Fitzgerald, who previously served as the chief of larger departments in Fort Worth, Texas, and Allentown, Pennsylvania. “This is my fourth job being the first Black police chief. I’ve dealt with pushback in other places but never so overt. Never so nonfactual.” The backlash has intensified since last fall, when the City Council began pushing to remove the department’s emblem – a winged creature known as a griffin that had adorned patches on officers’ uniforms since the 1960s. After a messy process, the council voted 5-2 last week to order the department to remove the symbol from its uniforms by the end of September.

Kansas

Lansing: A nurse who texted a co-worker a picture of a dementia patient slumped over in a wheelchair and then suggested she was responsible and deserved thanks has pleaded guilty to intentionally administering the wrong medication. The Kansas City Star reports 37-year-old Jennifer Lynn Reavis, of Atchison, is free on bond as she awaits sentencing on charges of endangerment, unlawful administration of a controlled substance and battery. She pleaded guilty to the charges Friday in Leavenworth County District Court. In May 2019, administrators with Twin Oaks Rehab Center in Lansing contacted police after discovering a patient had been getting evening medications along with the anti-anxiety drug Ativan and Benadryl when she was not supposed to receive them. “Your (sic) welcome! I hope she is asleep most of the day tomorrow,” prosecutors said Reaves wrote to an oncoming night nurse in a text that included the photograph of the victim apparently sleeping in a wheelchair. “Hint hint.” The medication caused the patient to become lethargic and be hospitalized, prosecutors say. Reavis admitted to police giving the medicine to the woman, saying she tried to wander away from the nursing home.

Kentucky

Louisville: On the first Saturday after a new “safety zone” law went into effect at the state’s only abortion clinic, some protesters ignored the 10-foot-wide restricted area at the entrance as they followed patients to the door, shouting and berating them. No police were present to enforce the zone meant to ensure safe access to EMW Women’s Surgical Center, where patients often must pass through shouting, jostling anti-abortion protesters waving graphic signs of fetuses. “Repent, murderer!” self-proclaimed sidewalk preacher Jesse Morrell shouted as he and others stepped inside the restricted area to follow a young woman to the door of the clinic. The city’s police department put out a statement Sunday saying it had more urgent priorities than trying to enforce the new city ordinance, which requires officers to witness a violation before they can issue a citation. Morrell, a regular protester outside EMW, said he doesn’t feel constrained by the restricted area. “The thing about these buffer zones is that if you don’t test them, they just get bigger,” he said. “Eventually the whole street will be a buffer zone if we don’t stand up for our rights.” The protests Saturday grew increasingly chaotic as more protesters arrived, swarming vehicles that pulled up to the curb to drop off patients, shouting and admonishing them as they exited.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: A Louisiana-based research organization and a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi are joining forces in a research project aimed at restoring and protecting the Chandeleur Islands in the northern Gulf of Mexico. In a news release announcing the effort, USM noted that the islands provide habitat for gulf fish and wildlife and offer storm protection for coastal Louisiana. Led by Dr. Kelly Darnell, an assistant research professor at USM, the project is one of 20 awarded a combined $2.3 million to find ways of best managing natural resources in the Gulf, including marine mammals, shorebirds, barrier islands, seagrass and fisheries. The projects, slated to begin this month, are funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RESTORE Science Program. The Water Institute of the Gulf, based in Baton Rouge, will be among those working with Darnell. Others include the University of Florida, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Gulf of Mexico Alliance. Darnell’s project, which relates to seagrass ecosystems along the Chandeleur Islands, was given $127,065. The project will provide usable data for restoration and long-term management of the islands.

Maine

Bar Harbor: Acadia National Park is on track for a record year, as park officials see no signs of visitation slowing down this fall. The park’s busiest year on record was 2018, when there were 3.54 million visits. This year, the number could top 4 million, Kevin Schneider, park superintendent, told the Acadia Advisory Commission. Things have taken off since 2020, which was an off year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2.67 million visits Acadia recorded in 2020 amounted to the lowest annual count the park has had since 2014, the Bangor Daily News reports. But visitation picked up significantly last fall. Since October 2020, “every single month has been a record month” for visitation, according to Adam Gibson, a social scientist for Acadia. The past 11 months have had on average 22% more visitors than the same period from the year before, he said. The park had roughly 800,000 visits last month, and Acadia has welcomed an estimated 2.75 million visitors so far in 2021. The volume of people in the park has resulted in more rescues, said Therese Picard, the park’s chief ranger. The park typically handles two dozen rescues through August of each year, she said, but there have been 50 rescues so far this year. Most of the rescues involve leg injuries of some sort.

Maryland

Annapolis: BP has inked a 15-year agreement with Annapolis-based CleanBay Renewables to turn poultry litter into natural gas. The partnership involves mixing poultry litter with water in a closed system known as an anaerobic digester. One of the end products is biogas, which includes methane. The biogas can be processed into renewable natural gas and used to fuel vehicles. “We have a portfolio of projects and a corporate strategy to develop 30 (facilities) across the U.S.,” said Thomas Spangler, CleanBay Renewables’ executive chairman. Among the first locations slated to receive such a facility is Westover, in Somerset County, with a groundbreaking scheduled for early in the first quarter of 2022. That is expected to be fully operational by mid-2024. Usually, such facilities employ 26 full-time employees over three shifts a day running 24 hours a day, all year. Completing a two-year construction period could also create an additional 250 jobs. According to Spangler, the initial process behind green-lighting projects started with reaching out to Somerset Economic Development Commission and county planning and zoning officials. At the state level, the company approached the Maryland Department of Commerce, state workforce agencies, and area community colleges and universities.

Massachusetts

Plymouth: A museum dedicated to the English colony of Plymouth and local Indigenous tribes is opening a new exhibit to mark the 400th anniversary of Thanksgiving. The Plimoth Patuxet Museums said the exhibit, entitled “We Gather Together: Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and the Making of an American Holiday,” will open Saturday. The exhibit will explore the relationship between Native Americans and English colonists to “better understand the events that led to the first Thanksgiving,” said the museum, which features a replica colonial village and reenactors in Plymouth. It will feature rarely seen artifacts from the museum’s collection, as well as art from across the centuries tracing how the New England tradition grew and emerged as a national holiday in the 19th century, the museum said. “Patuxet/Plymouth is the place where ancient traditions of gratitude in both Indigenous and European cultures merged,” the museum said in a statement. “ ‘We Gather Together’ will explore the ancient and deeply human expression of gratitude that is the bedrock of this national holiday.” The Pokanoket tribe and their sachem Massasoit shared in three days of feasting and entertainment with English colonists in the autumn of 1621, helping to inspire the holiday of gathering and giving thanks, according to the museum.

Michigan

Ypsilanti: A “Black Lives Matter” street mural painted this summer in southeastern Michigan has been defaced by vandals who covered part of it with white paint. The weekend attack in Ypsilanti left the 260-foot mural’s words “Black Lives” drenched in white paint, while the word “Matter” was untouched. Trische Duckworth, executive director of the community organization Survivors Speak, was joined Sunday by city officials and others who expressed outrage over the vandalism in the city about 35 miles southwest of Detroit. “It was an ugly display of hatred,” Duckworth said. She said that no matter who defaced the mural, the act shows that racism and white supremacy “are not a thing of the past. It’s alive and active.” City manager Frances McMullan said law enforcement is investigating the vandalism. She said in a statement that the city was “sickened by this horrible act of destruction” but that the mural would be restored. The vandals left behind the painted name of a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group. The Ypsilanti City Council approved the mural at the entrance of a city park in February. Volunteers painted the mural and a second one in June using donated paint. Duckworth said the council is expected to discuss the defaced mural this week.

Minnesota

St. Paul: Agriculture officials in the state say they are seeing an increase in inquiries about mental health. “We are seeing a lot of despair right now, a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety,” said Meg Moynihan, who works for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture with a focus on the human side of farming. Moynihan recently put an ad on Facebook with a link to mental health help. The response caught her attention: nearly 2,500 clicks in 18 days, Minnesota Public Radio reports. “So they’re not just looking at, ‘Oh, there’s the phone number in the ad I could call,’ but they’re clicking through for more information,” Moynihan said. “And I’m hoping that’s some people who want that kind of help and support for themselves. But I’m also hoping it’s for people who might be concerned about somebody they know.” Commissioner of Agriculture Thom Petersen recently surveyed conditions in northwestern Minnesota, where the drought is taking its biggest toll on the state. “I thought I was in Arizona,” he said. “I just looked at this bare church with no grass and the graves, you know, looked like a ghost town. And I kept going, and the pastures were the worst I’ve ever seen in my life.” Peterson said he also met an 80-year-old farmer who’d just sold off all his sheep who said the situation was the worst he’s seen in his lifetime.

Mississippi

Clarksdale: The Mississippi Writers Trail has unveiled a marker for Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer Richard Ford. The marker for Ford, a Jackson native, was placed recently at the Clarksdale Carnegie Public Library. Ford won acclaim with his first two novels, “A Piece of My Heart” and “The Ultimate Good Luck.” “Our library here in little Clarksdale, Mississippi, is just so pleased to pay tribute and to honor one of the most well-known greatest writers of all times, a native Mississippian, a novelist, a short story writer, and a Pulitzer Prize Winner,” Mary Caradine, interim director of the Carnegie Public Library of Clarksdale and Coahoma County, said in a press release. “Mr. Ford’s achievements are known far and wide.” Ford’s novel “The Sportsman” was named one of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 novels published since the magazine’s inception. Ford wrote “The Sportswriter” while living in rural Coahoma County, and he used the book’s protagonist in future novels, including “Independence Day,” for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1996. “Richard Ford is a true international author and cultural essayist who brings a rich view of the Southern experience to his readers,” Visit Mississippi Director Craig Ray said.

Missouri

Kansas City: A federal investigation is underway after arson damaged a historic church that now serves a congregation predominantly made up of people from South Sudan. John Ham of the Kansas City office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the Kansas City Star that authorities have determined the blaze was intentionally set, making it a federal crime. The fire was discovered about 9:15 a.m. Saturday at the building known as Harlem Baptist Church on the city’s north side. Arriving firefighters discovered the front of the building and an area of stairs going to the basement were fully engulfed in flames and determined that’s where the fire started. One firefighter had to be rescued after the stairway collapsed but was not injured. The church suffered heavy fire damage to the front and smoke and water damage elsewhere. The church, founded in 1907 as the Harlem Tabernacle Church, is the last remaining original building of a non-incorporated community known as Harlem. It now serves as a gathering place for the United Christian Fellowship. Pastor Gabriel Riak said the congregation has Black and white members, including Sudanese and Americans. He said he was grateful no one was in the building, KMBC reports. Members plan to restore the church, which sustained about $90,000 in damage, he said.

Montana

Helena: Health officials are begging residents to wear masks indoors and get vaccinated against COVID-19 as hospitals face increasing strain in the absence of any statewide health mandates. Officials in Bozeman and Missoula lamented their inability to implement public health restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus after the Legislature passed several laws earlier this year curtailing the power of local health officers to implement rules such as mask requirements and limits on gathering sizes. “Now is the time when we would have mandates in place,” said D’Shane Barnett, Missoula County health officer. “Unfortunately, we have anti-health state legislators who went out of their way to make that not possible.” Lori Christensen, public health officer for Gallatin County, said the legislative changes have “complicated the scene” in terms of immediate action she can take. She said she trying to navigate “the complexity of the law,” but a mask mandate is not on the horizon. In Missoula, officials have requested 24 National Guard soldiers to assist the county in addressing its COVID-19 surge at health care facilities and in The Sleepy Inn, a facility used to quarantine unhoused people who are diagnosed with the virus or identified as close contacts. Bozeman Health has also put in a request for National Guard assistance.

Nebraska

Lincoln: The state is one of the few in the nation that haven’t legalized cannabis use in some form, but the industry has already launched a lobbying group to help influence the rules that will regulate the industry. John Cartier, president of the Nebraska Cannabis Association, said the organization expects some form of marijuana legalization to be approved in the state in coming years, so it makes sense to be prepared, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. “It is not unreasonable to predict that some form of legalization will happen before this decade is done, and with several ballot initiatives planned for 2022, it could come as early as January 2023,” he said. Two ballot initiatives working in tandem to legalize medical marijuana were filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office, and a petition to legalize all uses of marijuana remains on file. Both are seeking to put the question of legalization before voters next year.

Nevada

Las Vegas: A death row inmate convicted in the 1980 robbery-killing of a man for $2 is no longer eligible for capital punishment and must be resentenced, the Nevada Supreme Court said. The justices ruled Thursday that a New York court’s recent erasure of Samuel Howard’s lone conviction for a violent crime took the death penalty off the table for his Nevada murder conviction, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Howard, 73, has been on death row for nearly 40 years after being sentenced in the fatal 1980 shooting of Las Vegas dentist George Monahan during a robbery. According to the Nevada high court, the vacating of Howard’s New York conviction eliminated the one remaining aggravating circumstance making him eligible for a possible death sentence. Under a new penalty hearing for Howard, a jury would decide between on whether his sentence of life in prison would come with or without the possibility of parole. The last person executed by Nevada was Daryl Mack, in 2006 for the 1988 murder of Betty Jane May, of Reno.

New Hampshire

Lebanon: Dartmouth-Hitchcock is starting a dermatology clinic to meet the unique skin care needs of people with Down syndrome. The clinic is opening Tuesday in Manchester. There are many associated skin conditions with Down syndrome, including dry skin, excessive dandruff, rashes around the mouth, acne in the groin and armpits, patchy hair loss, vitiligo, and toenail and foot fungus, Dartmouth-Hitchcock said in a news release. Down syndrome is also linked with other medical conditions such as congenital heart disease, celiac disease, chronic ear infections and thyroid disease. The clinic will consider how treatment plans will affect other medical conditions common with Down syndrome. “Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been my dream to have a dermatology clinic specifically for people with Down syndrome – to really take our time to educate and empower. We are excited to get started,” dermatologist Jillian Rork said in a news release.

New Jersey

Jersey City: An officer safely caught a 1-month-old baby dropped off a second-floor balcony over the weekend, police said. The Hudson County prosecutor’s office said Officer Eduardo Matute was among those called to the Jersey City residence Saturday morning after reports that a man was threatening the baby. He and several officers were positioned below the second-floor balcony as the child was dangled over the balcony railing. Officials said the man dropped the infant after a lengthy standoff, and Matute caught the child. City spokesperson Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said the child was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Mayor Steve Fulop later posted a photo on social media of the officer holding the child, who was wrapped in a white blanket. “Thankfully the baby wasn’t harmed physically,” Fulop said. Wallace-Scalcione said the man who dropped the baby was immediately arrested, and charges are pending. “Kudos to the (Jersey City Police Department) and all the officers involved for their heroics and for bringing a safe conclusion to this dangerous situation,” Prosecutor Esther Suarez said in a Twitter post.

New Mexico

Albuquerque: Amid debate over the state’s system of releasing felony defendants, University of New Mexico research indicates that just under 5% of Albuquerque-area defendants awaiting trial commit violent crimes while free from jail. Findings from the university’s Institute for Social Research’s analysis of more than 10,000 felony cases in Bernalillo County also included that less than 1% of people on pretrial release were arrested for a first-degree felony while on pretrial release, the Albuquerque Journal reports. A senior state courts official said the research indicates that the vast majority of defendants don’t commit new crimes pending trial, but the top prosecutor for Bernalillo County and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said its still troubling that some defendants commit crimes while free. Administrative Office of the Courts Director Artie Pepin said the research “validates the pretrial justice improvements underway in New Mexico.” District Attorney Raul Torrez said through spokeswoman Laura Rodriguez that the few violent crimes committed by people on pretrial release are “an unacceptable price for our community to pay.” Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki said it “can still be utterly devastating to a family or a community” when 5% of felony defendants commit a violent crime.

New York

Albany: The state is taking steps to address a mounting shortage of school bus drivers. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday announced several short-term and long-term initiatives, including opening up new testing sites for commercial driver’s license applicants, expediting the testing and permitting process, and conducting outreach to law enforcement, firefighters, military and other organizations that already have trained drivers. A study by the New York Association for Pupil Transportation two years ago found that 8 in 10 school transportation directors considered driver shortages a major concern, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem. A lack of drivers can lead to delayed departures and arrivals and the cancellation of field trips and other extracurricular activities. “Our schools and public health officials have moved mountains to ensure our children receive an in-person education this year, and we are leaving no stone unturned to make sure schools have adequate bus service to bring students to school and back,” Hochul said in a statement. The state is reaching out to more than half a million existing commercial driver’s license holders in the state, including those who are currently unemployed, Hochul said.

North Carolina

Monroe: Union County’s school board voted Monday to modify the district’s quarantine protocols to comply with state law and let the county health department lead contact tracing efforts. The move comes after the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services threatened to sue the district for overhauling contact tracing procedures and allowing most of its 7,000 quarantined students back into the classroom so long as they are not symptomatic or known to be infected with the coronavirus. “UCPS will recognize quarantines in accordance with state law of students and staff who are considered close contacts with a COVID-19-positive case,” said Kathy Heintel, a member of the board. Because it is one of a handful of districts not compelling students or staff to wear masks and does not have an online learning option, some Union County parents say the quarantines have amounted to 14 days of near-total learning loss. Roughly one-sixth of the district’s 39,000 enrolled pupils were stuck at home the week before the district substantially changed its COVID-19 protocols. Fewer than 1,700 kids were quarantined last week after the changes, a 77% weekly drop.

North Dakota

Bismarck: Regulators say the state has officially lost its status as the nation’s second-biggest oil producer. North Dakota produced just over 1 million barrels of oil per day in July, the most recent month for which data is available from the state Oil and Gas Division. The July production marks a 56,000-barrel-per-day or 5% drop from June, the Bismarck Tribune reports. Texas continues to lead the nation in oil production. The Permian Basin spans parts of New Mexico and Texas, and it’s arguably the biggest competition for North Dakota’s Bakken oil patch. The southern oil-producing region is closer to major refineries and export terminals, and it attracts significant drilling and investment within the oil and gas industry. North Dakota ranked second, behind Texas, in oil production for nine years. It lost that status to New Mexico in July. The two states had been neck and neck for several months. New Mexico had 82 rigs drilling Friday, far more than the 27 operating in North Dakota. Aside from bragging rights, a state’s position holds other implications. Rankings can affect an oil company’s ability to find investors to fund a project in a state, North Dakota regulators have said. North Dakota had surpassed Alaska to take second place in oil production in 2012.

Ohio

Columbus: The State Medical Board of Ohio has renewed the medical license of a doctor who drew nationwide attention and derision for claiming COVID-19 vaccines were magnetizing recipients and had a connection to 5G wireless towers. Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a state-licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine, first received her license in 1984, and it had been set to expire Oct. 1, on its regular two-year basis. Tenpenny spoke to the Ohio House Health Committee in June about her false vaccine claims. She is among the 12 most prolific disseminators of COVID-19 misinformation on social media, according to research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. An anti-vaccine activist since the 2000s, Tenpenny has called vaccines a “method of mass destruction” and “depopulation”; charges $623 for her “boot camp” to train people how to convince others to refrain from vaccination; and sells her book “Saying No to Vaccines” for $578 on Amazon. State law allows the medical board, with the votes of at least six of its 12 members, to refuse renewal of any physician for “making a false, fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading statement” in relation to the practice of medicine.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: The state on Monday scheduled its first executions since it put lethal injections on hold six years ago following a series of mishaps. Included on the list of seven executions is Julius Jones, whose case has drawn national attention. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals scheduled Jones to die Nov. 18 by lethal injection for the 1999 slaying of Edmond businessman Paul Howell, who was shot in front of his family during a carjacking. The court set the date despite a Sept. 13 recommendation by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that Jones’ death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment without parole. The recommendation has received no decision by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who must make the final decision. Jones’ case was featured in 2018 on the ABC television documentary series “The Last Defense.” That drew the attention of reality television star Kim Kardashian West and numerous professional athletes with ties to Oklahoma, who appealed for clemency. Jones, 41, has consistently maintained that he is innocent of the killing. Oklahoma once had one of the busiest death chambers in the nation, but executions were put on hold following a botched lethal injection in 2014 that left an inmate writhing on the gurney and drug mix-ups in 2015.

Oregon

Dallas: The Oregon Medical Board has revoked the license of a doctor west of Salem for refusing to follow COVID-19 guidelines in his office, spreading misinformation about masks and overprescribing opioids. According to medical board documents, the board also fined Steven Arthur LaTulippe $10,000 on Sept. 2, The Oregonian/OregonLive reports. LaTulippe sued the medical board in January after his license was suspended for placing patients in danger by disregarding COVID-19 mandates and asking patients to remove their masks. LaTulippe’s family practice, South View Medical Arts in Dallas, did not properly screen patients and relied on the receptionist’s ability to visually gauge whether visitors were sick, according to the medical board documents. At least 95% of patients did not use masks at the clinic between March and December 2020, LaTulippe told medical board officials. LaTulippe made bogus claims to patients that masks were ineffective against COVID-19 and could cause carbon dioxide poisoning, according to the medical board. LaTulippe also made anti-mask comments during a pro-Trump rally in Salem on Nov. 7, 2020. The Multnomah County Republican Party posted footage of his comments to YouTube, which removed the video for violating its community guidelines.

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia: Supporters of a plan to open supervised injection sites to try to reduce overdose deaths urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review a court decision that bans the practice. The test case centers on a nonprofit group’s Safehouse project in Philadelphia, though officials in other states are watching closely as they debate similar programs. Nationally, more than 93,000 people died last year from drug overdoses, a sharp spike from just a year earlier. A divided U.S. appeals court had rejected the Safehouse plan in January, although Philadelphia’s Democratic mayor and top prosecutor endorse it. The city itself lost 1,200 people to overdoses last year. The nonprofit group’s plan to open a site was thwarted when former U.S. Attorney William McSwain, a Trump appointee now running for governor, argued that it violated a 1980s-era drug law aimed at “crackhouses.” The district judge rejected McSwain’s argument, but the appeals court agreed with him in a 2-1 decision that nonetheless called the goal of harm reduction “admirable.” Safehouse last month asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review that decision. The amicus brief filed Friday said Congress never intended the crackhouse statute to encompass harm reduction efforts offered by medical personnel.

Rhode Island

Providence: The state is offering $4 million in grants to help communities build and expand recreation facilities. Democratic Gov. Dan McKee and the Department of Environmental Management announced Friday that the outdoor recreation matching grants would be available to local municipalities and Native American tribes seeking to acquire, develop or renovate outdoor recreational facilities in their communities. Grant applications are due by Dec. 17. The money is provided through a clean water and green bond approved by voters. McKee said the state’s network of bikeways, open spaces and other recreational assets help attract people and businesses to Rhode Island. “Access to green space and clean, functional recreation facilities improves health, promotes stronger social ties, and enhances neighborhood satisfaction and pride,” McKee said in a statement. Applicants can apply for smaller recreation development grants or larger acquisition grants, capped at $400,000.

South Carolina

Lexington: A school board will consider asking the Legislature to drop what amounts to a ban on school mask mandates to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The State newspaper reports the Lexington County School District 1 board surveyed parents recently and found more than two-thirds supported a mask mandate. A similar percentage of district employees also backed a mandate. At its Tuesday board meeting, Lexington 1 board will consider asking lawmakers to repeal a part of the state budget that effectively bans school mask mandates by denying districts the funds to enforce them. “For months, we have heard from a small and vocal group of parents and staff on both sides of the mask debate,” school board chair Anne Marie Green said in an email to parents. “We wanted to know how our entire community truly felt about masking.” Green told The State she isn’t sure if the board would adopt a mask mandate immediately “because our numbers are going in the right direction.” However, she said the local school board is better positioned to respond to sudden changes than the Legislature, which won’t hold a regular session until early next year. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported 2,357 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 17 coronavirus-related deaths Monday, according to the paper.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: Musicals scheduled in the state’s two largest cities have been postponed or scrapped due to the pandemic. A show that was set to run this past weekend at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux Falls was postponed to Sept.29-30 after two cast members tested positive for the coronavirus. The production of “Lost in Vegas,” held by local theater company Lights Up, held its opening run last weekend in front of about 200 people each day. After one cast member had tested positive for the virus this past week, the show went on Thursday after officials blocked the first two rows and warned the 150 people in the audience about the results, director Brent Grosvenor said. “We did the right thing. We talked to the cast. The cast made an informed decision still to perform,” Grosvenor said. “We had understudies replacing sick actors, and that’s how the real world works.” After another cast member tested positive for the virus Friday, theater officials called off the rest of the weekend shows. In Rapid City, the Black Hills Community Theatre announced Friday that it had canceled all planned performances of “Matilda” following the increased spread of COVID-19 infections in the region. Theater officials told the Rapid City Journal many younger participants in the show are not yet eligible for vaccinations.

Tennessee

Memphis: State officials say donors have added 144 acres to a state park known for being the first east of the Mississippi River to be open to African Americans. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said the expansion of T.O. Fuller State Park is the result of a donation by philanthropists Hugh and Margaret Jones Fraser and the Carrington Jones family of Memphis. Nonprofits groups The Land Trust for Tennessee and Wolf River Conservancy helped with the acquisition. The park, opened in 1938, was also only the second state park nationwide that was open to African Americans. In 1942 the park was named after Thomas O. Fuller, a prominent African American educator, pastor, politician, civic leader and author. The park includes 8 miles of trails, four shelters, 35 picnic tables, basketball courts, an interpretive center, and diverse landscapes with more than 200 plant species.

Texas

San Antonio: A doctor who said he performed an abortion in defiance of a new state law has all but dared supporters of the near-total ban on the procedure to try making an early example of him by filing a lawsuit – the only way the restrictions can be enforced. The state’s largest anti-abortion group said Monday that it’s looking into the matter after Dr. Alan Braid in a weekend Washington Post opinion column became the first Texas abortion provider to publicly reveal he violated the law that took effect Sept. 1. The law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, which is usually around six weeks and before many women even know they are pregnant. Prosecutors cannot take criminal action against Braid, because the law explicitly forbids that. The only way the ban can be enforced is through lawsuits brought by private citizens, who are entitled to claim at least $10,000 in damages if successful. Legal experts say Braid’s admission is likely to set up another test of whether the law can stand after the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect. Braid wrote that on Sept. 6 he provided an abortion to a woman who was still in her first trimester but beyond the state’s new limit. “I fully understood that there could be legal consequences – but I wanted to make sure that Texas didn’t get away with its bid to prevent this blatantly unconstitutional law from being tested,” he wrote.

Utah

Salt Lake City: The state’s newest license plate option features an outline of Utah and five hands of different colors holding it into place. The words “many stories, one Utah” are printed underneath, the Deseret News reports. Gov. Spencer Cox said he hopes someone will see it and think about what it represents. “I hope and believe because of the incredible artwork that it will inspire conversations,” Cox said. The new license plate unveiled at the state Capitol on Thursday honors the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. While there are no direct links to his image or likeness – as a result of legal reasons from the King estate – the design itself is inspired by him and his work as a civil rights activist before he was assassinated in 1968. Utah’s work toward an MLK-themed license plate dates back to 2012, according to Simba Maponga, chairman of the state’s Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission. A 2020 bill led by Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, and Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, then paved the way for a license plate to recognize King’s work and life, with money from the plates going toward scholarships for “underrepresented or underserved” students. The winning design was submitted by Eleanor Smith, a former Timpview High School and current BYU student.

Vermont

St. Albans: The city’s hospital is seeking approval to build a $7.5 million expansion of its emergency department. The Northwestern Medical Center has been considering an upgrade to its emergency department, which was built around 1989, since before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, said Jonathan Billings, the hospital’s vice president of community relations. COVID-19 has clearly exacerbated the need, Billing’s told the St. Albans Messenger earlier this month. The emergency room currently has curtained treatment bays to separate patients. “If you have someone with active COVID-19, you can’t put them in a curtained treatment bay,” he said. The expansion would eliminate such use by updating those areas to increase patient privacy and safety and to better limit the spread of infectious airborne diseases, such as the coronavirus, through additional air quality-controlled rooms, Billings told the newspaper. The expansion would add six emergency department treatment stations, bringing the total to 20. About 2,400 square feet would be added, and 6,800 square feet of existing space would be renovated.

Virginia

Norfolk: A Republican candidate for the House of Delegates has apologized after tweeting a derogatory comment about the appearance of House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn that some Democrats said was an antisemitic attack. The Washington Post reports that Hahns Copeland, who is running to represent the Norfolk-based 89th District, on Friday tweeted a response to a tweet by House Democrats that featured a video of Filler-Corn, who is Jewish, talking about a child care subsidy program. “I was surprised to see a pair of eyes and a mouth with that NOSE,” Copeland tweeted. He apologized in another tweet late Friday, calling the earlier tweet “immature and impulsive.” “It was never intended to be anti-Semitic or reference her ethnicity or religion,” Copeland’s tweet said. He conceded his earlier tweet was “inappropriate and insensitive.” Democrats said it was an antisemitic attack on Filler-Corn. The speaker’s staff said Friday that she had not heard directly from Copeland. “These types of hateful comments are unfortunately far too common today, and they are too often invoked instead of solutions to the real issues Virginians face,” Filler-Corn said in a statement. “I hope this candidate and his supporters choose to do what is right and acknowledge that words from those in office or seeking it have an impact.”

Washington

Spokane: This has been a record-breaking year of drought in much of Eastern Washington, state officials say. In April, a huge volume of snow in the Cascade Range measured in at 132% of normal statewide, raising hopes of an abundant water year, the state Department of Ecology said in a blog post last week. But now 16 Washington counties, including 13 in Eastern Washington, are drier than they’ve ever been since record-keeping began in 1895, the blog said. According to the National Weather Service, from March to August the state saw just 6.90 inches of precipitation. Normal during that time is 13.03 inches. To end the current drought in the lower Columbia River area, Ecology Drought Coordinator Jeff Marti said the state would need 11 inches of rain by next April. The odds of that kind of rebound are low. “The question is, will we have a full recovery before next spring?” Marti said. “The odds for significant improvement of conditions are pretty good for Western Washington. But I’m less optimistic about the east side. Based on historic climatology, the odds for significantly ameliorating current conditions is about 1 in 5 across Eastern Washington. For a full recovery in Eastern Washington, the odds are about 1 in 20,” Marti said.

West Virginia

Charleston: A grassroots group is using newspaper advertisements to further push Sen. Joe Manchin to support issues it considers important to low-income West Virginians. The Poor People’s Campaign took out the full-page ads Sunday in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel and The Journal of Martinsburg. The group has repeatedly pressed the influential moderate Democratic senator in an effort that includes conducting a rally at the state Capitol in Charleston last month. Manchin has opposed a $15 federal minimum wage and an elections bill that he said he couldn’t support because it lacked bipartisan support. Senate Democrats unveiled a pared-back elections bill last week. The Poor People’s Campaign also had a news conference scheduled Monday to urge Manchin to help change Senate filibuster rules that have blocked passage of legislation. Scheduled participants include state organizers as well as the group’s national co-chairs. Manchin long has defended the filibuster as many of his Senate colleagues have shifted on the issue.

Wisconsin

Madison: The retired conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice leading a Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 presidential election released a video Monday threatening to subpoena election officials who don’t comply and saying the intent was not to overturn President Joe Biden’s relatively narrow victory in the battleground state. The unusual 6-minute video from Michael Gableman comes after election clerks were confused by an email his office sent last week that was flagged in at multiple counties as junk or a possible security risk and was not broadly forwarded to municipal clerks as he wanted. Gableman said Monday that if the state’s 1,900-plus municipal and county election officials did not cooperate with his investigation, he would “compel” them to comply. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said he would sign subpoenas requested by Gableman as part of the investigation. Vos hired Gableman at a cost of nearly $680,000 in taxpayer money to conduct the investigation. Vos declined to sign subpoenas sought by Rep. Janel Bandtjen, chair of the Assembly elections committee, seeking ballots, voting machines and other data in Milwaukee and Brown counties. Gableman said local clerks who run elections in Wisconsin will be required to prove that voting was done legally.

Wyoming

Casper: The city is considering offering employees a $250 incentive for getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. City workers could also get $100 for dependents or spouses who get their inoculations, as well as $50 for booster shots, and the employees themselves would be eligible retroactively if they’ve already gotten their shots, according to the paper. The proposal is set to be considered at a City Council meeting Tuesday.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Trump and Harris in Arizona: Campaign trail heats up before ...

Arizona Republic

Both presidential campaigns will travel to Arizona on Wednesday to make another pitch to voters in the new swing state less than a week out from Election Day. President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, separately will hold events in the state on Wednesday.

Highlights:

At the Bullhead City rally, a U.S. fighter jet intercepted a plane flying in restricted airspace near the Trump rally in an overhead event that briefly distracted the President and the crowd.

Trump rallied thousands of supporters from Arizona, Nevada and California in the northwest Arizona city, repeating his typical talking points, followed by a very similar speech with a large crowd in Goodyear.

Harris held socially distanced events in Tucson, including a meeting of Latina business owners and a drive-in rally at Pima Community College, and Phoenix, where she is holding events with Black leaders and singer Alicia Keys.

Follow along throughout the day with Arizona Republic reporters as they document both campaign visits.

5:45 p.m.: Kamala Harris wraps up Arizona visit with Alicia Keys

Sen. Kamala Harris took the stage with Alicia Keys at Phoenix Municipal Stadium around 5 p.m., the song “Girl on Fire” blaring and supporters honking their horns.

In a race when so many voters are simply fatigued by politics and just about everything else, the two tried to hit an energizing tone in the election’s last days.

“Get all up in your feelings of civic pride,” Keys told the crowd.

The event did not involve Keys, a singer, singing.

Arizona, which has embraced voting by mail over the past few decades, has seen a particularly strong turnout this year. Turnout in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, surpassed early voting in 2016 on Tuesday.

Harris told the Arizona audience she would, “in the spirit of the late, great John McCain” offer some “straight talk.”

She attacked President Donald Trump for his response to COVID-19, calling it “the greatest failure of any presidential administration we have ever witnessed as a country.”

“The president of the United States said it was a hoax,” she said.

Harris added: “It did not have to be this bad.”

The senator spoke for about a half-hour before departing for Sky Harbor International Airport, with plans to depart around 6 p.m.

— Andrew Oxford

5:30 p.m.: Alicia Keys campaigns with Harris

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, is now at her fourth event in Arizona for the day.

The final event of the day is a drive-in rally in a large parking lot in the shadow of the iconic rock formations of Papago Park.

The campaign says there are 104 cars here.

The line-up:

Congressional candidate Hiral Tipirneni

Congressman Tom O’Halleran (AZ-1)

Congressman Ruben Gallego (AZ-7)

Congressman Greg Stanton (AZ-9)

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego

Finishing it off, Alicia Keys is taking the stage with Kamala Harris.

— Andrew Oxford

4:45 p.m.: Jeff Flake voting for Biden

As President Donald Trump rallied supporters at two locations in Arizona, one of his old foes surfaced to support Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican and opponent of Trump, appeared in an ad touting Biden and criticizing Trump.

Flake decided not to seek reelection in 2018 after repeated clashes with the Trump wing of the Republican Party.

In the ad, Flake talks about his conservative values and long record as a Republican. He urges Arizonans to vote for Biden.

“Please don’t let anyone tell you that by casting your vote for Joe Biden, you are somehow not being conservative,” Flake says in one ad. “This year the most conservative thing you can do is to put country over party. That’s what I’m doing. I hope you will join me.”

Flake isn’t the only prominent Arizona Republican to throw his support behind Biden publicly.

Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Republican Sen. John McCain, endorsed Biden in September.

— Rachel Leingang

4:25 p.m.: Trump departs Arizona

After two rallies with largely the same appeals and talking points to voters in Bullhead City and Goodyear, President Donald Trump has departed Arizona via Air Force One.

The rallies marked the president’s 7th visit to Arizona this year.

4 p.m.: Nigel Farage is here?

At his Goodyear rally, President Donald Trump invited a cadre of U.S. senators and U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on stage to speak. After they left the stage, Trump introduced British politician Nigel Farage and brought him up to speak.

“He beat the pollsters, he beat the media, he beat all the predictions. And here’s the worst bit — they’ve never forgiven him for it,” Farage said. “Four years of a false impeachment … this is the single most resilient and bravest person I have ever met in my life.”

It wasn't Farage's first political event in Arizona this week. On Tuesday, state Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, posted a photo of herself with Farage on Twitter at an event that day.

American politicians praised Trump’s leadership and how his platform aligns with their values.

“We are ground zero to save the country,” Sen. Martha McSally said. “Everything is on the line and my race is about the Senate majority. ... My race will decide the direction of the country.”

After McSally left the stage, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., took the stage, urging independents, libertarians and Black people to vote for Trump. He alleged that the Obama administration jailed an oversized amount of Black Americans and said that Trump is responsible for shortening their sentences.

Sen. Mike Lee took the stage after Paul, saying that the U.S. has had “four years of prosperity and peace” under Trump.

“Quatro años mas,” Lee shouted multiple times on stage as the crowd rolled into another chant of “four more years.”

“If you asked me the one state that determines our future, it’s Arizona,” McCarthy said before praising Trump’s leadership. “I’ve never seen a man fight harder and he’s never asked anything, but to make America first.”

— Joshua Bowling

3:30 p.m.: Harris meets with Black leaders

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris’ first stop in Phoenix on Wednesday was a meeting with Black community leaders.

As soon as she stepped off her flight from Tucson, the Democratic vice presidential nominee was asked about protests against police brutality and particularly the killing of Walter Wallace in Philadelphia.

“Part of the reason that people are marching in the streets is that there has not been the level of attention, especially recently over the last few years, that is necessary from the president of the United States. And Joe’s committed to that,” she told reporters.

Harris went on to call for creating a national registry of police officers who break the law so they don’t get fired in one community and move on to another. She also called for national standards on the use of force, decriminalizing marijuana and expunging the records of people convicted of marijuana offenses.

The senator made the same argument to a socially distanced gathering of a few dozen supporters inside The Van Buren event venue in downtown Phoenix.

But she also threw open the floor to a range of issues, from access to capital in communities of color to COVID-19.

Harris noted that people of color are more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and to die from it and businesses owned by people of color affected by the economic recession the pandemic has wrought are more likely to face barriers accessing capital.

The country’s recovery won’t be “like flipping a light switch,” she warned.

Harris said, however, that it must be “taking, again, into account racial disparities, understanding we have to do this in a way that’s equitable.”

— Andrew Oxford

3:20 p.m.: F-16 escorted plane in restricted airspace in Bullhead City

A U.S. fighter jet intercepted a plane flying in restricted airspace near President Donald Trump's rally in Bullhead City on Wednesday in an overhead event that briefly distracted the president and the crowd.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command posted on Twitter that it sent an F-16 to investigate "a general aviation aircraft that was not in communication" with air-traffic controllers as it neared Bullhead City.

"The violating aircraft was non-responsive to initial intercept procedures, but established radio communications after NORAD aircraft deployed signal flares," the agency noted. "The aircraft was escorted out of the restricted area by the NORAD aircraft without further incident."

As many in the crowd saw the flares and air traffic nearby, Trump joked about the military craft trying to impress him.

"Wow. That plane is about four days old. We have all brand new equipment, F-35s, everything. We're the envy of the world," he said to cheers. "You know what? We are the envy — do you know about that Dan? Look at that sucker. He's trying to show off to the president. Yeah, that's one of ours."

As noted by NORAD, the jet was an F-16, not an F-35.

— Ronald J. Hansen

3 p.m.: Trump praises Ducey

President Donald Trump took the stage in Goodyear as Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” faded out on the sound system.

Trump told the crowd that “we will win Arizona” and warned that a vote for Joe Biden would mean “shredding the Second Amendment,” continuing school closures, implementing the “biggest tax hike in history” and bringing “a Socialist nightmare.”

“A vote for Joe Biden, sleepy Joe, is a vote for the biggest tax hike in history,” Trump said before the crowd started chanting, “Lock him up.”

He said 2021 will be the greatest economic year in U.S. history and said 2020 would have been if not for the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout that followed. While the pandemic has taken a toll on the economy, Trump praised Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey for being quick to reopen Arizona businesses over the summer.

“Your state is nice and open. The governor did a good job. I don’t know if you appreciated it, but he did a good job,” Trump said. “He may be here, I may get lucky and introduce him.”

Trump's second speech of the day hit on the same major themes as his visit to Bullhead City: media bias, Biden's record, his handling of the pandemic, "the swamp," a refrain that voting for Biden would mean families couldn't celebrate the holidays together.

“You get the last word on Nov. 3,” Trump said. “It’s up to you. This is your country. And you have to save and create a great beautiful pathway for your country. .... What the hell do you have to lose? Vote for Trump.”

He also spent time attacking the “Anonymous” book after its author, Miles Taylor, revealed his identity.

“Turned out to be a low-level staffer, a sleazebag, who’s never worked in the White House,” Trump said. “I thought it might have been Hope Hicks, right next to me. I thought it might have been Jared (Kushner),” adding Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Mike Lee to the list to the crowd’s laughter.

Paul and Lee are at the Goodyear event.

— Joshua Bowling

2:45 p.m.: Harris, Trump arrive in Phoenix area

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., landed at Sky Harbor International Airport around 2:30 pm on Wednesday, beginning the second leg of a daylong trip around Arizona.

After visiting Tucson, Harris is meeting with Black community leaders in Phoenix and holding an event with Alicia Keys. She is expected to depart the state in the evening.

Air Force One, carrying President Donald Trump and some guests, including U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, touched down in Goodyear not long after.

As Air Force One touched down, the crowd turned into a sea of smartphones to capture the moment as Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” played over the sound system.

— Andrew Oxford and Joshua Bowling

2:30 p.m.: Trump supporters don't see swing state

While the dueling visits and frequency of stops from the Trump campaign lend credence to the state's status as a swing state this election, people who attended Trump's rally in one of the state's reddest areas don't think Arizona could really turn blue.

Ron Hines, a Bullhead City resident, made a prediction for Trump's success.

"We have the whole population of Bullhead here. If all these people vote, he'll win for sure," he said.

Polls have shown the presidential race favoring Biden, which would be the first time Arizona went to a Democrat for president since 1996, when the state voted for President Bill Clinton's second term.

Six days before his first election as an Arizona resident, Gary Tucker is convinced Trump can’t lose. He places no faith in the polls that show a change in Arizona.

“Do you believe the polls? I don’t,” he said. “It’s going to be a landslide.”

He waved a hand across the crowd of supporters, most of whom were making their way for the exits. “Look at the crowds,” he said.

Tucker said he wouldn’t believe any results that showed Biden winning here. The only way that could happen, he insisted, was if the Democrats cheated.

Apple Connors and Jeff Connors ambled toward the exit after most of the crowd had dispersed. They had never seen anything like this near their home of Bullhead City.

“That was awesome,” Apple Connors said through a MAGA mask. “It’s like once in a lifetime. You don’t see a president come to your little hometown.”

Jeff Connors said he believed Trump will be able to win what is looking to be a tight election in Arizona.

“Look at the turnout he gets!” he said, gesturing at the tarmac around him where thousands had been gathered moments before.

— Alden Woods, Emily Wilder and Rachel Leingang

1:45 p.m.: Trump, Harris head to Phoenix area

Both Trump and Harris will now head to metro Pheonix.

Trump concluded his remarks at a large rally in Bullhead City. Harris finished a drive-in car event in Tucson.

Trump's next stop is in Goodyear in the southwest Valley for another large rally. Harris has two small events in Phoenix on her schedule.

— Rachel Leingang

1:30 p.m.: Trump attacks Biden, Harris in Bullhead City remarks

Trump railed against his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, and Democratic vice presidential running mate Sen. Kamala Harris. He questioned Biden’s energy levels, insinuating they were too low to serve as president, and highlighted Harris’ more liberal politics. With the Democratic ticket, Trump said, the nation will devolve into socialism.

Trump said the election was a choice between economic prosperity and recovery from the pandemic or economic devastation and lockdowns.

“Under lockdowns, countless Americans will die from suicides, drugs,” he said. “The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself. And Arizona, you’re opened up. But Nevada, get your governor to open up your state, please.”

He defended his management of the pandemic and warned what a Biden administration could bring: “With Sleepy Joe, there’d be no graduations, no weddings, no Thanksgivings — they’re already talking about no Thanksgiving.”

Public health officials are advising families and friends to avoid large gatherings to avoid spread of the coronavirus.

Trump cast himself as the savior of conservatives, law enforcement and people of faith. This election, he said, he is “running against the left-wing mob and the left-wing media, the big-tech giants and RINOs,” short-hand for Republicans In Name Only. The term is typically used derisively about moderate Republicans.

“A RINO may be the lowest form of human life,” Trump said.

Trump showed a video of Democratic governors praising the federal response to the pandemic in interviews and clips purportedly showing Biden having memory lapses.

The Intercept has reported that the Trump campaign in recent days has created blatantly misleading videos of Biden to make him appear incoherent.

He also pledged to make the treatments he received after testing positive for COVID-19 available to all Americans, for free.

Near the one-hour mark of the speech, Trump praised Gov. Doug Ducey, who spoke earlier in the event. Also in attendance are U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar and Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward.

— Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Alden Woods

1:30 p.m.: Harris attacks Trump's record

By the time Harris took the outdoor stage Wednesday at Pima Community College West, about 100 cars had gathered for the pandemic-friendly drive-in rally.

The U.S. Senator pulled no punches, beginning her speech with a takedown of President Donald Trump’s handling of COVID-19 to date.

“Donald Trump failed. He failed us,” Harris said, criticizing Trump’s decision to downplay the seriousness of the virus earlier this year and railing against his administration’s attempts to get the Affordable Care Act repealed. “He failed the American people.”

Harris contrasted Trump’s health care philosophy with Biden’s, working to paint the Democratic Party as a guardian of health care access for Americans with low earnings and preexisting conditions.

At one point, she asked attendees to honk if they knew anyone with such a condition, rattling off a few examples such as diabetes and breast cancer. The honking was deafening.

Harris also contrasted Trump and Biden’s economic strategies: While Biden evaluates the economy by looking at how the average American is doing, she said, Trump looks to the stock market.

She repeated Biden’s vows to repeal a Trump-sanctioned tax cut for the wealthy and invest the funds in infrastructure.

Harris devoted the final portion of her remarks to the importance of voting, highlighting America’s “long history of powerful folks trying to make it difficult for other folks to vote.”

“They know that when we vote, things change,” she said of historically marginalized groups. “Our democracy is always going to be as strong as our willingness to fight for it … and that means every one of us voting.”

— Rafael Carranza and Maria Polletta

1 p.m.: In Goodyear, warmup starts

Shortly before 1 p.m., speakers started warming up the crowd ahead of Trump’s arrival.

The crowd cheered as Phoenix native and Arizona House of Representatives candidate Tatiana Peña sang the final notes of the national anthem.

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., took the stage after, overpowered by jubilant cheers and applause when she asked the audience “What do you think, is Arizona going to reelect President Donald J. Trump?”

“I think so, too,” she added after the applause died down.

She referred to undocumented immigrants as “illegals” when touting the Trump administration’s priorities for funding police departments and warned that a vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden could turn Arizona “into California.”

“We are at a crossroads in our country,” she said. “That’s why I do this job and I think that’s why you’re here. We need to save this country,” adding that she wants everyone here to vote for U.S. Sen. Martha McSally and “keep America America.”

Lesko urged the crowd to stay politically active even in the final days leading up to Election Day.

“We have six days left, so if you want to save our nation like I do — and I know you do — get out there, knock on doors, make phone calls,” she said.

— Joshua Bowling

12:30 p.m.: Trump talks COVID-19, says 'normal life will fully resume'

In Bullhead City, Trump took the stage, asking the crowd how many of them were from Arizona and how many were from Nevada. The crowd screamed jubilantly and raised their hands.

The president said, “Six days from now we are going to win Arizona, we are going to win Nevada and we are going to win four more years.” The crowd chanted “Four more years!” Trump then ridiculed the media, calling them dishonest and fake.

He promised the crowd: “Normal life will fully resume. That’s what we want, right? Normal life. And next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country.”

He said a vaccine to COVID-19 would come shortly, without providing evidence.

Trump bemoaned the windy conditions, saying he should have worn a hat. He asked the red-capped crowd, “Should I put on a hat?” They cheered.

He appeared to get a hat from someone in the crowd, asking who had worn it before.

“It’s pretty nasty,” he said. “Am I allowed to do it?”

He slid the Make America Great Again red hat on his head, as the crowd cheered.

In what will likely be his last day of campaigning in Arizona, Trump attempted to appeal directly to Hispanic voters, claiming that his poll numbers among Hispanics are the highest of any Republican candidate in history.

"They're finally beginning to understand me," Trump said.

"For the last four years I've been delivering the Hispanic-Americans a message like they've never heard before," Trump said.

He emphasized school choice, safe neighborhoods and Hispanic-owned small businesses. Then he aimed for a more specific demographic.

"We love our incredible Hispanic-American members of law enforcement," he said.

— Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Alden Woods

12:30 p.m.: Harris holds drive-in event

In a contrast to Trump’s large rally, Harris is holding a car-based event at the same time in Tucson.

Approximately 100 cars gathered for a drive-in rally that Harris will hold at Pima Community College West. The program kicked off at noon with U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva who represents the area in Congress.

Grijalva made the case against Trump, accusing him of inciting hate and racism in the country.

“Diversity is not a liability, it is a strength for this country of ours,” he said.

He praised Harris' selection as a vice-presidential candidate, and highlighted the importance of this election to future generations.

“Senator Harris doesn’t just represent our party, she represents our nation,” he said.

— Rafael Carranza

12:15 p.m.: Trump supporters arrive in Goodyear

Before Trump even took the stage in Bullhead City, supporters have arrived for the second event in Goodyear.

A steady stream of supporters trickled into the Phoenix Goodyear Airport shortly after 11 a.m. to see Trump speak later in the afternoon.

Overlooking the airport runways, dozens of rows of empty white folding chairs filled up with a sea of red: people clad in T-shirts with slogans like “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president,” hooded sweatshirts that bore the all-caps message to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” and camouflage Trump 2020 baseball caps.

Attendees, many without face coverings, lined up for the small grouping of food carts in the airport’s open hangars, waiting for an order of fries, a slice of pizza or a root beer float. One cart, Casa Reynoso, had a menu boasting that the business is “Keeping Mexican food great in America.”

Michael Harman, a 49-year-old resident in Goodyear’s Estrella master-planned community, came to Wednesday’s rally with a Trump 2020 flag draped across his shoulders like a cape.

“When’s the next time I’m going to be able to sit 40 feet from a sitting president?” Harman said, adding that he supports the Trump ticket because he doesn’t like traditional politicians or the conversations of systemic racism in America.

He said he knows there are racist people in the U.S., but doesn’t the country is systemically racist.

— Joshua Bowling

12:06 p.m.: Trump arrives in Arizona

Trump has arrived at the Bullhead City rally, where he traveled after leaving the airport in Las Vegas.

The Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport where the rally is taking place is in Arizona.

Air Force One arrived to a crowd of cameraphones and the first beats of “Eye of the Tiger.” The plane parked behind the flag-draped stage, completing a backdrop of jagged mountains and tall white casinos.

At the Bullhead City event, ahead of Trump’s arrival, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., told the crowd that if they didn’t vote for Republicans, they were voting for “anarchy.”

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and Arizona Republican Party chairperson Kelli Ward all were on hand in Bullhead City.

Meanwhile, Harris talked to Latina business owners at La Chaiteria, a Mexican restaurant in Tucson.

— Rachel Leingang and Alden Woods

12 p.m.: Road closures near Goodyear

Roads near the airport in Goodyear were scheduled to close Wednesday morning in anticipation of Trump’s visit, according to social media posts from Goodyear Police Department.

Bullard Avenue will close between Estrella Parkway and Yuma Road. Yuma Road also will close between Bullard Avenue and Camino Oro Drive.

The closures will remain in effect until 6 p.m., but may are subject to change.

A free speech zone is on the east side of Litchfield Road just north of Goodyear Parkway, the department said.

Buses will shuttle people from the parking area at Litchfield Road and Wigwam Boulevard. No vehicle traffic will be allowed onto airport property.

For those using rideshare apps, there is no designated drop off spot near the airport. Uber and Lyft users can go to the shuttle area at Litchfield Road and Wigwam Boulevard or find a safe location in the area of Litchfield and Yuma roads.

— Chelsea Curtis

11:50 a.m.: Harris visits with Latina business owners

Harris arrived to La Chaiteria, a Mexican food restaurant located in Menlo Park, one of Tucson’s historic Latino neighborhoods. She met briefly with Latina business owners.

According to the Biden campaign, participants included:

Wendy Garcia, owner, La Chaiteria.

Marisol Flores-Aguirre, owner, Chulas.

Frances Erunez & Sandra Otero Erunez, owners, Los Jarritos.

Vanessa Gallego, owner, Recyco, Inc..

As she arrived, Harris admired a mural painted by local artist Alejandra Trujillo on the side of the restaurant.

The mural features civil rights icon Martin Luther King and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo holding hands and raising them up. The mural also features a famed quote by Benito Juárez, Mexico’s first indigenous president.

After she landed at the Tucson airport, Harris was asked by reporters about Trump’s planned, in person rallies in the state.

“Joe and I have been clear from the beginning, we are gonna talk with voters, but do it in a way that we don’t risk their safety and their health. And so I would caution anyone who is trying to talk to folks to think about the health and well-being of the people their speaking with.”

— Rafael Carranza

11 a.m.: Trump’s rally is in AZ because of Nevada COVID-19 restrictions

Trump wanted to hold today's rally in Nevada, but the state’s COVID-19 restrictions made it too difficult, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Instead, he came to Bullhead City, which is near enough to Nevada to allow that state's voters to attend, but in Arizona, where the Nevada restrictions don’t apply.

Nevada’s restrictions prevent events larger than 250 people. Arizona has allowed political events to continue throughout the pandemic, with Gov. Doug Ducey saying he did not want to restrict First Amendment rights.

The Review-Journal reported that Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said Monday that guests to Nevada must follow the state’s protocols. The state GOP chairman, Michael McDonald, told the Review-Journal that the Trump campaign wanted a rally in Nevada but was prevented from doing so because of the state’s restrictions.

Arizona's COVID-19 cases rose by 1,158 and 16 new known deaths were reported on Tuesday as new cases continue upward trends, though measures remain far below levels from the summer peak.

The past several weeks have seen relatively higher daily case reports as the virus spreads at its fastest rate in Arizona since June.

— Rachel Leingang and Stephanie Innes

10:50 a.m.: Kamala Harris lands in AZ

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for vice president, touched down at Tucson International Airport just before 10:50 a.m. Wednesday.

Harris is expected to meet with Latina business owners about 11:30 a.m. before hosting a drive-in "voter mobilization" event in Tucson. She will then head to Phoenix for a meeting with Black community leaders and another drive-in rally.

This is Harris’ second visit to Arizona this election season. Unlike the Republican ticket, Harris and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have shied away from large, in-person events in battleground states like Arizona, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

— Maria Polletta

10:45 a.m.: These people really don’t like each other, do they?

As if visits from the Republican and Democratic tickets on the same day weren’t enough to convince voters that both sides are in an all-out battle for Arizonans’ votes, both campaigns released statements bagging on the other this morning.

And the Democratic National Committee launched digital ads in local newspapers where Trump is set to visit today.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Dina Titus of Nevada released a statement supporting the Biden campaign, calling Trump’s campaigns in Arizona and Nevada “sinking.”

The representatives dinged Trump for his positions on health care, the pandemic and helping small businesses and working families economically.

“Arizona and Nevada families deserve leaders who will fight for them and help them build back better. The only way we will recover from Trump’s failed leadership is to vote early for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” the representatives wrote.

In a statement from Trump Victory spokesperson Emma Hall, the Trump campaign said Biden had plenty of time to help Arizona families during his lengthy political career.

“Arizonans aren't fooled by corrupt politicians or Kamala Harris' last-ditch effort to save Biden's flailing campaign. In less than a week, Arizona voters will reject the Democrats' radical agenda in favor of four more years of President Trump and his proven record of success for every American,” Hall said.

— Rachel Leingang

10:30 a.m.: Trump, Harris event details

Here are the details of both Trump and Harris’ visits on Wednesday:

Trump will arrive in Las Vegas then travel to Bullhead City for an event at the Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport.

After that rally, he will travel to Goodyear for another rally at the Phoenix Goodyear Airport in the afternoon.

He will leave Arizona and head to Florida.

Harris’ schedule includes smaller events.

She will first meet with Latina business owners in Tucson, then take part in a get-out-the-vote event.

In the afternoon, she will head to Phoenix for a meeting with Black leaders.

After that, she will hold an event with singer Alicia Keys designed to get out the early vote.

— Rachel Leingang

10:15 a.m.: Trump supporters arrive in Bullhead City

Trump wouldn’t arrive for hours, and already all roads in Bullhead City led toward the rally. A line of cars slowed traffic. Orange cones and flashing lights narrowed the highway. A casino’s massive sign welcomed the president and his supporters to town.

Most people arrived by shuttle, cramming into charter buses that dropped them off at the front gates. But there were more people than seats. So a stream of people parked across the river, in Nevada, and walked toward the Arizona airport.

They came from everywhere. Among the crowd were Raiders fans from Las Vegas, cowboys from Kingman and a small contingent of bleary-eyed Angelenos. Those who hailed from Bullhead City still had trouble believing what had come to their small town.

“I never thought I’d see it in 20 years,” said Jason Sack, a white-haired man from nearby Fort Mohave.

Sack works the graveyard shift at a casino across the river. All weekend he noticed excitement in the air. Around 5 a.m. Wednesday, he pointed one of the casino’s cameras toward the street, and the screen filled with a mass of cars. He’d never seen that many in Bullhead.

“It’s historic,” he said.

Wade Hall and Colleen Hall, residents of Laughlin, wore MAGA hats and waited for their friends outside the rally.

“It’s really exciting that he would actually come here,” Wade Hall said. “I feel really lucky — I guess it was because Vegas had a lot of restrictions.”

If it had been in Las Vegas, the couple said they wouldn’t be able to make it. This is the first time in their memory a presidential candidate made a stop in the area on their campaign trail.

The main issue bringing Hall out was the Second Amendment.

Connie Maurl and Esther Richard came by coach bus from Needles, California, a small town near the state border. They had waited in line for the bus in Needles for three hours earlier Wednesday morning.

This was the first time a president has visited the area, said Richard, who was born in Needles and has lived there for 77 years. She remembered that Sarah Palin had visited nearby Searchlight, Nevada, during her campaign in 2010, but Richard had not attended.

Both Maurl and Richard had already voted via absentee ballot, but came to see in person the man they have only seen on Fox News. Maurl said health care is the issue she cares about most, while Richard said the economy is most important to her.

— Emily Wilder and Alden Woods

10 a.m.: Will Trump event strand attendees like in Omaha and Prescott?

Last night, Trump held a rally in Omaha. Afterward, hundreds of attendees stood with the temperature in the 30s, waiting for buses to take them back to their cars from the airfield where the event took place.

An Omaha Herald reporter on the scene said there were enough buses, but they struggled to navigate two-lane roads near the airfield.

A similar scenario happened in Prescott when Trump visited the airport there earlier this month, though people waited in the heat instead of the cold.

After the Prescott rally, journalists on scene said hundreds waited for shuttles from the Prescott Regional Airport back to their cars, some requiring medical attention. Some walked back to their cars, about two miles away.

Earlier this year, at an August event in Yuma, people waited in 104-degree heat for buses heading to a Trump speech. Paramedics treated some people.

— Rachel Leingang

9:30 a.m.: Democrats speak against Trump before visit

Ahead of Trump’s visit to Bullhead City, Arizona Democrats highlighted the suffering by Arizonans and Nevadans on the public-health and economic fronts.

“Arizona and Nevada families are still suffering the consequences of his failed presidency,” said Tyler Cherry, spokesman for Arizona Democrats.

“From his ineffective pandemic response, which has cost workers and small business owners their lives and livelihoods, to his attacks on the Affordable Care Act, which leaves coverage for hundreds of thousands of families hanging in the balance.”

Signa Oliver, a U.S. Army veteran from Goodyear, said veterans, in particular, are bearing the brunt of Trump’s “lack of leadership” compared to previous presidents. Her appeal to veterans came after The Atlantic, citing unnamed sources, reported that Trump disparaged service members, saying those who were killed or wounded in action were “losers” and “suckers. Trump has denied the report.

An estimated 600,000 veterans live in Arizona and are a crucial voting bloc that both Republicans and Democrats are vying for. Oliver called on them to make a plan to vote.

“All people that have served, we have a duty and an honor and a responsibility to save our nation,” she said. “He has taken apart every norm that we’ve ever had. We didn’t even have to codify a lot of things because presidents are usually people of integrity.”

With the surge in COVID-19 cases nationally, Oliver said Trump should not be headlining campaign rallies that draw hundreds of people to one place: “His complete ineptitude in handling this virus that is just ravaging this country is unthinkable.”

— Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

8 a.m.: Huge early voting numbers

The final play for voters comes as nearly 2 million Arizonans have already voted, according to figures from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

The early turnout, still six days out from Election Day, is nearly equal to the entire early vote in the 2016 election.

Republicans are making a major play to shore up support in rural Arizona, which could help them make up potential deficits in the suburbs of Phoenix and Tucson, as well as for Latinos and suburban voters.

Voters have shown early enthusiasm this year. Democrats have turned out early in larger numbers than Republicans so far, and in larger numbers than they did in 2016 in early voting. Some experts expect Republicans to turn out more on Election Day, particularly amid unfounded claims by Trump about the insecurity of voting by mail.

Tuesday was the last day officials recommended to mail in early ballots. From now on, officials recommend dropping off early ballots in person at dropboxes or polling sites.

More than 3 million ballots were sent out across the state to people who are on the Permanent Early Voting List, representing about 75% of voters who are registered.

— Rachel Leingang, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Rob O'Dell

7 a.m.: Harris visits Phoenix, Tucson

While President Trump visits Bullhead City and the western suburbs of Maricopa County, Sen. Kamala Harris will visit Phoenix and Tucson, the two most populous cities in the state.

The trip marks Harris' second visit to the crucial battleground state this month. Unlike the Republican ticket, Harris and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have shied away from large, in-person events this election season, given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

During their first visit to Phoenix, on Oct. 8, Harris and Biden hosted small, socially distanced events at the Heard Museum, Barrio Cafe, a union hall, and a Tempe fashion incubator that produces reusable gowns for health care workers.

This time, Harris will begin in Tucson, meeting with Latina businesswomen before heading to Phoenix to meet with Black community leaders. She will host drive-in voter mobilization events in both cities.

— Maria Polletta

6 a.m.: Trump visits for 7th time

Wednesday marks President Donald Trump's seventh visit to Arizona this year.

Trump’s swing through ruby-red Bullhead City in Mohave County and then south to Goodyear represents a final push by Republicans to hold Arizona in the red column, even as the state’s electorate appears to be favoring the Democratic ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, of California.

Trump will headline a Make America Great Again campaign appearance at the Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport at noon, with doors opening at 9 a.m. The president will then head to the Phoenix Goodyear Airport for a second rally, which begins around 2:30 p.m. Doors open for that event at 11:30 a.m.

Trump won the state in 2016 by just 3.5 percentage points. Polls suggest his presidency — particularly in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic — may have accelerated a shift away from him, toward Biden.

— Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email at rachel.leingang@gannett.com or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook. Reach reporter Rob O'Dell at rob.odell@arizonarepublic.com or find him on Twitter. Reach reporter Maria Polletta at maria.polletta@arizonarepublic.com or 602-653-6807, or find her on Twitter. Reach reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez by email at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 602-444-4712, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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Propane problems, St. Pat's in Sept.: News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Montgomery: Thousands of people showed up at sites from the coast to the Tennessee Valley as Alabama began vaccinating senior citizens against COVID-19. People spent the night in cars waiting for shots in Baldwin County, where health workers began immunizing people early Tuesday. County health workers in Huntsville vaccinated 500 people Monday, although only 300 people had appointments. Other sites opened in cities ranging in size from Birmingham to Rainsville. The state is offering vaccines to people 75 and older after limiting the initial doses to health workers. Alabama is among the Southern states trailing the nation in the rate of vaccinations. In Limestone County, Pat White showed up to get her first of two doses of the Moderna vaccine Monday. She said she misses going to church and has done little other than buy groceries as she tries to keep from catching the coronavirus. “We’ve lost many friends to COVID, and we’re older, so that made me think it was probably the right thing to do,” White told WAAY-TV. More than 700,000 people are currently eligible for vaccinations in Alabama, including 325,000 health care workers and 350,000 people who are 75 or older.

Alaska

Anchorage: The state’s coronavirus contact tracing effort is rebounding after several months of hiring and several weeks of decreased daily cases, officials said. State officials said great improvements have been made since November, when the contact tracing corps was overwhelmed, and people testing positive were asked to reach out on their own to those they may have infected, Anchorage Daily News reports. Tim Struna, chief of Public Health Nursing for the Alaska Division of Public Health, said contact tracers can now investigate reports within a day after receiving notice of new virus infections. “It’s a profound change,” Struna said. Contact tracers call people infected with COVID-19 to learn who was close to them and then reach out to those contacts. Public health experts have said the process is a crucial part of controlling the spread of the virus before vaccines become widely available. During the state’s infection surge in the fall, a week or more could pass before people with positive results heard from a contact tracer, if at all, officials said. “In my mind it sort of shifted towards damage control,” Anchorage public health nurse and contact tracer Jordan Loewe said.

Arizona

Yuma: Exhausted nurses in this rural area regularly send COVID-19 patients on a long helicopter ride to Phoenix when they don’t have enough staff. The so-called winter lettuce capital of the U.S. also has lagged on coronavirus testing in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods and just ran out of vaccines. But some support is coming from military nurses and a new wave of free tests for farmworkers and the elderly in Yuma County – the hardest-hit county in one of the hardest-hit states. Almost everyone in Yuma County, near the borders of Mexico and California, seems to know somebody who has tested positive for the coronavirus, with about 33,000 cases reported since last spring – a rate of about 14,000 per 100,000 people. Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, has a rate of about 9,000 cases per 100,000 people. Tests in Yuma County are 20% positive, compared with about 14% for Arizona at large. Officials at Yuma Regional Medical Center say it’s been a struggle to maintain staffing of 900 to 1,000 nurses while competing for medical workers in an overwhelmed national health care system. Forty Army Reserve nurses arrived this month to help at the Yuma hospital for at least a month through a Department of Defense COVID-19 support operation.

Arkansas

Little Rock: A lawmaker tested positive for the coronavirus, a state House spokeswoman said, making him the second to be infected since the Legislature began its session last week. Rep. Keith Slape told the House speaker Tuesday that he had tested positive for the virus, House spokeswoman Cecillea Pond-Mayo said. She said Slape, R-Compton, was at home with mild symptoms. Slape is at least the 23rd Arkansas state legislator to test positive for the virus since the pandemic began. The state has had the second-largest outbreak among legislatures nationwide, according to figures compiled by the Associated Press. The House and Senate convened last week with safety measures intended to prevent the virus’s spread, including limits on seating, plastic barriers in both chambers and rules allowing remote voting. Both chambers have also passed rules requiring lawmakers, staff and visitors to wear masks. The Legislature has not been in session since Thursday. Also Tuesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he was cautiously optimistic to see a decrease in the daily number of new virus cases. Arkansas reported 1,331 new cases Tuesday and 43 more deaths.

California

Los Angeles: The state on Monday became the first to record more than 3 million known coronavirus infections. California only reached 2 million reported cases Dec. 24, as tallied by Johns Hopkins University. The state is placing its hopes on mass vaccinations to reduce the number of infections, but there have been snags in the immunization drive. On Sunday, Dr. Erica S. Pan, the state epidemiologist, urged that providers stop using one lot of a Moderna vaccine because some people needed medical treatment for possible severe allergic reactions. More than 330,000 doses from lot 41L20A arrived in California between Jan. 5 and Jan. 12 and were distributed to 287 providers, she said. Fewer than 10 people, who all received the vaccine at the same community site, needed medical attention over a 24-hour period, Pan said. No other similar clusters were found. Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles area, the South Coast Air Quality Management District suspended some pollution-control limits on the number of cremations for at least 10 days Sunday in order to deal with a backlog of bodies at hospitals and funeral homes. “The current rate of death is more than double that of pre-pandemic years,” the agency said.

Colorado

Fort Collins: With COVID-19 restrictions forcing bars and restaurants to seat customers outside in the dead of winter, many are scrambling to nab erratic supplies of propane that fuel space heaters on which they’re relying more than ever to keep people comfortable in the cold. It’s one of many new headaches – but a crucial one – that go with setting up tables and tents on sidewalks, streets and patios to comply with public health restrictions. “You’re in the middle of service and having staff run up and say, ‘We’re out of propane!’ ” said Melinda Maddox, manager of The Reserve by Old Elk Distillery tasting room in downtown Fort Collins. The standard-size tanks, which contain pressurized liquid propane that turns to gas as it’s released, are usually readily available from gas stations, grocery stores or home improvement stores. But that’s not always the case lately as high demand leads to sometimes erratic supplies. “I spent one day driving an hour around town,” Maddox said. Local propane tank shortages result not just from higher demand but also from household hoarding similar to the pandemic run on toilet paper and other goods. One national tank supplier reported a 38% sales increase this winter, said Tom Clark, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Propane Association.

Connecticut

Hartford: Hundreds of schoolteachers were able to sign up for vaccine appointments before they were actually eligible, due to confusion over the rollout rules, The Hartford Courant reports. State Health Department spokesperson Maura Fitzgerald said the issue arose after some school districts mistakenly put their entire staff rosters into a registration system when the state actually had asked only for lists of school nurses. “A good amount” of Cromwell Public Schools’ 300 staffers have signed up for vaccination appointments, Superintendent Enza Macri said. Glastonbury Public Schools also broadly registered its staff, but Superintendent Alan Bookman said officials quickly realized the mistake, told ineligible staffers not to book appointments and retracted the erroneous registrations. Berlin Public Schools told all staffers by email to sign up for vaccine appointments, only to instruct the staff to cancel the appointments after recognizing they weren’t eligible, Superintendent Brian Benigni said. Then, in another turn, the state advised that those who have made appointments should keep them, although no one else who’s ineligible should make one. Fitzgerald said the state’s “overarching goal is: No doses go wasted.”

Delaware

Dover: Democrats John Carney and Bethany Hall-Long took the oaths of office for their second terms as governor and lieutenant governor Tuesday in a livestreamed online ceremony. Carney was sworn in by Chief Justice Collins Seitz Jr. in the hallway outside the governor’s office in Legislative Hall, which remains closed to the public because of the coronavirus. “I’m prepared to take the oath, and I’m smiling,” Carney said, his face covered by a black mask. Hall-Long was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice James Vaughn Jr. Forgoing the traditional inaugural speeches, Carney and Hall-Long made remarks in a prerecorded video that were interspersed with photos and videos of Delaware and remarks by several business owners, educators and health care workers. The video focused heavily on the pandemic and the Carney administration’s response to it. “This year has been a balancing act,” Carney said. “We’ve tried to protect public health, while protecting our economy.”

District of Columbia

Washington: As local data shows disparities between COVID-19 case concentrations and vaccine administration, the United Medical Center nurse who vaccinated Vice President-elect Kamala Harris hopes to encourage her patients to get the vaccine, WUSA-TV reports. United Medical Center primarily serves wards seven and eight in the District of Columbia, which have seen some of the highest numbers of coronavirus cases throughout the pandemic. “Most of the people who live there are poverty-stricken,” UMC nurse manager and Walden Masters of Nursing student Patricia Cummings said. “They do not indulge in primary prevention, so by the time they come to us, they are extremely sick.” Cummings said it’s a community that can feel overlooked, so to have the vice president-elect choose to get vaccinated at UMC sent her patients a clear message. “It was extremely significant and helpful in encouraging the southeast D.C. community to embrace the vaccine,” Cummings said. She said multiple people told her Harris’ visit – as well as her own advocacy – convinced them to sign up for an appointment.

Florida

Jupiter: Some 700,000 senior citizens have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday. The governor also said all 67 Publix pharmacies in Palm Beach County will begin offering appointments for anyone age 65 or older to receive the vaccine. There are 181 Publix pharmacies across 15 counties providing vaccines to senior citizens, the governor said. Palm Beach County is the largest so far to offer vaccines at Publix, DeSantis said. He said about 25% of county’s residents are 65 or older. County officials told the governor that about 90% of seniors live within a mile and half of at least one Publix. “Not every senior is going to want to drive halfway across town to go to a drive-thru site,” DeSantis said. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, the Florida Capitol was to be illuminated amber Tuesday as part of the Biden-Harris inauguration’s national moment of unity and remembrance for the more than 397,000 American lives lost to COVID-19. More than 24,136 Floridians have died from the disease caused by the coronavirus since the pandemic began in March.

Georgia

Atlanta: After a slow start to its vaccine rollout, Georgia is reporting progress in getting people injected, though it is still behind the best-performing states in the country. The state, meanwhile, may be past the current peak of new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. The number of newly reported cases, the total number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and the share of viral tests coming back positive are all declining. Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday that for the second straight week, Georgia more than doubled its number of reported COVID-19 vaccinations. More than 423,000 people had received the vaccine as of Monday, according to state health officials. That’s just under 4% of the state’s population and 46% of doses of the two vaccines it has received. Some states have administered a first dose to more than 5% of their populations, according to federal data. Kemp said in a statement that Georgia had “a long way to go,” but the latest figures show “encouraging progress” amid a limited supply of vaccine.

Hawaii

Honolulu: An increase in the number of anglers plying the state’s shores has provided much-needed food and recreation while helping keep supply shops afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. Fishing supply store personnel said noncommercial fishing in Hawaii has boomed since the outbreak of COVID-19, Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. Brent Young, owner of Brian’s Fishing Supply in Honolulu, said customers include new fishers who want to learn and older residents who have not fished in decades but now have more time to drop a line. “There’s no sports; there’s nothing to watch; there’s nothing to do. So they come back, and they just want to fish,” Young said. Many others have lost jobs during the pandemic and turned to fishing to supplement their food supply. Customers “come in to say they catch the food because they’re not working, and they’ve been very thankful that we’ve been open,” Young said. Matthew Uza, fishing manager at West Marine on Oahu, said the business had a $200,000 increase in sales in 2020 over 2019. Uza said some customers tell him they can no longer afford groceries. “They are literally having to catch food to survive,” Uza said.

Idaho

Boise: A state Senate committee on Tuesday approved legislation seeking to end Republican Gov. Brad Little’s coronavirus emergency declaration and restrictions, despite being told Idaho could lose millions of dollars in federal aid. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-2 to send the concurrent resolution to the full Senate despite testimony from Idaho Office of Emergency Management Director Brad Richy that at least $20 million would be in jeopardy. Republicans supported the measure, while both Democrats voted against it. “That funding would be shifted to the individual communities,” Richy told the committee. He said additional money would come from residents across the state to replace the federal aid. Emergency declarations are needed to trigger and keep federal money coming, typically from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The concurrent resolution contains a clause saying federal money would not stop despite the Legislature ending the COVID-19 emergency declaration. Republican Sen. Steve Vick, who sponsored the resolution, didn’t explain how that would work.

Illinois

Springfield: State public health officials reported 3,385 fresh cases of coronavirus Monday and 50 more deaths as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration eased social interaction restrictions in most parts of Illinois. Daily diagnoses of new cases of COVID-19 remain well below totals counted in November, the worst month for infections since the virus picked up speed in Illinois in February. The state has dodged expected surges in cases following holiday time travel and family celebrations. Nonetheless, the entire state had been under so-called Tier 3 mitigation rules until late last week. The Illinois Department of Public Health on Monday announced statewide health care contracting to supplement existing hospital staff. That enabled IDPH to loosen restrictions in most areas of the state, significantly to at least a level that allows indoor dining to resume. During the initial onslaught of the virus last spring, authorities readied supplemental bed space. That proved unnecessary as health professionals realized that staff further limited a hospital’s capacity. The Pritzker administration is using the state’s large-scale buying power to contract with vendors for health care workers to bolster Illinois’ workforce.

Indiana

Indianapolis: Health officials reported fewer new coronavirus cases and related hospitalizations Tuesday as the state’s downward trend that began late last year continued into 2021. Indiana recorded 2,756 new cases of COVID-19, the second straight day health officials have reported fewer than 3,000 cases, the Indiana State Department of Health said Tuesday. That brings the number of Hoosiers known to have had the coronavirus to 595,436. The state agency also reported that 2,332 Indiana residents were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday – the fewest since early November, after the state saw a steep increase beginning in September for coronavirus deaths, hospitalizations and new infections. Of those being treated, 525 were in intensive care, marking a nine-week low. State health officials also added 126 more COVID-19 deaths, raising Indiana’s pandemic toll to 9,466, including both confirmed and presumed infections. Deaths are reported based on when data is received by the state and occurred over multiple days. Indiana reported 32% fewer cases of the virus in the week ending Sunday than it did in the previous week, according to state health department data.

Iowa

Des Moines: The state’s three regents universities will extend the cancellation of study-abroad programs at least through Aug.1 as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last spring, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa were all forced to temporarily cancel study-abroad programs in which hundreds of students take part each year in light of coronavirus health and safety precautions. Since then, the schools have incrementally announced further cancellations. Iowa’s Board of Regents put a 30-day rolling ban on international travel last March that has yet to expire. In the 2018-19 school year, more than 1,316 students at the University of Iowa studied abroad across 69 different countries. At Iowa State, 1,817 students studied outside the U.S. between the summer of 2018 and spring of 2019. “Given the development of the vaccine, we are confident that travel will start to become more common in the latter part of 2021,” said a Wednesday announcement from Russell Ganim, associate provost and dean of international programs at the University of Iowa.

Kansas

Topeka: Mayor Michelle De La Isla was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week and will be out of the office while she recovers from her illness, her office said Tuesday. “Community spread in Topeka is high and my diagnosis proves that no matter how careful you are you can still get this virus,” De La Isla said in a news release. “I encourage everyone to be careful and follow all the safety protocols so that you can keep your friends and family safe.” The mayor said she came in contact with the virus through a family member who is an essential worker. Deputy Mayor Tony Emerson will run Tuesday night’s City Council meeting until a new deputy mayor is elected.

Kentucky

Louisville: Mayor Greg Fischer and his top health official, Dr. Sarah Moyer, pleaded for patience Tuesday as local health officials try to adjust to supplies of COVID-19 vaccine that vary from week to week. “Our ability to give the vaccine is more than the supply,” Fischer said at a news briefing. After Louisville’s three hospitals began offering vaccine appointments to people over 70 on Friday, they were overwhelmed with requests for appointments and had to stop accepting new ones until more vaccine comes in. Moyer estimated Tuesday that it will take about 10 weeks to vaccinate all of the about 100,000 people in the metro area 70 or older who are eligible for the vaccine. University of Louisville Health, Baptist Health and Norton Healthcare reported they were flooded with requests online and by telephone after announcing they would begin offering vaccines to people 70 or over, as prescribed under current state guidelines for dispensing limited quantities. Dr. Steven Hester, chief medical officer at Norton, said Tuesday that Norton filled 14,000 appointments by Monday before it had to stop accepting new ones.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: The state’s chief public health officer warned hospitals, pharmacies and clinics Tuesday that they should not be steering their COVID-19 vaccine doses solely to their own patients, saying the state has received reports of such favoritism. Dr. Joe Kanter, with the Louisiana Department of Health, sent a memo to vaccine providers that cautioned any found to be discriminating in favor of their patients – and denying vaccine appointments to nonpatients – could face penalties. The providers could face financial penalties, limits on future vaccine allocations, legal actions or other response if found continuing to discriminate in distribution, said health department spokesperson Aly Neel. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in Louisiana are available to health care employees, EMS workers, firefighters, people with kidney failure, anyone age 70 and older, people with disabilities over the age of 16 who receive community- or home-based services and their providers, and people who live and work at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. About 850,000 people out of Louisiana’s 4.6 million residents fall into the current eligibility categories, according to Edwards administration estimates.

Maine

Augusta: Users of state parks shattered records for attendance last year as they sought outside adventures amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Bureau of Parks and Lands said state park attendance topped 3 million in 2020 for the first time. The record came despite closures in the spring and capacity limitations throughout the year. The state parks had nearly 2.8 million day-use visitors, up 3% from 2019. There were also 8% more camping visitors than the previous year, state officials said. State park users consistently “arrived at the parks prepared with face coverings and hand sanitizer and all the other requisite supplies for getting outside safely during the pandemic,” said Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands director Andy Cutko.

Maryland

Annapolis: A top lawmaker announced Monday that he is forming an oversight panel to monitor the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, after criticizing “unacceptable” levels of confusion about vaccine access, administration and distribution. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore, said the Senate would consider not confirming Gov. Larry Hogan’s nominee to lead the state health department, based on the current performance of the state’s vaccine rollout. Hogan nominated Dennis Schrader to the position last week. Ferguson said Maryland has global leaders in public health and should be doing better in making the vaccine available. “We should have the infrastructure stood up that is the best in the world. That’s not where we are, and I don’t think it would be fair to confirm the acting secretary with where we are with the vaccination program,” Ferguson said. Michael Ricci, the Republican governor’s spokesman, said Maryland has administered more doses than 32 other states, but the numbers depend on the state’s supply. “This is going to take some time,” Ricci said.

Massachusetts

Boston: Organizers of the Boston Marathon – postponed indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic – have launched a virtual Athletes’ Village to reproduce at least some of the camaraderie of the real thing. The Boston Athletic Association says it’s an attempt to keep runners connected as the group works out a date for the 125th running of the planet’s most storied footrace. Last April’s race was canceled and tentatively rescheduled to sometime this autumn, but because of a surge in COVID-19 cases in hard-hit Massachusetts, officials still can’t say when in-person racing for the masses can safely resume. The virtual village, launched Jan. 5, is a far cry from the bucket-list magic and mystique of the real Athletes’ Village in a schoolyard near the start line in Hopkinton, where runners gather giddily beneath tents to hydrate, stretch, meditate, bond and chat before pounding the pavement to Boston. But the BAA hopes participants will use the village as a digital hub to share training tips, seek out coaching, compete against one another in monthly challenges and just generally party like Boston Marathoners have done since 1897. “It’s been great. Runners are so freaking friendly,” Karen Bruynell said.

Michigan

Detroit: The city has received 6,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses this week – far short of what was expected – due to shortfalls from the federal government, according to Mayor Mike Duggan. Detroit had been expecting 9,000 to 10,000 doses in its allotment from the state, Duggan said Tuesday. “We can work with 6,000, but it is not what we had hoped to try to keep expanding eligibility,” he said. Some governors have accused the Trump administration of deceiving states about the amount of COVID-19 vaccine they can expect to receive as states ramp up vaccinations for senior citizens and others. The government has attributed the anger to confusion and misguided expectations on the part of states. Detroit has opened free vaccinations at the downtown TCF center for people 70 and older, as well as people 65 and older who drive them there. “We’re using these vaccines probably within 72 hours of receiving them,” Duggan said. “The day the Biden administration tells us we can count on 10,000 (vaccine doses) a week, we are going to bring the age down to 65. We are going to do this as fast as we can, but we’re also not going to raise expectations that we can’t meet.”

Minnesota

Minneapolis: Many schools welcomed back some of their youngest students for in-person instruction Tuesday, with more elementary schools expected to follow in the coming weeks as some virus restrictions are relaxed. Some districts, including the state’s largest in Anoka-Hennepin, opened for kindergarten, first and second grade students and plan to bring back older elementary students next month. Others, including the Minneapolis and St. Paul districts, will begin their reopening process later this month or next month. Precautions schools are required to take include teachers wearing both masks and face shields, along with plexiglass barriers in classrooms. Schools will give coronavirus tests to teachers and staff every two weeks. Gov. Tim Walz told districts last month that they could reopen elementary schools this week regardless of case growth in their communities based on data that showed elementary schools present less risk. He announced a vaccine pilot program Monday that will establish nine sites to administer doses to a group that includes teachers, school staff and child care workers, though a very limited number of doses will be available.

Mississippi

Jackson: More than 100,000 residents have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and officials are taking further steps to administer the state’s supply of shots more efficiently, Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday. “There is no higher priority, and we’re acting accordingly,” Reeves told a news conference. “We’re not where we need to be, and we’ve got a long way to go.” Inoculation rates in Mississippi have lagged far behind most of the U.S., according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Reeves insisted Monday that health officials are making changes to speed things along. The state’s website for making vaccine appointments has been upgraded to handle increased traffic, and more people are answering calls from those booking by phone, he said. Meanwhile, state officials are working to free up more shots for the general population aged 65 and older by getting several thousand doses from nursing homes that received more than they need, Reeves said. If individual providers don’t use at least 65% of their weekly dose allocation, their share of the following week’s supply will go to others in the state.

Missouri

Jefferson City: Another state lawmaker said she has tested positive for the coronavirus, as the Missouri House called off its session to try to stem an outbreak of the virus in the Capitol building. The House, which normally would be in session Tuesday, canceled its work for the entire week after learning of cases among lawmakers and others in the Capitol. The Senate continued to meet. State Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins, D-St. Louis, said in a Facebook post Monday that she tested positive for the virus and is in isolation. The House Journal indicates she had been present for session last Thursday. Her case comes after Rep. Wes Rogers, D-Kansas City, tested positive last week, and other lawmakers entered quarantine. At least 13 Missouri lawmakers have confirmed they came down with COVID-19 over the past year, according to a tally by the Associated Press.

Montana

Billings: Tribes participated in a national moment of unity and memorial for COVID-19 victims Tuesday afternoon by illuminating a tepee on Sacrifice Cliff in Billings. The national memorial, which kicked off in Washington, D.C., as part of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration festivities, featured the lighting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the illumination of buildings in cities nationwide. The ceremony aimed to honor those lost to COVID-19 while serving as a symbol of hope for the future. “We want to make sure people get healed and look forward to the new resources the Biden-Harris administration will put towards the pandemic to end it,” said Bill Snell, executive director of Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council. Native American tribes have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. A Department of Public Health and Human Services report found that between March and October, Native Americans accounted for 19% of Montana’s coronavirus cases and 32% of deaths from COVID-19. Native Americans comprise 6.7% of the state’s population. According to the report, mortality rates among Native American residents were 11.6 times higher than those of non-Hispanic white residents.

Nebraska

Omaha: Teachers and meatpacking workers worry it will take longer for essential workers like them to get the COVID-19 vaccine now that the next group of people to be vaccinated has been expanded to include everyone 65 and older in the state. The expansion of the next phase in the vaccination campaign, slated to start statewide next month, was announced last week. State health officials haven’t said how people will be prioritized within that new, larger group, but the Douglas County Health Department in Nebraska’s largest city said Tuesday that people 65 and older will get the vaccine first in Omaha ahead of essential workers. Tim Royers, president of the Millard Education Association, said teachers in his district were disappointed to hear that they now aren’t likely to get their shots until March at the earliest. Previously, they had been told they would start getting the vaccine either at the end of January or in early February. “We’re already seeing the impact, and it’s having a demoralizing effect on teachers,” Royers told the Omaha World-Herald. Millard, like many districts in the state, has been holding classes in person all year.

Nevada

Carson City: The economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have hit Nevada particularly hard, complicating budget planning in a place that levies no state income tax on residents and relies on tourism and hospitality industry revenue. Gov. Steve Sisolak released a budget Monday that includes no new taxes and $187 million less in state spending than it proposed before the start of the last two-year cycle in 2019. The budget proposes cuts to both K-12 and higher education and increases funding for health care as the pandemic surges and more laid-off workers enroll in Medicaid. It outlines $8.7 billion in state spending from 2021 to 2023 and projects the state will collect $4.2 billion and $4.5 billion in the upcoming two budget years, respectively. That’s less than $9 billion in general fund revenue the state initially projected for the 2019-2021 biennium but more than the $7.7 billion projected in June 2020 amid the pandemic. The spending plan is based on projections issued by a five-member panel that in December projected it could take until 2023 for tax revenue to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

New Hampshire

Concord: The state Department of Health and Human Services has updated its instructions to health care providers about registering medically vulnerable patients for the COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccination under Phase 1b begins Jan. 26, with registration starting Friday, for residents age 65 and older, those with certain medical conditions, residents and staff of facilities for people with developmental disabilities, corrections officers, and health care workers not previously vaccinated. Residents age 65 and older should register to be vaccinated at one of the state’s fixed site clinics by visiting vaccines.nh.gov or calling 2-1-1. There are different processes for those with medical conditions, according to a health alert message issued Sunday. Providers who plan to vaccinate their own patients will register and schedule eligible patients and report data to the state’s immunization information system. Those that do not have access to the vaccine or plan to refer patients to fixed sites will enter patient information into the state’s vaccine management system, which will generate an email invitation to the patient to schedule an appointment.

New Jersey

Trenton: The state has the infrastructure set up to start vaccinating more people against COVID-19 but doesn’t have the supply of shots to meet demand, Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday. Murphy, a Democrat, said the state has opened two-thirds of the mass vaccination sites across New Jersey, with more set up at CVS and Walgreens under a federal partnership, but the number of vaccine doses coming in each week is just over 100,000. That’s short of the 470,000 needed to meet demand, according to Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli. So far, New Jersey has administered about 388,000 doses of the vaccine. That amounts to about 3.9% of the state’s population. “All we are missing are the vaccine doses we need,” Murphy said. He predicted supply would be short “for some time” and didn’t specify when or how it would increase. Persichilli said Monday that a state hotline to answer questions about the vaccine and help people with appointments was operational, though with automated responses. Beginning next week, callers will be able to talk to a person for help when they call, she said. The number is 855-568-0545.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: Lawmakers confronted daunting challenges as they began a 60-day session Tuesday amid an unrelenting coronavirus pandemic and concerns of violence at a Statehouse guarded by troops and encircled by fencing, barricades and mobile security cameras. Proposals aimed at reviving the economy and rebooting classroom learning are at the top of the agenda for lawmakers in the Democratic-led Legislature. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is pushing for a budget deal that would increase state spending on pandemic relief, education and health care. Leading House Republicans said their priority will be proposals that allow students to return to classrooms immediately by providing greater autonomy to school boards, teachers and families. The House came into session with calls in English and Spanish of “present on the floor” and “presente.” Most Democrats tuned in via videoconference from their offices, and most Republicans stood on the House floor. In the Senate, legislators in face masks exchanged elbow bumps and sat down between plexiglass barriers meant to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

New York

New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Tuesday that his state will pursue legal action if Congress doesn’t send $15 billion in unrestricted emergency pandemic aid. Meanwhile, New York City will run out of first doses of COVID-19 vaccines sometime Thursday without fresh supplies, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Cuomo, who didn’t specify who or what the state would sue, introduced two different budget proposals: one if Congress provides New York with $6 billion and another if New York receives $15 billion. The state is facing a dramatic loss in sales and income tax revenue in the wake of sweeping COVID-19 restrictions that jettisoned last February’s budget projections. The Democratic governor blamed President Donald Trump’s administration for allowing COVID-19 to hit New York and the rest of the nation by failing to ban travel from Europe until mid-March. New York has now recorded nearly 42,000 deaths of people with COVID-19, according to data compiled by John Hopkins University. “What happened to New York was no fault of New Yorkers,” Cuomo said in his annual budget address, which was delivered virtually. “It was because the federal government lost track of coronavirus, literally.”

North Carolina

Raleigh: Two state legislators who announced this week that they had tested positive for the coronavirus participated in the same duck-hunting trip with other elected officials last week. Senate Rules Committee Chairman Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick County, announced his results Tuesday, one day after Rep. Brian Turner, D-Buncombe County. Rabon, a 69-year-old veterinarian who joined the Senate in 2011, had no symptoms Tuesday after earlier experienced mild, cold-like symptoms, and he was isolating at his home and speaking to those with whom he had close contact, his news release said. Turner said in a Facebook post that he was also contacting people who might have been exposed. Both men were among several legislators and others who participated in a duck-hunting trip last Friday, according to Rep. Jason Saine, R-Lincoln County, and another participant. It’s unclear whether they contracted the virus during the event. Other participants included first-term U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., Saine said. Saine said Tuesday he’s been working to follow safety precautions to discourage the potential for contracting the virus.

North Dakota

Bismarck: State Sen. Terry Wanzek says he has contracted the contravirus. The 63-year-old Republican from Jamestown said he took a rapid test Monday and immediately left the Capitol after finding out about the positive results. Wanzek said he doesn’t believe he has any close contacts in the Legislature and has been wearing his mask. The senator shared the news remotely during the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting. Wanzek will isolate at home for 10 days, KQDJ reports. North Dakota lawmakers are required to wear face coverings in the House and Senate chambers and other shared spaces. But some lawmakers regularly eat lunch together in the Capitol cafeteria without masks. Grand Forks Republican Sen. Ray Holmberg tested positive for the virus following the Legislature’s three-day organizational session in December, which he called a “petri dish” for infection. He has fully recovered.

Ohio

Columbus: Nearly all school districts have told the state they plan to return to in-person learning in some form as of March 1, meaning efforts to vaccinate thousands of school employees will begin Feb. 1, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday. He said 96% of districts indicated they’d follow either hybrid models – home some days, in school others – or full-time in-person classes. School districts will work either with pharmacies or with local health departments for vaccinations, which could happen at schools or some other centrally located place. Local Educational Service Centers will confirm plans with districts this week. The Ohio Federation of Teachers supports the goal of returning to school March 1 but said it shouldn’t be a condition for vaccination. The union said it’s not confident employees could receive the first vaccine by then, let alone both required doses. “We are concerned that the mandate will still pressure some districts into reopening before they are ready,” the union said in a statement Tuesday.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: The state on Tuesday surpassed 3,000 total deaths due to COVID-19 since the coronavirus pandemic began, and the health department reported 1,558 additional cases of the virus. There were 43 more deaths for a total of 3,037 who have died due to the illness caused by the virus and 358,374 total cases, up from 2,994 deaths and 356,816 cases reported Monday. The seven-day rolling average of deaths in Oklahoma has increased during the past two weeks from 24.14 per day on Jan. 4 to 31.29, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The rolling average of new cases declined from 3,454.86 per day to 3,081.29, and the positivity rate fell from 23.29% to 17.59% during the same time period. Oklahoma had the fourth-highest number of new cases per capita in the nation with 1,269.19 per 100,000 residents during the past two weeks, according to the Johns Hopkins data.

Oregon

Salem: The state is expecting to receive federal stimulus money this week to help pay for its COVID-19 vaccination program. Congress approved $3 billion for states to use for vaccine activities under the supplemental pandemic stimulus bill that went into law in late December. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the state’s share of those funds is $38.1 million, although only a portion of that is expected to be distributed this week. The money can be used to promote and track as well as to distribute and administer the vaccines. The latter is where Oregon’s vaccination program has bogged down. The state has struggled to vaccinate large numbers of people, although by late last week it was able to hit the 12,000 doses-per-day vaccination target put forth by Gov. Kate Brown. Oregon Health Authority Chief Medical Officer Dana Hargunani cited challenges with vaccine distribution as well as navigating scheduling, physical distancing at vaccination sites and the observation period required immediately after the vaccine is administered.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: The state is expanding eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine in the initial phase of the rollout to include people age 65 and over as well as younger people with serious health conditions that put them at higher risk, state health officials announced Tuesday. The Health Department said its updated vaccine plan tracks recommendations from the federal government, but it was uncertain how the expanded rollout would work given the slow pace of vaccinations so far and limitations on supplies. Some 3.5 million Pennsylvanians are now eligible to get the vaccine; the state has vaccinated about 409,000. “We must have patience as the amount of vaccine available in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation remains limited,” Cindy Findley, a deputy health secretary who leads the state’s vaccine task force, said at a media briefing. “We are well aware we don’t have enough vaccine to meet the demand at this point.” Tuesday’s announcement adds to the initial rollout people age 65 and older and those between the ages of 16 and 64 with a range of health conditions, including cancer and diabetes, as well as pregnant women, smokers and clinically obese people.

Rhode Island

Newport: Organizers of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade are looking at postponing this year’s event until September because it looks increasingly unlikely it can go on in March. Dennis Sullivan, chair of the Newport St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, said the committee submitted a letter to the city Tuesday suggesting a September date for the annual festivities. “Whatever they say, we’re going to abide by,” he said of the City Council. The parade is traditionally held the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day in March. “I just don’t believe there’s any way that we could do this safely,” Mayor Jeanne Marie Napolitano said of holding the event in March. “We’re not going to have approvals for anything like this until the vaccination program is safe.” Last year’s parade was supposed to be the 64th annual before it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

South Carolina

Myrtle Beach: A former mayor has died of complications from COVID-19, the city reported. The city’s website says John Rhodes died Saturday night. Rhodes served as mayor from January 2006 through December 2017. The Post and Courier reports that record numbers of new cases were added in South Carolina in the first two weeks of January. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control resolved a systems issue Saturday that had kept data incomplete over the past week, and officials belatedly reported that on Jan. 8, the state set a daily record of 6,924 new COVID-19 cases, a substantial increase from previous records.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: The state’s daily COVID-19 update Tuesday showed no new deaths due to the coronavirus, a day after data compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers listed the state’s fatality count as the fifth-highest per capita in the nation. Researchers have confirmed 189 deaths per 100,000 people since the start of the pandemic. The total number of fatalities stands at 1,667. The update showed that 126 of the 461 COVID-19 tests processed in the past day came back positive, lifting the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 94,764. The state’s dashboard listed an additional 11,022 probable cases. Hospitalizations fell by three, to 200, with 35 patients being treated in intensive care units. There were 355 COVID-19 vaccines administered Monday, officials said, noting that 47,647 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 9,829 residents have received both shots.

Tennessee

Nashville: Gov. Bill Lee and the General Assembly have a narrow focus this week: quickly passing bills aimed at helping schools navigate the coronavirus pandemic and allowing them to prepare for the next academic year following 10 months of significant learning disruptions. Lee on Tuesday opened the special legislative session he called with an address to House and Senate members seeking to convey the long-term consequences of students falling behind – and subtly rebuking the state’s two largest districts that have remained largely closed throughout the pandemic. “Here’s the bottom line,” Lee said. “You can’t say ‘follow the science’ and keep schools closed. You can’t say ‘I believe in public education’ and keep schools closed.” The governor cited virtual learning’s particularly negative impact on students of color. While most districts across the state have brought students back for in-person learning at some point this school year, Shelby County Schools has remained virtual all year, while middle and high school students in Davidson County have yet to return to the classroom.

Texas

Dallas: The state reported more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and 46 more deaths from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The number of Texans hospitalized with COVID-19 rose from Sunday to 13,858 on Monday. Coronavirus hospitalizations remain near their record high, and intensive care units in several regions are at or near capacity, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Over the past week, more than 17% of coronavirus tests have come back positive in Texas, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The state has recorded more than 2 million cases of the virus and more than 32,000 fatalities. More than 1 million Texans have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 166,000 are fully vaccinated, according to health officials.

Utah

Salt Lake City: The Legislature’s 2021 session opened Tuesday with words of hope and heightened security measures against a backdrop of possibly violent protests and the coronavirus pandemic. The Capitol, which is usually buzzing with activity as lobbyists, advocates and others walk the halls, was largely empty on the first day of the session aside from lawmakers and several National Guard troops. Social distancing, masks and a handshake ban were enforced throughout the Capitol, and lawmakers in the House were separated by plexiglass barricades. The building is temporarily closed to the public. But there are also technological upgrades aimed at making it easier for people to weigh in virtually on lawmakers’ proposals. Republican House Speaker Brad Wilson lauded how Utah residents have dealt with the pandemic and called on lawmakers to help bolster the state’s economy and education system. He said the House would increase public education funding by at least $400 million to help students further develop critical thinking skills and prepare them for education after high school.

Vermont

Rutland: A hospital is developing a plan that would allow COVID-19 patients to recover at homes, rather than in the hospital. Kathleen Boyd of the Rutland Regional Medical Center is working with other providers to develop the system as part of discharge planning for patients who are willing and have support at home. Boyd told the Rutland Herald the program is national but being developed for local use. “We wanted to make sure that people who are being admitted to the hospital (are the ones who) require care that can only be delivered at a hospital,” Boyd said. Dr. Rick Hildebrant, chief medical information officer at the hospital, said that typically 2% to 5% of all COVID-19 patients will require hospitalization. About a quarter of those could be eligible for the home care program. “These are people who are pretty sick,” Hildebrant said Tuesday. As important as the clinical criteria in determining who would be eligible is the social component. Patients need to have support at home. But if the hospital gets hit hard by COVID-19 admissions, the program could help free up space in the hospital, he said. It’s expected the program will begin within the next few weeks.

Virginia

Richmond: The Virginia Department of Health announced Tuesday that it has launched a COVID-19 Outbreaks in Virginia Higher Education dashboard that includes confirmed outbreaks reported to VDH among public and private colleges and universities since Aug. 1. The only outbreak currently in progress, according to the dashboard, is at Marymount University in Arlington, which has 62 cases. Several schools have outbreaks that are pending closure, according to the health department, including the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University. Only distinct confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks investigated by VDH local health departments, along with the associated cases and deaths related to an outbreak, are included. The release defined a confirmed COVID-19 outbreak as two or more confirmed COVID-19 cases associated with a particular setting. The dashboard does not include the total number of cases at the college or university. Some colleges or universities separately track and report the number of cases associated with their school or community and may use different methods than VDH, the release said.

Washington

Olympia: Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday announced a plan to set up vaccination sites statewide with help from the National Guard and others as part of an overall goal to vaccinate 45,000 people a day. Inslee said while the goal is higher than the current allotment of vaccine the state is receiving from the federal government – 100,000 doses a week – the state is working to get the infrastructure in place now for that amount once doses increase. The state has been vaccinating between 13,000 and 15,000 people a day, he said. Starting next week, vaccination sites will be set up at the Spokane Arena, the Benton County Fairgrounds in Kennewick, Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee and the Clark County Fairgrounds in Ridgefield. The state’s allocation for next week will be divided among the new sites, pharmacies and local clinics, along with existing vaccination sites in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties. The governor also announced a public-private partnership with business, health care and labor entities – led by the state Department of Health – on areas ranging from coordination of volunteer vaccinators to communications support.

West Virginia

Pickens: A maple syrup festival has been canceled for the second straight year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers of the West Virginia Maple Syrup Festival in Pickens announced the cancellation Monday. The festival was scheduled to be held in late March. The festival said on its Facebook page that vendors and crafters who had secured spots for last year’s event will be given priority applications for next year. Part of the decision to cancel was based on the fact that the event is held primarily indoors. “Well, here we are again faced with a decision in which no matter what decision we make, many people will not agree with the decision,” festival organizers said.

Wisconsin

Madison: A pharmacist accused of trying to defrost and spoil dozens of vials of COVID-19 vaccine was charged Tuesday with attempted misdemeanor property damage, and prosecutors warned more serious charges could follow if tests show the doses were ruined. Police arrested 46-year-old Steven Brandenburg on Dec. 31 as part of an investigation into how 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine were left for hours outside a refrigerator at Advocate Aurora Health in Grafton, a Milwaukee suburb. The vials contained enough vaccine to inoculate more than 500 people. Detectives wrote in court documents that Brandenburg is an admitted conspiracy theorist who believed the vaccine would mutate recipients’ DNA. Experts have said there’s no truth to the claims that COVID-19 vaccines can genetically modify humans. Brandenburg faces up to nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted. His attorney, Jason Baltz, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf during his initial court appearance Tuesday. Brandenburg spoke only once, replying “yes sir” when Judge Paul Malloy warned him to continue to abide by his bail conditions, which include not working as a pharmacist, not dispensing medication and having no contact with Aurora employees.

Wyoming

Gillette: Sometimes simple everyday gestures, like a wave or the honk of a horn, take on a world of importance. On a recent Wednesday morning, roughly 70 members of the Campbell County School District transportation department spread across more than 40 buses and district vehicles paraded past Vicki Wood’s house to tell her they love her. Wood, 71, a longtime district transportation employee who retired in 2018, had gotten home the day before from spending 54 days in a hospital with COVID-19 after being airlifted to Billings, Montana, on Nov. 7, the Gillette News Record reports. The departmental effort was a secret up until the moment Wood’s family decked her out in her winter gear and insisted on some fresh air. When the first buses rolled into view and made the sweeping left turn onto her street, Wood was overwhelmed. “Oh my God,” she cried, burying her face in her gloved hands. Then she waved like a reigning queen as her subjects came to pay their respects. There were signs pinned to the buses and their horns blared. Some drivers opened their doors to shout their well wishes, and others had people hanging from windows to wave and shout.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports