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Congress close to emergency relief deal including direct payments, added unemployment benefits
WASHINGTON — A coronavirus relief deal appeared within reach late Wednesday following months of stalemate in Congress, potentially providing much-needed help to Americans facing expiring unemployment benefits and states distributing the new COVID-19 vaccine. A final deal also may include another round of direct payments, with Sen. John Thune, (R-S.D.), suggesting to reporters that those […]
FDA approves first COVID-19 vaccine, clearing the way for states’ rollout
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first COVID-19 vaccine for use in the United States, a decision that serves as the starting gun for the vaccine logistics efforts that states have been preparing for months. The vaccine approved for emergency use from Pfizer and German partner BioNTech is expected to […]
States just one step away from COVID-19 vaccine rollout after federal panel OK
WASHINGTON — A federal advisory panel on Thursday gave the green light to a COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer, completing the next-to-last regulatory step before states begin a massive national vaccination effort. The Food and Drug Administration still must give its approval on the Pfizer vaccine’s emergency use, but the agency is […]
Governors describe their preparations for COVID-19 vaccine rollout during White House summit
WASHINGTON — Practice runs for distributing COVID-19 vaccines to Louisiana hospitals. A plan to have every Florida nursing home resident vaccinated by the end of the year. And in Tennessee, building off of a statewide system already in place to boost vaccination rates. Governors from Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida and Texas on Tuesday shared how their […]
CDC panel advises states to prioritize health care workers, nursing home residents for COVID-19 vaccine
WASHINGTON — Health care workers and residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities would be the first people in the U.S. to receive COVID-19 vaccines under recommendations approved Tuesday by a federal advisory committee. It will be up to each state to determine how exactly to distribute doses of the vaccines, which could […]
Washington at a standstill, as states face the loss of federal help amid ‘the worst part of the crisis’
WASHINGTON — The number of coronavirus infections across the country is swelling at a perilous time for state governments, just weeks before federal support rushed through Congress in the pandemic’s early stages is set to end. The expiring provisions from the $2 trillion CARES Act and subsequent executive orders will mean reductions in unemployment benefits […]
7 members of Congress test positive for COVID-19 in one week, as U.S. cases surge
WASHINGTON — Seven members of the U.S. House and Senate announced during the past week that they have tested positive for COVID-19, marking a burst of infections on Capitol Hill as cases have surged across the country. At least 29 members of Congress have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began earlier this year, […]
Newly elected members of the U.S. House converge on Washington
WASHINGTON — They’ve won their campaigns. Now, newly elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives are spending their first days in the nation’s capital, learning how to perform their new jobs. The group includes one member from Colorado — Lauren Boebert, from the 3rd District. The orientation session for those incoming House freshmen began […]
Biden wants mask mandates nationwide: ‘We can save tens of thousands of lives’
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus response plan seeks to put a national mask mandate in place by calling on all governors to require face coverings in their states. It’s a move that public health experts say could dramatically reduce the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. But putting wider mask laws in place would […]
The Supreme Court could strike down Obamacare. Here’s what’s at stake.
WASHINGTON — The fate of the sweeping 2010 health care law known as Obamacare is again in limbo, with the Supreme Court on Tuesday set to hear arguments over whether that statute should be overturned. States are at the heart of the case and nearly every one has made an argument about why Obamacare should […]
AP: Joe Biden is the next president of the United States
WASHINGTON — Democrat Joe Biden’s native state of Pennsylvania on Saturday secured his victory to become the next president of the United States when The Associated Press reported he had gained enough votes there to win the electoral college. The AP called Pennsylvania for Biden at 11:25 a.m., which gave the former vice president 284 […]
Battleground states count mail ballots, with Biden just shy of votes to clinch presidency
WASHINGTON — Two days after Election Day, the nation waited for vote-counting to finish in several critical states, where the tallying of mail ballots has left Democrat Joe Biden just short of the votes needed to become the next president. Thursday’s updated totals could push Biden beyond the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory […]