Nation

Most backcountry skiers don’t want more people crowding their coveted locations, stealing the good turns. But that’s what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sport’s slow rise in popularity exploded as active Coloradans sought out new adventures away from civilization.

While Missouri’s urban counties remain roughly consistent (34-36%) across percentage of population vaccinated, it’s feast or famine for many rural areas. Some jurisdictions are vaccinating over one-third of their population while others struggle to reach double digits. Blackford’s Nodaway County is one of the success stories. Ten days after Parson’s announcement, a collaboration among Northwest Missouri State University, the Mosaic Medical Center and the Nodaway County Health Department administered over 700 first-dose vaccines to Phase 1B candidates.

The SELA Collaborative has now vaccinated more than 6,000 people and is one of several nonprofits in Los Angeles County playing a community-focused, often personalized, role in the distribution process. While getting shots into arms remains a massive government undertaking at every level, these organizations have operated in their respective areas for years — generations, in some cases — and their deep roots help them identify and address any vaccination barriers.

A play with no stage and no actors, telling its story with state-of-the-art audio and light displays, is one of the first shows to open in Manhattan since the pandemic started. Masked audience members are grouped in pairs, facing each other to create a "community dynamic," the director says.

During the pandemic, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ internship enhancement program saw the highest number of applications from international students and those from states other than California. The likely explanation: students not having to worry about L.A.’s cost of living or the expense of long-distance travel.