TUPELO • Mississippi will lift all county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules starting Wednesday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
Lead Stories
Decentralized planning between state and federal governments left chronically underfunded public health departments to organize mass testing efforts when there were few supplies in the first few months of the pandemic.
Is it legal for an employer to require its staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine to stay employed? How about requiring the vaccine for potential employees to even get hired?
Reporting lags, complicated logistics and data entry errors in COVID-19 vaccine distribution have frustrated health officials trying to beat back a virus that has killed almost 6,500 Virginians. But on Monday, new data from the Virginia Department of Health showed a prominent shift that has launched the state past most of the U.S. for supply used: Nearly 64% of available vaccines have been administered.
Employers told nearly 800 Realtors and credit union workers in the Richmond area they could sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine that federal and state guidance said they’re ineligible to receive. More than 400 were scheduled for a vaccination event Sunday while thousands of health care workers, teachers and long-term care residents continue to wait for doses that are in short supply.
Even as a top state official praised the vaccination preparations as “phenomenal” and “outstanding," fundamental questions about the campaign remain under discussion.
Vaccinations in Virginia continue to lag as the state approaches half a million doses distributed and the percentage of people testing positive climbs to nearly 16%, a first since early May.
Featured Stories
Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) health scare began creeping into America earlier this year, Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN has been a fixture on the cable television, as he broke down the virus, its symptoms and the precautions, preventions and cure. Now, as the full blown pandemic has completely changed the way Americans lead their lives, there are several Indian Americans who have come into national and international limelight.
Amruta Kulkarni of Foster City, California is taking one day at a time. Working from home and having kids at home as well, has been tough for her. Although the preschool for her 3-year-old opened up limited spots, Kulkarni says they chose to keep her home to let the families where parents need to go to work take those spots.
Layoffs are increasing almost daily as businesses are made to shut down because of the deadly infection, prompting people to seek unemployment benefits. Blue-collar employees, including domestic workers, food and hospitality workers, home health aides, taxi drivers and nail and hair salon industry workers, many of whom are South Asians, are desperately looking for financial help from any quarter possible to be able to put food on the table and save their families.
The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) asks its nearly 20,000 members, who own almost one in every two hotels in the U.S. with more than $30 billion in property assets and hundreds of thousands of employees, has called on its members to prevail on the U.S. Congress to address their challenges in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that has devastated their industry.
News reports say U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced temporary suspension until April 1 of all in-person activities at local offices, including permanent residence interviews, asylum hearings and naturalization ceremonies and biometric appointments. USCIS will send notices to affected applicants rescheduling.
I worked for India’s UID (unique identification) project in 2009-10 when the decision was made to rename it ‘Aadhaar.’ That word stands for foundation, support, etc. in several Indian languages, and aptly conveyed the project’s spirit of inclusion. It is during that tenure that I came face to face with the extreme sensitivity of the Northeast, Assam in particular, to illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
It has been 34 years since I graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Many of my relatives, members of the Indian American community, among others, chide me for being a “rebel and a revolutionary,” a stereotype that most JNU students wear as a badge of honor.
Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant is no stranger to controversy or contradiction. And she’s stirring the pot yet again. This time it’s on an issue that’s way out of her jurisdiction — India’s Citizenship Amendment Act. Sawant’s outcry of concern, and that of others, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), is not only misguided, but heartless.
There has been much hullabaloo over the developments in Jawaharlal Nehru University earlier this month in which “masked outsiders” attacked and injured, reportedly over two dozen students and also some teachers.
Christmas is not over. According to the Church calendar, the Twelvetide of Christmas lasts until January 5th.During this season, we cannot forget the persecuted church in India. Let me tell you the story of how I came to realize how crucial it is to support this marginalized religious minority.
My family’s annual Christmas parties had Hindu and Muslim family friends at our table. I remember the biriyani, the cutlets, the salads and the cakes and puddings. Most of all I remember the fun and games – the word games, talent competitions and the mimicry shows my mother organized.
In a country having more per capita NGOs than hospital beds — around four NGOs for every 1,000 people in urban areas and 2.3 NGOs for every 1,000 population in rural areas — nonprofits admittedly have an important role to play in India’s development activities.
Every year brings new challenges and new goals for all of us at Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF) as we make progress towards our mission to eradicate curable blindness.
Dr. Vadrevu K. Raju, whose lifelong mission has been to restore vision to people, especially children in India and abroad through his nonprofit Eye Foundation of America, believes in what he calls a stitch in time saves nine.
Rajiv Kumar, a scientist at the National Institute of Health in Washington D.C., got pecuniary help for his studies while growing up in Lucknow, and also a fellowship for his Ph.D.
Floyd Cardoz, an international restaurateur and the first chef to bring the sweep and balance of his native Indian cooking to fine dining in the United States, died on Tuesday at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, N.J. He was 59. The cause was the coronavirus, his family said.
Since the coronavirus (COVID-19) health scare began creeping into America earlier this year, Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN has been a fixture on the cable television, as he broke down the virus, its symptoms and the precautions, preventions and cure. Now, as the full blown pandemic has completely changed the way Americans lead their lives, there are several Indian Americans who have come into national and international limelight.
Having told their populations that wearing masks was all but useless against the coronavirus, several Western countries have performed dramatic U-turns in the last few days.
Layoffs are increasing almost daily as businesses are made to shut down because of the deadly infection, prompting people to seek unemployment benefits. Blue-collar employees, including domestic workers, food and hospitality workers, home health aides, taxi drivers and nail and hair salon industry workers, many of whom are South Asians, are desperately looking for financial help from any quarter possible to be able to put food on the table and save their families.
Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant is no stranger to controversy or contradiction. And she’s stirring the pot yet again. This time it’s on an issue that’s way out of her jurisdiction — India’s Citizenship Amendment Act. Sawant’s outcry of concern, and that of others, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), is not only misguided, but heartless.
I worked for India’s UID (unique identification) project in 2009-10 when the decision was made to rename it ‘Aadhaar.’ That word stands for foundation, support, etc. in several Indian languages, and aptly conveyed the project’s spirit of inclusion. It is during that tenure that I came face to face with the extreme sensitivity of the Northeast, Assam in particular, to illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Having told their populations that wearing masks was all but useless against the coronavirus, several Western countries have performed dramatic U-turns in the last few days.
I worked for India’s UID (unique identification) project in 2009-10 when the decision was made to rename it ‘Aadhaar.’ That word stands for foundation, support, etc. in several Indian languages, and aptly conveyed the project’s spirit of inclusion. It is during that tenure that I came face to face with the extreme sensitivity of the Northeast, Assam in particular, to illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Prof. Ashutosh Varshney, an expert on ethnic and religious conflict, has warned that if India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is implemented, it would render a large number of Indian Muslims stateless and take away their basic rights.
Anurima Bhargava, a longtime human rights activist and only the second Hindu American to serve as a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has said that India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is “troubling” and could result in the “disenfranchisement” of India’s minority Muslim populace.
India's central bank cut interest rates sharply Friday as the coronavirus outbreak deepens fears for Asia's third largest economy, which was already battling a prolonged slowdown.
Layoffs are increasing almost daily as businesses are made to shut down because of the deadly infection, prompting people to seek unemployment benefits. Blue-collar employees, including domestic workers, food and hospitality workers, home health aides, taxi drivers and nail and hair salon industry workers, many of whom are South Asians, are desperately looking for financial help from any quarter possible to be able to put food on the table and save their families.
Dressed in colorful costumes, students from dance schools in N.Y. and N.J., presented folk, classical, fusion and Bollywood dance forms at “Dance Pe Chance,” FIA’s annual dance competition, at the Patriot Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, N.J., Jan. 25.
Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in at the Woodbridge Center Mall in Woodbridge, N.J., Sept. 2. Highlights of the festival include daily aarti, cultural programs and celebrity sightings.
Nitin Nohria has agreed to remain as dean of Harvard Business School (HBS) through the end of December. The decision was made in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the “historic global upheaval” and “uncertainty” it has caused.
A 22-year-old Harvard medical student, daughter of Indian Immigrants from Bangalore, has launched an initiative to help immigrants fight the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., by providing them a multi-lingual factsheet about when and how to seek medical help and the general do’s and don’ts to keep safe. Pooja Chandrashekar, a first-year medical student at Harvard Medical School.
Los Angeles-based vocalist Aditya Prakash has recently released his new album “Diaspora Kid,” a reference to his cross-cultural upbringing in Los Angeles, California.
President Trump said Feb. 21 it was "great” that a new romantic comedy produced in India features gay characters less than a year and a half after homosexuality was decriminalized in that country. Trump retweeted the announcement from Peter Tatchell, a gay rights activist, who wrote, “A new #Bollywood rom-com featuring a gay romance is hoping to win over older people, following the decriminalization of homosexuality. Hurrah!”
