Tide fan frenzy, valentine volunteers, ventilator theft: News from around our 50 states From USA TODAY Network and wire reports, USA TODAY
Alabama
Tuscaloosa: Thousands of excited football fans partied in streets around the University of Alabama after the Crimson Tide defeated Ohio State for the national championship, ignoring pleas for common sense and safety at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Students and others poured out of jam-packed bars near campus as time expired in Miami late Monday, gathering on University Boulevard in an area called “The Strip,” traffic cameras and images posted on social media show. Many of the fans screaming and cheering as they pressed against each other in the street didn’t wear face masks. The scene was exactly what officials feared before the game as they urged people to watch at home and celebrate privately. More than 5,300 people have died in Alabama from the illness caused by the coronavirus, and about 404,000 hav
They say hindsight is 2020 and that is definitely true as we’re all eager to put this disaster of a year in the dumpster and light it on fire.
While many of us remember way back in January feeling like 2020 would be our year we just couldn’t predict it would be our year of high unemployment, isolation, fear, sickness and uncertainties.
All we can hope for now is that 2021 will bring an end to this pandemic and that we’ve all learned some hard lessons we can take along with us in this uncertain future.
But before we move on, The Smoky Mountain News once again takes a look back to reflect on the last year of news it’s been a doozy. Some of the headlines that have graced our pages could pass for a satire headline from The Onion, but sadly, they’re all too real. However devastating and infuriating the news has been this year, it’s still important to find a little bit of humor in the absurd.
SETO Awards NREL To Pursue National Solutions in Solar Integration
Dec. 30, 2020
With funds awarded from the Department of Energy s Solar Energy Technologies Office, NREL will pursue projects designed to advance integration of solar energy.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been awarded a large share of funds from the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) 2020 funding program, receiving more than $9 million to study solar integration and reliability. Within the SETO-2020 program, and alongside a network of collaborators, NREL will lead three projects and support three others.
“Solar power has grown substantially on the electrical grid, and we expect that growth