State and Federal Relations

CDC Officials Say Agency Didn’t Write Controversial Covid Testing Guidance, Report Says

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS ROUNDUP | People in flooded Florida neighborhoods waited for rescue on Thursday, the day after Hurricane Sally slammed coast … Salt Lake City considers new restrictions on military equipment purchases by police … Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly suggested prosecutors charge Seattle mayor.

  • By Laura Maggi and Emma Coleman

CDC Officials Say Agency Didn’t Write Controversial Covid Testing Guidance, Report Says

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS ROUNDUP | People in flooded Florida neighborhoods waited for rescue on Thursday, the day after Hurricane Sally slammed coast … Salt Lake City considers new restrictions on military equipment purchases by police … Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly suggested prosecutors charge Seattle mayor.

  • By Laura Maggi and Emma Coleman
State and Federal Relations

CDC Officials Say Agency Didn’t Write Controversial Covid Testing Guidance, Report Says

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS ROUNDUP | People in flooded Florida neighborhoods waited for rescue on Thursday, the day after Hurricane Sally slammed coast … Salt Lake City considers new restrictions on military equipment purchases by police … Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly suggested prosecutors charge Seattle mayor.

  • By Laura Maggi and Emma Coleman

Bipartisan House Bill Targets Improving Digital Identity Verification

The measure would create a task force of local, state and federal officials to produce a comprehensive, standards-based approach to digital identity verification.

  • By Brandi Vincent

USDA Makes New Move in Broad Effort to Bring Innovative Tech to America’s Farmers

The agriculture-focused agency wants public input on potentially disruptive ideas that could be ready to be implemented.

  • By Brandi Vincent

Coronavirus, Trump Chill International Enrollment at U.S. Colleges

International enrollment could drop by as much as 30%.

  • By Sophie Quinton, Stateline

'Perfect Storm' Threatens 'Major Institutional Defeat' for the Census, Top Watchdog Says

The decennial count is ahead of schedule overall, but a condensed schedule and hiring shortfalls are creating significant risks.

  • By Eric Katz

Extra $300 Unemployment Benefit Coming to End as Money Runs Out

President Trump took executive action to extend the benefit after an earlier federal program that provided $600 a week lapsed.

  • By Bill Lucia

Governors Plead with Congress for Help as Senate Rejects Skinny Relief Bill

As Democratic governors testified before the House Committee on Financial Services, the Senate rejected a pared-back coronavirus relief proposal.

  • By Andrea Noble

America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral

As the U.S. heads toward the winter, the country is going round in circles, making the same conceptual errors that have plagued it since spring.

  • By Ed Yong, The Atlantic

America Doesn’t Have a Coherent Strategy for Asymptomatic Testing. It Needs One.

While it battles a virus that can spread quickly via silent carriers, the United States has yet to execute a strategy for testing asymptomatic people. This is a problem — and ProPublica health reporter Caroline Chen explains why.

  • By Caroline Chen, ProPublica

Senate to Vote on Slimmed-Down Coronavirus Relief Bill This Week

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced the legislation Tuesday and said the Senate will hold a vote on it this week.

  • By Andrea Noble

CDC Tells States to Set Up Infrastructure to Distribute Covid Vaccine

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS ROUNDUP | Mississippi commission selects new flag candidate for voters to consider … After protests, Portland mayor says he will leave his condo building … Surge in poll worker applications in Colorado.

  • By Laura Maggi and Emma Coleman

Senate Republicans’ Revamped, Scaled-Back Coronavirus Bill Expected Next Week

But Democrats and Republicans are still far apart on inclusion of money for state and local governments.

  • By Andrea Noble

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Cuomo, Union Leaders Call on Congress to Provide New York $59 Billion in Aid

They say the state and its local governments are in an “impossible financial situation” because of the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

  • By Bill Lucia

USDA Extends Free School Meal Program for Children

The U.S. Department of Agriculture loosened requirements for children receiving free meals through their schools at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and announced Monday it would keep those flexibilities in place through the end of the year.

  • By Andrea Noble

Condensed Schedule and Staff Not Showing Up to Work Have Put the Census at Risk

Census has just a month to complete its count and the Government Accountability Office says it still faces significant challenges in collecting accurate data.

  • By Eric Katz

New Unemployment Benefits Could Take Weeks to Distribute

Thirty-two states have been approved for the federal unemployment program, but only four states have begun issuing the $300-a-week benefits.

  • By Andrea Noble

Struggling Small Businesses Are Also at Risk from Postal Service Delays

COMMENTARY | A reliable U.S. Postal Service is critical for small- and medium-sized businesses, which depend on both its wide reach and affordable rates.

  • By Ednilson Bernardes, The Conversation

City Creates Food Stamps App as Renewal Process Becomes More Difficult

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is resuming pre-coronavirus application and renewal requirements for food stamps. Washington, D.C. created a mobile public benefits app that officials hope will make it easier for recipients to apply and meet eligibility requirements.

  • By Andrea Noble

How Misinformation, Federalism and Selfishness Hampered America’s Virus Response

A fifth of the world’s COVID-19 deaths are in the United States.

  • By Michael Ollove, Stateline

The Plan That Could Give Us Our Lives Back

The U.S. has never had enough coronavirus tests. Now a group of epidemiologists, economists, and dreamers is plotting a new strategy to defeat the virus, even before a vaccine is found.

  • By Alexis C. Madrigal and Robinson Meyer

The Worst of Hurricane Season is Likely Still to Come

Nine named storms have already formed during the 2020 hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends in November. Experts are predicting as many as 16 more.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram