Coronavirus, COVID-19

President Joe Biden has opened up federal COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to K-12 teachers and child care workers, with many in Indiana already making plans to get their shot at federal pharmacy program sites.

NORTHWEST INDIANA - Congressman Frank Mrvan, of the 1st District of Indiana says passing the American Recovery Act is the most important aspect of his job currently.   He says making sure that congress has money going back to the cities, towns and states and making sure that schools have the funding to reopen is of key importance.

Indiana’s average unemployment rate in 2020 – 7.1 percent – increased nearly 4 percentage points compared to the year before. Keep in mind: many economists say, due to problems with data collection, it could be even higher.

The pressure to track kids down, get them engaged in school, and come up with lesson plans they can do remotely or in-person is a lot for one person to handle. Crawfordsville language arts teacher Emily Race said she's exhausted.

Indiana has provided the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 1,000,321 Hoosiers, in just more than two months – with nearly 569,000 Hoosiers fully vaccinated. The Indiana Department of Health announced the milestone Monday.

Hoosiers 55 and older can now register for appointments to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The Indiana Department of Health announced the expansion Tuesday.

CHESTERTON - The National Park Service has implemented the federal mask mandate at the Indiana Dunes National Park.

Bruce Rowe, Supervisory Park Ranger and Public Information Officer said in a news release that the mandate was put in place to protect the health of those who live, work, and visit national parks and National Park Service facilities, and in support of President Biden’s executive order on protecting the federal workforce and requiring mask-wearing.

More than 1,500 confirmed COVID-19 deaths were added to the state’s count Thursday after a year-end audit of deaths.

NORTHWEST INDIANA - Organizers are planning the return of the county fairs in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.  

Although it's not a 100% guarantee the events will be held this summer, Lake County Fair Board President Tom Lump told the "Times" he has cautious optimism.

The summer events, which are a longtime tradition, with the LaPorte County fair being the oldest, had to be canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly is partnering with health care systems around the state to increase access and affordability around its COVID-19 antibody treatment. The company is working with the state of Indiana and health systems and has established three new infusion centers for its COVID-19 antibody therapy to treat those at high risk.

Indiana would require all nursing homes to allow at least some limited visitation for their residents – even during a pandemic – under legislation unanimously approved by a Senate committee Wednesday.

Today:   Evan Hock, the co-founder of Indiana-based website MakeMyMove is on "Regionally Speaking" to talk about the number of remote workers who are leaving expensive, congested cities to find places to upgrate their quality of life and still have a career.   Pew research shows about 54-percent of Americans who are working from home because of the pandemic won't want to go back into the office.  And Abhijit Karve, the director of business development with the Purdue Research Foundation is with us to talk about the "Purdue Technology Showcase," coming up virtually on Feb. 10th and 11th.    The showcase will feature novel innovations from inventors at Purdue, Indiana University, University of Notre Dame and other organizations.  Registration deadline is Feb. 9th and can be made here .