President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address Thursday night to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the possibility of beginning to “mark our independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July.
The president signed the aid package into law Thursday without a comprehensive plan in place to distribute all of the funds, which will be a core focus of the administration in coming weeks.
The S&P 500, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Russell 2000 measure of small-company stocks all closed at record levels on Thursday.
Since most state budgets are not in the tailspins that many feared last spring, states can use their share of the money to go way beyond balancing the books and dealing with the direct costs of the coronavirus pandemic.
President Biden’s challenge Thursday night will be to honor the sacrifices made by Americans over the last year while encouraging them to remain vigilant despite “virus fatigue” and growing impatience to resume normal activities.
The Indiana State Department of Health on Thursday reported 922 new cases of COVID-19, the 13th time in the past 14 days in which daily cases have been below 1,000.
Counting supplemental federal unemployment programs that were established to soften the economic damage from the virus, an estimated 20.1 million people are collecting some form of jobless aid.
The funding will allow elementary schools, high schools and libraries to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots, modems and routers for students, and also fund the Internet service that those devices use.
The pandemic relief package approved by Congress on Wednesday calls for grants equal to the amount of restaurants’ revenue losses, up to a maximum of $10 million per company and $5 million per location.
The funding is part of an overall $1.9 trillion bill that could send as much as $5.87 billion to the state, including roughly $237 million to Indianapolis and another $187 million to Marion County.
Most noticeable to many Americans are provisions providing up to $1,400 direct payments this year to most adults and extending $300 weekly emergency unemployment benefits into early September. But the legislation goes far beyond that.
Indiana Gov. Holcomb said the eligibility list was being opened to educators and staff earlier than expected at the direction of the federal government.
The state said more than 744,000 Hoosiers had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Wednesday at 5 a.m. More than 1.17 million had received the first dose of a vaccination.
Architects and interior designers say that after 12 months of varying degrees of lockdown, people are discovering what does and doesn’t work in their homes, and becoming more confident about acting on it.
The $1.9 trillion package to provide economic relief for millions of businesses and individuals includes targeted relief money for independent restaurant operators, to the tune of $28.6 billion.
The sheer volume of new programs threatens to swamp federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, leaving some lawmakers fearful about early delays.
Airlines worldwide cut $1 billion of expenses a day last year to cope with the slump in passengers, and that’s given them some wiggle room to lower ticket prices.
The package includes direct payments to most Americans, aid to small businesses, financial help for schools and much more intended to help the country recover from the financial ravages of the pandemic.
Coronavirus vaccine shots were given to more than 16,000 people during Indiana’s first mass vaccination clinic and all appointments have been filled for two similar upcoming clinics, state health officials said Tuesday.
A typical PRI Show brings upwards of 67,000 people to Indianapolis and generates an economic impact of $65 million, making it one of the city’s largest annual events.
