Memorial Day celebrations will look more like they used to this year, as falling COVID-19 cases and the easing of health restrictions nationwide will allow veterans and families to gather together to mark the day.
Why it matters: The start of the pandemic last spring restricted or even cancelled many of the events that traditionally take place around the country to pay tribute to fallen veterans.
From $1 million cash prizes to a free dinner with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, states and cities are offering incentives as part of their efforts to boost vaccination rates.
Driving the news: U.S. daily administered doses fell dramatically in late April and May, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Tens of thousands of people rallied in over 200 cities and towns across Brazil Saturday to protest President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed some 460,000 people in the country, per the Guardian.
The big picture: Bolsonaro has frequently downplayed the pandemic despite soaring cases, with hospitals overstretched. Saturday's protests, organized by leftist groups, remained peaceful in most cities, but police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators in Recife, northeast Brazil, Reuters notes.
Manufacturer Stetson announced Saturday it's pulling its products from a store in Nashville, Tennessee, which advertised the sale of "not vaccinated" Star of David patches for $5.
Driving the news: Protesters rallied outside Hatwrks Saturday, displaying signs with messages including "The Holocaust is not a marketing op."
Houston Methodist Hospital is being sued by 117 employees who allege its policy requiring all staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is unlawful, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
Why it matters: The lawsuit and similar legal challenges "could test whether employers can require employee vaccinations as the country navigates out of a pandemic that has killed nearly 600,000 Americans," WashPost notes.
Home caretakers and personal aides, who are overwhelmingly Latinas and Black women, are among the worst-paid workers in the U.S., even as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the value of their care.
Why it matters: Most home health aides have no benefits, like Medicaid, and earn $10 to $13 an hour on average, which they say barely covers the cost of traveling to and from their house calls.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Amgen's Lumakras drug as the first treatment for adult patients with a common form of lung cancer.
Why it matters: Non-small cell lung cancer with a specific mutation in a gene known as KRAS has been considered to be resistant to any sort of drug treatment, per the FDA. Lumakras was able to shrink the tumors of between 36% and 58% of patients studied.
Feeling stigmatized, threatened or discriminated against correlates with structural heart abnormalities in Latinos, according to a preliminary study.
Why it matters: Experts increasingly recognize the negative effects of discrimination on physical wellbeing, and the American Medical Association has identified racism as a public health threat.
The Transportation Security Administration on Friday screened nearly 2 million people across the U.S. as the Memorial Day weekend kicked off, setting a new air travel record since the start of the pandemic.
The big picture: TSA spokesperson Mark Howell told Axios in April that the agency had been preparing for a surge in summer travel since the beginning of the year. The agency said in February it was looking to hire 6,000 new officers by Memorial Day.
Many corporate boards made mid-pandemic changes to the intricate formulas that determine CEO pay, with directors declaring that COVID was an extraordinary event beyond executives' control, AP reports.
Why it matters: As a result, pay packages rose last year for CEOs of the biggest companies, even though the pandemic sent the economy to its worst quarter on record.
A team of researchers has collected an atlas of unique microorganisms found in the world's subways.
The big picture: While each city has its own unique microbial profile, they possess a distinct urban microbiome that reminds us that we share space not just with our fellow commuters, but vast numbers of bacteria and viruses.
The Biden administration filed a motion in federal court on Friday to dismiss a lawsuit looking to prevent the import of Canadian prescription drugs, which have lower prices because the country limits how much drugmakers can charge.
The state of play: By moving to toss the U.S. drug companies' lawsuit, the White House is siding with Florida and New Mexico, states that are applying to import Canadian prescriptions, Politico reports.
President Biden’s proposed 2022 budget lifts a decades-old ban on federal funding for most abortions.
The big picture: Presidential budgets rarely survive intact even with broad support within the party, but they are a reflection of a given administration’s priorities.
Why it matters: COVID-19 is a global pandemic, but the experience of it has been fractured by where people live, their race, their age, where they work and what their politics are — creating a challenge for those tasked with memorializing it.
