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COVID-19

Schools can offer free meals all year

Local schools and meal programs can provide free meals to all community children until July. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is extending flexibilities to allow free meals for children through June 30, 2021. The USDA is extending waivers through the entire 2020-21 school year that: * Allow Summer Food Service Program and the Seamless Summer Option meals to be served in all areas at no cost. * Permit meals to be served outside of the typically required group settings and meal times. * Waive meal pattern ...

Atlantic Broadband reopens counter service

Under pressure from the city, Atlantic Broadband on Monday reopened its customer service counter on Beale Avenue, but that wasn’t part of a companywide reopening of service counters — all closed in June because of the coronavirus, a company spokesman indicated. The reopening in Altoona occurred “after having considered the current needs of our customers (here), and given the precautionary measures we have been able to establish to ensure a safe environment,” Andy Walton stated in an email. Elsewhere, “The needs of our customers will be examined on a location-by-location basis ...

Virus takes bulk out of gym revenue

NEW YORK — There’s little evidence of Americans’ passion for fitness at the tens of thousands of small and independent gyms around the country. Gyms, health clubs and workout studios began reopening in late spring following government-ordered shutdowns aimed at halting the coronavirus ...

Retailers hurrying holiday sales

NEW YORK (AP) — Add last-minute holiday shopping to the list of time-honored traditions being upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Retailers are kicking off the holiday season earlier than ever this year in hopes of avoiding big in-store crowds and shipping bottlenecks in November and ...

HHS: Vaccine expected in January

A Trump administration official leading the response to the coronavirus pandemic says the U.S. can expect delivery of a vaccine starting in January 2021, despite statements from the president that inoculations could begin this month. And a growing, bipartisan chorus of lawmakers, experts and public health officials says the country is ill prepared for a projected winter surge of COVID-19. Dr. Robert Kadlec said in an email Friday that the administration “is accelerating production of safe and effective vaccines ... to ensure delivery starting January 2021.” Kadlec is the ...

COVID-19 far from finished

Many sectors of the U.S. economy continue a slow but steady recovery from the COVID-19 slowdown. By the end of September, the unemployment rate had dropped to 7.9%, down from 8.4% in August. But as we and many others have warned, some businesses — and millions of their employees — continue to struggle. In addition, a significant number of companies failed to weather the coronavirus storm. They have closed their doors forever. In the news recently have been airlines. Passenger count is everything for them. With it down drastically, most carriers are struggling. Allowing them to go ...