Headlines:
• School mask mandate takes effect: The order issued by acting Health Secretary Alison Beam requires students and staff to wear masks indoors. (Source: WGAL) Some parents and Republican lawmakers have filed a lawsuit challenging Beam's authority. (Source: ABC 27) York County's district attorney says the mandate's criminal provisions are unenforceable. (Source: CBS 21)
• Mandate on Pa. state employees takes effect: Starting today, all staff at hospitals, veterans centers, prisons and other congregate facilities must either be vaccinated against Covid-19 or be tested weekly. (Source: ABC 27)
• Lancaster city ahead of many peers in lead abatement: The city has remediated three dozen homes so far using a U.S. Housing & Urban Development grant. About half the other municipalities awarded grants through the same program have yet to remediate even one residence, HUD says. (Source: LNP)
• Pa. to refund unemployment recipients $19 million: The refunds are due to the state overcharging about 110,000 people for interest payments on excess unemployment benefits they were required to return. (Source: Spotlight PA)
• National/world roundup: Taliban fires in air to disperse protesters, arrests journalists. (Source: AP) Climate change called greatest threat to world health. (Source: NPR) Justice Department pledges to defend reproductive rights. (Source: ABC News) El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as legal tender. (Source: UPI) 'The Wire' actor Michael K. Williams dead at 54. (Source: CBS News)
