pandemic

Kids are finally back to in-person school, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt learning. Cases are on the rise due to the highly contagious delta variant, which has also increased the number of youth hospitalizations.

Despite the surge, the vaccination rate for eligible children remains low. And a new study shows that it may not increase.

IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie is "in full crisis mode", says its leader.  Its affiliate hospitals in Jay and Blackford counties are in the same situation.  The reason: COVID-19 and its delta variant infecting, for the most part, unvaccinated people.

Dr. Jeffrey Bird, the president of IU Health East Central Region, says COVID-19 is the worst that it’s ever been here.  Yesterday, IU Health Ball was treating 104 COVID-19 positive patients.  These patients, Bird says, occupy approximately 40 percent of the hospital's beds.

A former University of Notre Dame student has filed a lawsuit against the school seeking a refund on tuition and fees for the Spring 2020 semester after classes were moved online due to the pandemic.

About 70 percent of Indiana schools had lower attendance rates in 2020-21 compared to the previous year, a sign of the toll that the fragmented education during the pandemic took on students.

At many schools the dip in attendance was modest. But at about 80 schools, attendance rates plummeted by more than 10 percentage points, according to preliminary data released last week by the Indiana Department of Education.

Over the years I grew tired of the not always faster Interstate highway route to see family on the west side of Saint Louis. On I-80 around Chicago, the Slinky-style traffic would have me in the driver’s seat shivering and levitating with frustration.Then there’s the lulling boredom of I-55, where one Illinois mile undulates as mildly and blandly as the next.

This last week I was finally let go from my job – not my regular 9 to 5 you understand, but from my side gig - as a personal shopper.   It was always for a very select clientele, mind you – just my parents-in-law and my mother.  But I did get to do it for an entire year.

This time last year, we were still Cloroxing Costco boxes and quarantining groceries in the garage. 

Don’t laugh. 

My wife returned from one Meier trip dressed like an extra from Lawrence of Arabia -- layer atop protective layer, scarf on mask, hands triple-gloved. 

She disrobed complicatedly and straight into the washing machine then ran to a scalding shower.

Though carbon emissions went down during Stay-At-Home orders last year, the pandemic may not have had as much of an effect on air quality in 2020 as we once thought. A professor at IUPUI says as restrictions lifted, carbon emissions went right back up.

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.

I got to play in the snow this week.  We got nineteen inches give or take eighty.  So I played in the snow but not in the fun way. I played in ‘the dog won’t go on her own and you don’t want her to pee on the porch” sort of way.  Our poor sedan that should be put out to pasture got stuck TWICE in one day.  I told my husband John to just leave it there with a ‘FREE PLEASE TAKE’ sign.   

Only 42 percent of Hoosiers have what is considered a good paying job according to a new report released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution. It details issues facing Indiana’s economy and what can be done to improve conditions.

WVPE's Kent Fulmer recently interviewed Kathy Schneider, who is the Executive Director of St. Margaret’s House in South Bend. They discussed how the organization is taking its annual 'Winter Walk' virtual this year, plus a whole host of other topics.

The number of Hoosiers who are members of labor unions is at its lowest point in two decades, even as workplace safety issues in the pandemic may be sparking more interest in organized labor.

A group of school choice bills are prompting lengthy and emotional debates about school funding at the Indiana Statehouse, with dozens of individuals and organizations testifying on the legislation at committee hearings Wednesday.

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.

Small businesses in Indiana are one step closer to having access to additional financial aid from the state. House Bill 1004, passed by the Indiana House Tuesday, will provide funds to help small businesses that have been hit hard during the pandemic.

Telehealth services temporarily expanded during the pandemic will be permanently expanded under legislation unanimously approved by the Indiana Senate Tuesday.

What does an entertainment journalist do when he can’t cover events? Seth Johnson talks about his experience learning new skills — including creating radio diaries for Side Effects — during the pandemic. Part 1 of our Move to Include series on how people with disabilities are coping during this nationwide public health crisis. 

Most Hoosiers value education beyond high school, according to an annual survey, but almost three-quarters believe financial strains from the COVID-19 pandemic pushed higher education further out of reach.

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating Indiana for how it has handled special education during the pandemic.

Indiana Republican legislative leaders aren’t totally sold on Gov. Eric Holcomb’s proposal to spend nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars this year to pay down state debt instead of direct relief for Hoosiers struggling during the pandemic.

Throughout the pandemic, federal estimates show about half of Hoosier employers told workers not to work at some point. But the U.S. Bureau Labor Statistics says a significant number still paid workers or kept paying health insurance premiums.