Posted By: Hewson Beattie May 11, 2021 @ 6:44 pm Local News, News
O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Tuesday filed a lawsuit challenging St. Louis County’s COVID-19 restrictions, citing concerns about their impact on religion, education and the freedom of residents.
The lawsuit filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court names Democratic County Executive Sam Page, the county’s health department and its director, Dr. Faisal Khan. It seeks an injunction to end the restrictions.
“From requiring a mask outdoors to subjecting citizens to government pre-approval for private events, enough is enough,” Schmitt said in a news release. “The seemingly unending control over people’s lives must end. Vaccines are widely available to all adults – it’s past time for St. Louis County to lift these restrictions, and that’s why I filed suit today.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The St. Louis area has had lower per-capita rates of virus-related admissions in other areas of Missouri, but it has been stricter with public health protocols.
Page, along with St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, elected to loosen some of the restrictions due to the state s expanded vaccine rollout earlier in May.
The city s and county s updated order kept indoor masking and outdoor social distancing but lifted outdoor masking, all curfews, and increased occupancy in gathering places.
Doug Moore, a spokesman for Page, defended the county s regulations, adding that Schmitt s lawsuit is politically motivated given the speculation around his potential Senate bid.
Capital reopening, free rides, vaccine theft: News from around our 50 states From USA TODAY Network and wire reports
Alabama
Montgomery: Gov. Kay Ivey will end the state’s participation in federal unemployment programs geared to the pandemic, including supplements to jobless benefits and a suspension of a work-search requirement. The state will withdraw from the program June 19, the governor’s office said in a statement Monday. Applications for the pandemic-related benefits will be processed until then. The decision means the state will withdraw from programs that provided an additional $300 weekly payment in unemployment insurance; extended benefits to self-employed, gig workers and part-time workers; extended benefits for those who’ve exhausted regular benefits; and provided an additional $100 benefit to people with mixed earnings. “Among other factors, increased unemployment assistance, which was meant to be a short-term relief program during emergency