Author: Joel Williams

  • California governor closes schools for the remainder of the year

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    On April 1, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced that schools would remain physically closed for the remainder of the academic year. Prior to the announcement, schools were closed statewide as a result of Newsom’s shelter-in-place order beginning March 20. Local school officials were responsible for determining school closures before the March 20 order. Nine…

  • Florida governor issues stay-at-home order

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    On April 1, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. DeSantis' order is effective from April 2 through April 30. It does not impact schools in the state, which were already closed through May 1. Thirty-five states have…

  • Florida governor issues stay-at-home order

    Posted on

    On April 1, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. DeSantis' order is effective from April 2 through April 30. It does not impact schools in the state, which were already closed through May 1. Thirty-five states have…

  • States have issued 758 executive orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic

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    As of March 31, governors and state agencies have issued 758 executive orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Executive orders are orders issued by a state's executive branch that do not require legislative approval and are typically based on constitutional or statutory authority. The three states with the most executive orders so far are…

  • Thirty states have issued stay-at-home orders so far

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    As of March 31, 30 of the 50 states have issued stay-at-home orders to residents. Although the names of the orders—shelter-in-place, stay-at-home, stay home, stay safe—vary from state to state, they include at least two common elements: the closure of nonessential businesses and requesting all residents to stay home except for essential trips. California was…

  • Tennessee governor issues stay-at-home order

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    On March 30, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. Lee's order is effective from March 31 through April 14. Schools are scheduled to remain closed through April 24. Twenty-eight states have issued stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders to…

  • Virginia governor issues stay-at-home order

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    On March 30, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. Northam's order took effect immediately and will remain in place until June 10. It does not impact the state's schools, which Northam closed for the academic year on…

  • Maryland governor issues stay-at-home order

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    On March 30, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. Hogan's order took effect immediately and will remain in place until the state's declared state of emergency is over. The order defines essential activities as trips for supplies…

  • Virginia closes schools for the remainder of the school year

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    Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced that all schools statewide would remain closed for the rest of the school year due to the coronavirus outbreak. This was an extension of a previous order on March 13 when Northam ordered all schools to close from March 16 to March 27. Virginia became the second state to…

  • Biden leads in Democratic pageviews for second consecutive week

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    Each week, we report the number of pageviews received by 2020 presidential campaigns on Ballotpedia. These numbers reflect the time investments of our community of thousands of readers who visit a Ballotpedia because they think the candidate is worth knowing more about, whether they believe the candidate has a strong chance of winning or is…