pandemic

School City of Mishawaka and Mishawaka Parks and Recreation announced Wednesday that they would use a government grant to target internet deserts in their community. That means free WiFi in city parks and for some families.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The Associated Press and other news organizations and publishers have no digital images from Saturday’s Notre Dame home game against Duke because of the school’s COVID-19 restrictions. Notre Dame did not allow independent photojournalists on the field or in the stands to photograph its opening game. The school used three photographers it employs to shoot images that will be uploaded to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s website.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Kyren Williams ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns in his first start, grad quarterback Ian Book threw for 263 yards and No. 10 Notre Dame beat Duke 27-13 on Saturday at rainy Notre Dame Stadium in the season and Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams. The speedy Williams, who saw limited action last season as a freshman, had 19 carries and also was Notre Dame's leading receiver with two receptions for 93 yards, one a 75-yarder in the first half.

Hoosiers across the state are receiving unsolicited absentee ballot applications in the mail from the Indiana Democratic and Republican parties.

The Indiana State Dept. of Health's latest COVID-19 testing figures show that on Thursday, Sept. 10th, the state hit a new all time high in positive coronavirus cases. 

1,282 new cases were reported. That is the highest daily number since the pandemic started. Ten new COVID-19 deaths were reported Thursday. The state's 7-day positivity rate for testing is 7%. 

Previously the highest number of cases reported on any given day in Indiana had been 1,279 cases on August 6th. 

Reeling from another crisis of his own making, President Donald Trump tried to refocus attention on his Democratic rival at a rally in battleground Michigan Thursday as he pushed to move past revelations that he purposefully played down the danger of the coronavirus last winter. But the virus controversy followed him as he faced new pushback from local officials worried about the growing size of his rallies and his campaign’s repeated flouting of public health guidelines intended to halt the COVID-19 spread. That includes Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who raised alarms about Thursday’s event. Trump, however, reveled in the crowd of several thousand, packed shoulder-to-shoulder in a cavernous airport hangar, mostly without masks.

According to the Michigan Secretary of State's office, more than 2.1 million Michigan voters had already requested absentee ballots by Tuesday, eight weeks ahead of the November 3 general election.

Ball State University is postponing all graduation ceremonies this year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The university previously postponed spring and summer commencement plans, rescheduling both for a ceremony on October 10.  Now Ball State president Geoffrey Mearns says that ceremony and one scheduled for December to honor winter graduates will not be held.

On a Friday evening in late June, Liliana Quintero received a call from one of the Spanish interpreters working at a COVID-19 testing site in Goshen, Indiana. The area has one of Indiana’s higher Latinx populations and higher rates of COVID-19 cases, according to state data.

Notre Dame has posted online what the university's policies will be as it relates to attendance at home football games this season during the pandemic. 

Notre Dame opens its season as an Atlantic Coast Conference football member against visiting Duke on Sept. 12. But the Fighting Irish won't face Navy for the first time in more than nine decades as part of the ACC's reconfigured schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. The league has set up a 10-game conference schedule that includes a nonconference game, though that game must be played in the member school's home state. The Fighting Irish and Midshipmen were scheduled to play for the 94th straight year. It was also set to be Notre Dame's first visit to Navy's home field.

Today via Twitter, Notre Dame released its football schedule for the 2020 season. 

Notre Dame will play in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, alterations brought on by the pandemic. The ACC's university presidents approved the plan for an 11-game schedule, including a nonconference game, and for pushing back the league championship game from Dec. 5 to either Dec. 12 or 19. Notre Dame will play in a football conference for the first time in the 133-year history of the program if the season is played. 

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s primary features a viable challenge to an incumbent congresswoman and campaigns for two U.S. House seats where a Republican and a former GOP member are retiring. Tuesday’s election, which is being marked by a surge of mail-in absentee ballots during the coronavirus pandemic, also will shape races in November for a couple of potentially competitive congressional districts that Democrats flipped in the midterm. Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones will have a one-on-one rematch after a close 2018 race.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two former Indiana lieutenant governors called for Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb to expand mail-in voting Friday as the coronavirus continues. Without a broad mail-in voting option, former Indiana lieutenant governors John Mutz and Kathy Davis said Friday that fewer voting locations and long lines at polls will further suppress minority, disabled and low-income voters. Mutz, a Republican who severed under former Gov.

Michigan emergency services say they have seen a “substantial increase” in opioid overdoses during the coronavirus pandemic. 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Officials in Indiana's second-largest county and one of the largest Indianapolis suburbs have adopted face mask mandates for residents and businesses in an attempt to slow the coronavirus spread. The mandates throughout northwestern Indiana's Lake County took effect Monday, while the order for the city of Fishers will take effect Friday. Mask requirements have previously been issued for the cities of Indianapolis, Evansville and West Lafayette, along with Monroe, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart and LaGrange counties.  Gov.

The Indiana State Department of Health reported 67 additional confirmed deaths over the last week, bringing the state’s total to 2,567. The state announced more than 51,000 total confirmed cases, with more than 564,000 Hoosiers tested.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana officials are showing no signs of slowing down school reopenings that are just weeks away even as the state has seen higher rates of people testing positive and being hospitalized for the coronavirus. Some Indiana school districts are poised to resume classes starting in late July under guidelines issued by state education officials last month. State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said Wednesday that it is important for education and mental health reasons that students return to schools.