Tag Archives: face masks

FL Parents Fistfight After Mask Mandate Announced

Fort Myers’ NBC News affiliate reports: The Lee County School District will now require masks for teachers and students, eliminating the opt-out form. The school superintendent made the announcement Monday. At a workshop meeting Monday, Superintendent Ken Savage said the mandate will be reassessed after that 30 days. “To those that are angry with this decision today, I will likely …

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Education Department Opens Civil Rights Investigation Into Five Red States Over Bans On Masks In Schools

The Associated Press reports: The Education Department announced Monday that it’s investigating five Republican-led states that have banned mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions. The department’s Office for Civil Rights sent letters to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. Those states have barred schools …

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Court Smacks Down FL’s Ban On School Mask Mandates

The Washington Post reports: A Florida judge ruled Friday that the state overstepped its authority in restricting school districts from enacting mask mandates after parents sued officials amid a surge of coronavirus infections. Judge John Cooper of Florida’s Second Circuit sided with parents from six Florida counties who challenged Ron DeSantis (R) and state education officials in court this week, …

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IL Gov Orders Indoor Mask Mandate, Vax For Educators

The Chicago Tribune reports: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubled down Thursday on his efforts to deal with a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic’s delta variant as schools reopen by requiring all educators from kindergarten through college to be vaccinated along with higher education students and all health care workers in the state. Additionally, Pritzker imposed a statewide mandate requiring the …

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FAA Fines Mask Refuser $17,000 For Disrupting Flight

The Charlotte Observer reports: A woman who was kicked off her flight to Charlotte in February for drinking alcohol, trying to vape and refusing to wear a mask has been hit with a $17,000 fine by the Federal Aviation Administration. The woman was flying from Key West, Fla., to Charlotte on a Republic Airways flight on Feb. 28, according to …

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Sponsor Drops Schwarzenegger For Pro-Mask Stance

The Hill reports: A bodybuilding sponsor has dropped actor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a spokesperson over his recent rant against anti-maskers. A spokesperson for the sports supplement company REDCON1 told The Hill that they chose to discontinue their partnership with the former California governor because of his “anti-America” comments, also pulling out of the Schwarzenegger bodybuilding event next month. “We elected …

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FL To Withhold Salaries Of Pro-Mask School Officials

The Miami Herald reports: Broward County and Alachua County school board members who voted to impose a mask mandate could start losing their monthly pay as soon as next week unless they reverse their policy. Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran on Friday issued the warning, saying he would begin withholding an amount equal to their salaries each month until they …

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Texas Ends Battle Against Masks In Schools (For Now)

Politico reports: Enforcement in the state’s public school systems of Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates has been dropped, for now, the Texas Education Agency said late Thursday. In a public health guidance letter, the TEA said enforcement was being dropped because of ongoing court challenges to the ban. The letter said the new guidance is effective immediately and …

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Two Anti-Maskers Busted In Nashville Airport Incidents

USA Today reports: Two people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after reportedly refusing authorities said they refused to wear masks aboard flights at Nashville International Airport. One passenger disrupted a Spirit Airlines flight Monday by refusing to wear a mask and calling the flight crew “vulgar names,” an arrest affidavit showed. The passenger was denied further travel with …

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Chicago Reinstates Indoor Mask Mandate For Everyone

From the city of Chicago: The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced today that it will re-institute a face mask mandate for all indoor public settings as the average number of new daily cases of COVID-19 in Chicago surpasses 400. All individuals aged 2 and over, regardless of their vaccination status, will be required to wear a mask as …

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TSA To Extend Transport Mask Mandate Thru Jan. 18th

Reuters reports: President Joe Biden’s administration plans to extend requirements for travelers to wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at airports and train stations through Jan. 18 to address ongoing COVID-19 risks, three sources told Reuters. Major U.S. airlines were informed of the planned extension on a call with the TSA and CDC on Tuesday, the three people …

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Tennessee Gov Orders Mask Opt-Out For Students

The Tennessean reports: Gov. Bill Lee on Monday announced he is issuing an executive order requiring schools to allow parents to exempt their children from mask mandates, a decision that follows an outcry from some conservative legislators over districts’ masking policies for students. While the governor’s new Executive Order 84 addresses a key concern raised by many House and some …

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AL Rep Wants To Defund Schools With Mask Mandates

The Birmingham News reports: An Alabama lawmaker says he will propose legislation to prohibit school systems from mandating that students in K-12 public schools wear masks to guard against the spread of COVID-19. Rep. Andrew Sorrell, R-Muscle Shoals, said it should be up to parents whether their children wear masks at school. He said he is sponsoring the bill at …

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TX Supreme Court Sides With Gov On Masks In Schools

The Austin Statesman reports: The Texas Supreme Court stepped in Sunday evening to block lower-court orders that had allowed Dallas and San Antonio to impose mask mandates in defiance of an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott. The action voided temporary restraining orders, issued by separate District Court judges and upheld Friday by two intermediate appellate courts, that halted enforcement …

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Arizona Schools Sue GOP Gov Over Mask Mandate Ban

Phoenix’s NBC News affiliate reports: A coalition of Arizona school entities filed a lawsuit against the state’s ban on mask mandates in the classroom on Friday. The lawsuit states that the mask mandate ban pushed by Gov. Doug Ducey undermines the rights of school children in the state and was passed illegally. The Arizona School Boards Association, the Children’s Action …

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FL Lawyers Argue Parents Have No Standing On Masks

The Palm Beach Post reports: Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis asked a judge Friday to throw out a lawsuit by parents in a half-dozen Florida counties challenging the state’s ban on mandatory masks in school. Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper set a hearing date for next week on the proposed dismissal, a first step before any discussion of the …

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Delta Variant Spurs Surge In Online Sales Of Masks

CNN Business reports: Sales of reusable face masks, which had started to cool down earlier in the summer, have reversed course as the Delta variant spreads across the United States. Weekly mask sales in dollars had been declining in June and into July, according to Adobe Analytics’ Digital Economy Index, which tracks sales data directly from a majority of the …

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Ingraham: The Purpose Of Masks Is To “Terrify Kids”

“They’d do this even if everyone was vaccinated. They’d do it in states where they control every aspect of government. They’d do it, and they’d do much more, if there were no Republicans at all. “Why? Because their agenda is based on fear. Sure, fear of COVID, but fear of climate change, fear of capitalism, fear of standards, fear of …

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TX Gov Vows To Sue Schools For Violating Mask Ban

Bloomberg News reports: Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott escalated the fight over his ban on local face mask rules, vowing along with his attorney general Wednesday to drag into court “any school district, public university or local government official that decides to defy” the governor. But even as the two said they would immediately ask a state appeals court to …

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Schwarzenegger To Anti-Maskers: Screw Your Freedom

The Hill reports: Arnold Schwarzenegger has a message for Americans who argue that face masks encroach on their rights: “Screw your freedom.” “Because with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities,” the Republican former California governor said in a YouTube video released Wednesday. “We cannot just say, ‘I have the right to do X, Y and Z.’ When you affect other people, …

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