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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. Fast vaccine Spring breakers hit with rollout hits extended curfew

Pointing to more than 1,000 arrests in one of the nation’s some snags top party spots, Miami Beach officials warned yesterday that the unruly spring break Too high a demand crowd gathering by the thou- sands, fighting in the streets, destroying restaurant proper- created in some states ty and refusing to wear masks has become a serious threat to By Carla K. Johnson and Nicky Forster public safety. Associated Press During a last-minute meet- Despite the clamor to speed up the U.S. vaccina- ing yesterday, city officials tion drive against COVID-19 and get the country voted to extend an unusual 8 back to normal, the first three months of the p.m. curfew for another week rollout suggest faster is not necessarily better. along famed South Beach, A surprising new analysis found that states with the possibility of extend- such as South Carolina, Florida and Missouri ing it well into April if needed. that raced ahead of others to offer the vaccine Full story, Page A2 to ever-larger groups of people have vaccinated smaller shares of their population than those that moved more slowly and methodically, such as Hawaii and Connecticut. SPRINGFIELD The explanation, as experts see it, is that the rapid expansion of eligibility caused a surge in AIC hockey demand too big for some states to handle and triumphs again led to serious disarray. Vaccine supplies proved insufficient or unpredictable, websites crashed American International Col- and phone lines became jammed, spreading con- lege sophomore Chris Theo- fusion, frustration and resignation among many dore used his skate to settle a people. loose puck with two seconds “The infrastructure just wasn’t ready. It kind of left, then fired it past Canisius backfired,” said Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, an infectious goaltender Jacob Barczewski disease physician and health data specialist at for the winning goal in the the University of Minnesota’s School of Public American Hockey Association Health. She added: “In the rush to satisfy ev- championship game Saturday eryone, governors satisfied few and frustrated at the MassMutual Center. many.” The Yellow Jackets will face The findings could contain an important go- North Dakota at 9:30 p.m. slow lesson for the nation’s governors, many of Friday in the Fargo (North Da- David Gruel stands in front of the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, whom have announced dramatic expansions in kota) Regional of the NCAA Florida, on July 29, the day before NASA’ s Perseverance rover mission launch. their rollouts over the past few days after being Division I tournament. challenged by President Joe Biden to make all Full story, Page A7 PASADENA, CALIF. adults eligible for vaccination by May 1. “If you’re more targeted and more focused, you can do a better job,” said Sema Sgaier, executive SEE VACCINE, PAGE A6 BUSINESS MONDAY Mars explorer February

home sales hit BRIMFIELD 17-year high Lead engineer on NASA’s Perseverance rover Single-family home sales last month sold at a pace not mission started at Holyoke Community College Flea market’s seen for 17 years in Massa- chusetts and the median sale By Laurie Loisel price has now been above Special to The Republican fate undecided $400,000 for a year. ot many Full story, Page B1 people Vendors, town clash over police, can say bylaw changes WEATHER they’ve By Heather Morrison worked on [email protected] Mostly sunny. every U.S.-led rover Nicholas Burns and his family lost out on 63°; 29° N High: Low: $150,000 last year as one of the many vendors mission to Mars. One EXPANDED WEATHER, B4 and operators that were unable to do business at who can is David C. the Brimfield Flea Market due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gruel, a Westfield “We had to take a loan out,” Burns said, adding native and Holyoke that prior to the pandemic his family was expect- 7+(67$1'$5' Community College ing to finally pay off the field they had purchased. “It was just a rough year.” graduate. The fate of the market, which typically happens )257+( Five years out of HCC, the This image, Dave Gruel’s favorite, was returned on Sol0 on the on dates in May, July and September, is still unde- 1991 graduate was part of first day on the surface of Mars. It was captured by one the EDL cided for this year and that’s not the only hurdle. ,1'8675< the Pathfinder mission that (Entry, Descent, Landing) cameras Gruel installed on the rover. Many vendors and field operators are opposing landed the Sojourner rover on It was taken by a Descent Stage camera looking down at the proposed bylaw changes by the town that include Mars, the second Mars mis- rover moments before landing. specific fines ranging from $25 to $200. AUTO BODY sion since the Viking became “Can you throw any more bull at a bunch of the first-ever U.S. mission to Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, High School, Gruel spent small business owners after the year that we’ve Mars in 1975. Sojourner had and Perseverance NASA rover more energy stocking grocery had?” asked Cara Marcoux, owner of Juniper limited movement when com- missions. store shelves, tending to the Vintage. “Maybe wait a little bit longer. Maybe pared to other rovers (most Considering that Gruel car those earnings bought don’t try to push anything through without input INDEX recently Perseverance) that falls into a category of people him, and socializing with his because we need someone to throw us a bone.” travel across the planet, but it for whom the maxim “It’s friends than on academics. Brimfield’s Board of Selectmen met last Monday Business B1 Obituaries A5 was a milestone nonetheless. not rocket science” most “I was looking for the easy night and discussed the bylaw changes. Classified B3 Opinion A4 “Pathfinder was the return definitely does not apply, the road out at all times,” he One of the additions to the bylaws would be Comics B6 Puzzles B8 to the red planet some 20 50-year-old is modest, candid admits. adding that “failure to display the vendor permit Dear Abby B8 Sports A7 years after Viking,” he said. about high school years as After graduation, when will result in a $25 non-criminal fine issued to the Legals B3 Television B4 It launched in December an avid underachiever. He is many of his friends headed off vendor.” Another change adds a $50 fee if it is 1996, landing on Mars in July equally clear about the role to four-year colleges, Gruel determined that “an owner/operator has allowed of 1997. HCC played in putting him continued working in the the subletting of one space for multiple vendors.” After that, through his job as on a path to a career in rocket grocery store. Further, if that action continues the field operator an engineer at the Jet Propul- science. In fact, he flat out de- “And then I realized I need- could lose their license. sion Laboratory in Pasadena, clares that if not for HCC, he ed a different challenge in The bylaws might seem simple but those in- California, Gruel was among wouldn’t be where he is today. life,” he said. volved in the show say they’re not. Sometimes, the crews working on the As a student at Westfield SEE ROVER, PAGE A6 SEE BRIMFIELD, PAGE A2 March 22, 2021 8:48 am (GMT -4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA The Republican - 03/22/2021 A6 | MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2021 %%SATFOL-%%3MONTH%%2DATENATION Page : A06 THE REPUBLICAN | MASSLIVE.COM

Rover MASSACHUSETTS CORONAVIRUS CASE TRACKER Deaths Tested Positives US deaths US positives CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 16,531 18,008,712 579,580 29,813,500 That’s how he ended up at 542,337

Holyoke Community Col- Last update: March 21, 2021 | Sources: Massachusetts Department of Public Health; Johns Hopkins University lege – and why the school has earned his never-ending gratitude. Despite a less than stellar Vaccine high school transcript, he CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 knew HCC “would actually give me a chance,” said Gruel. director of Surgo Ventures, “HCC was there to give peo- a nonprofit health-data ple a second chance.” organization that conducted Once enrolled, encouraged the analysis in collaboration by his professors, he buckled with The Associated Press. down. He believes he had a “You can open it up — if you better academic experience at have set up the infrastructure HCC than he would have had to vaccinate all those people he attended a four-year pro- fast.” gram right out of high school. Numerous factors stymied “The classes were small and state vaccination perfor- the teachers actually cared mance. Conspiracy theories, about you,” he said. “I still poor communication and have an incredible memo- undependable shipments Army health specialists fill syringes with the Pfizer COVID-19 ry of the math and physics slowed efforts after the first vaccine March 9 in Miami. Despite the clamor to speed up professors at HCC, and it was vials of precious vaccine the U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19, the first three mutual. They went out of their arrived Dec. 14. months of the rollout suggest faster is not necessarily better. way to know their students But the size of the eligible (MARTA LAVANDIER / ASSOCIATED PRESS) and to figure out where they population was always within could help.” the control of state officials, suburban St. Louis, drove March, but the state started It was not easy. He worked who made widely varying de- about 30 people to often slow and built its capacity Dave Gruel, in his work clothes, takes a selfie at the Jet Propul- two jobs while a full-time cisions about how many peo- out-of-the way vaccination before expanding eligibility. sion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, with the Perseverance HCC student, sometimes ple they invited to get in line events after the state opened Similarly, Alaska main- rover behind him in November 2019. studying while logging third when there wasn’t enough eligibility to those 65 and old- tained a high vaccination rate shift at a gas station. vaccine to go around. er Jan. 18 and then expanded with a smaller eligible popu- “I was willing to work at it, himself changing those plans boys, Dylan, 14, and Ethan, 11. When the drive began, further. lation, then threw shots open but there were people who when offered a job that was so (Who also love Legos, as well most states put health care “We went from needing to to everyone 16 and older were willing to support me enticing. as watching mission launches workers and nursing home vaccinate several hundred March 9. This big increase in and that’s what I needed,” he “The challenge of JPL mas- with their father.) residents at the front of the thousand people in the St. eligible adults near the end of said. sively dwarfed the benefits Typically, once a mission line. In doing so, states were Louis area to an additional the period studied led the AP Gruel graduated with hon- of being in New England,” he has landed, Gruel’s role slows abiding by national recom- half-million people, but we and Surgo Ventures to omit ors and an associate degree in said. down quite a bit, but the Per- mendations from experts still hadn’t vaccinated that Alaska from the analysis. engineering, an accomplish- Gruel’s role in the last two severance landing in February who also suggested doing first group, so it has been this The analysis found that ment he remains proud of to Mars missions was to lead 2021 was different because he everything possible to reach mad dash,” Bergamini said. as of March 10, Hawaii had this day. the team known as ATLO, had installed a camera system everyone in those two groups “It has just been a whole hot the lowest percentage of its “This was something I had (“I’m the boss man,” he says to take video and still images before moving on to the next mess.” adult population eligible for done for myself and I had cheerfully.) ATLO stands for of the descent, and he was categories. “It got a little chaotic,” said vaccination, at about 26%. earned it,” he said. Assembly, Test and Launch responsible for it. But faced with political Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief Yet Hawaii had administered It also earned him accep- Operations. Essentially, the “Even after we launched, I pressure and a clamor from medical officer of the Associ- 42,614 doses per 100,000 tance at Rensselaer Polytech- team takes all the parts for the was still intimately involved in the public, governors rushed ation of State and Territorial adults, the eighth-highest nic Institute in Troy, New rover and its spacecraft – tens making sure that system was ahead. Both the outgoing Health Officials. “We created rate in the country. York, where he found he had of thousands of them – and going to function,” he said. Trump administration and far more demand than there Thirty percent of Connecti- an affinity for engineering. assembles them. “We continued to do testing the incoming Biden team was supply. That stressed the cut’s adult population was eli- And here is where his humility “We get delivered to us a on it to make sure it would urged opening vaccinations system and that may have left gible as of the same date, and rears its head again. bunch of intricate Legos,” is reach its full potential and to older Americans. the system less efficient.” it had administered doses at “A lot of things went my how Gruel puts it. it sure did. The images were By late January, more than Plescia said the analy- the fourth-highest rate in the way,” he said. “In addition to Next the team conducts amazing.” half the states had opened sis suggests that “a more country. working hard, there’s a lot of endless tests to simulate The images captured the up to older adults — some 75 methodical, measured, In contrast, Missouri had luck involved in where we end launch, touchdown, and spacecraft’s descent and land- and above, others 65 and up. judicious, priority-based the largest percentage of its up in our lives.” the harsh conditions on the ing, including video of the That’s when the real prob- approach — despite people’s adult population eligible at In his senior year at RPI, he ground. “So when it’s cruising rover setting down on Mars lems started. perception — actually can be about 92%. Yet Missouri had learned that two friends who from Earth to Mars, it works and kicking up dust. “We South Carolina expanded as efficient, or more efficient, dispensed 35,341 doses per also had gone to HCC were as designed,” he said. joked it was kind of like our eligibility to people in Steven than opening things up and 100,000 adults, ranking 41st doing co-op semesters in the To simulate launch the selfie cam,” he said. Kite’s age group Jan. 13. Kite, making it available to more among the states. field working at engineering machine goes into a large vibe In 1998, Gruel returned to 71, immediately booked a people.” Seven states in the bottom jobs. He decided to pursue table; to mimic the Mars envi- HCC was the recipient of a vaccination at a hospital. But In retrospect, health work- 10 for overall vaccination one, landing a co-op place- ronment it goes into a vacuum Distinguished Service Award the next day, his appointment ers and nursing home resi- performance — Georgia, ment at the prestigious Jet chamber that gets as cold as at Commencement and de- was canceled along with dents were the easy groups Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Propulsion Laboratory in the red planet itself. livered the keynote address, thousands of others because to vaccinate. Doses could be Mississippi, South Carolina California, a federally funded From mission start to land- an invitation he seems to still of a shortage of vaccine. delivered to them where they and Missouri — had larg- research and design center ing, it takes about six to eight find hard to believe to this day. “It was frustrating at first,” lived and worked. er-than-average shares of managed by Cal-Tech, with years, he said. And timing “I spoke at Commence- Kite said. After a week of “We knew where they were their residents eligible for the vast majority of its fund- is everything: Because the ment! Me, a flunkie out of uncertainty, he rescheduled. and we knew who they were,” shots. ing and contract work coming planets align every 26 months high school!” He and his wife are now vac- Wurtz said. As soon as states Among high-performing from NASA. in a way that creates opti- It’s a fact he mentions not cinated. “It ended up working went beyond those popula- states, five in the top 10 for Gruel thought the expe- mal conditions for Earth to to boast, but rather to inspire. out fine. I know they’ve had tions, it got harder to find the high vaccination rates — rience would spice up his Mars travel, all assembly and If there’s anything he hopes other problems. The delivery right people. Nursing home New Mexico, North Dakota, resume by adding that he testing must be fully complete people take away from his sto- of the doses has been very residents live in nursing Connecticut, Wyoming and worked on a team designing when that time comes. ry, it’s that they should never unreliable.” homes. People 65 and older Hawaii — stuck with more interplanetary spacecraft - lit- “The schedule pressure is underestimate their potential, In Missouri, big-city short- live everywhere. restrictive eligibility. Another tle did he know it would lead intense. We need to get our even if they’ve had trouble ages sent vaccine seekers West Virginia bucked the two high-performing states to his life’s work. testing done and our design living up to it. driving hundreds of miles trend with both high num- from the top 10 — South After eight months, he went done in order for it to be ready “When you as a person to rural towns. Dr. Elizabeth bers of eligible residents and Dakota and Massachusetts back to RPI to finish school to launch,” he said. make a decision to do some- Bergamini, a pediatrician in high vaccination rates in early — were about average in how and graduate. Once on the In addition to finding a thing, the sky opens up,” he job market, the Jet Propulsion career at JPL, Gruel met his says. “The sky is no longer the Lab was among the job offers wife, Danelle, there, when she limit.” he received and though he al- was working in the finance And that’s coming from ways imagined settling down division, though now she someone who knows how to in New England, he found stays home with their two get to Mars.   
 March 22, 2021 8:49 am (GMT -4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA WASHINGTON    
Congress revives earmarks in hope of bipartisan deals on infrastructure, budgets  
  

 
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corruption and wasteful so far not been inclined to capitol or Washington,” he spending, Congress took a negotiate deals with the Biden said.    
   major step a decade ago by administration. The long slog on crafting a banning earmarks — spe- Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., massive infrastructure bill,

  cial budget items that allow chairman of the House Trans- however, is just beginning members to funnel money to portation and Infrastructure and could last through the   projects in their districts. Committee, met Friday after- summer. And there are al- &DOO But now, amid a narrowly noon with the top Republican ready signs that the two sides (QUROO Now divided Congress and Pres- on the panel as a first step may end up in a deadlock and Today      
ident Joe Biden’s desire to toward restarting their use. that, rather than a bipartisan 
 
  pursue a sweeping legislative “I never understood why the package, Democrats might agenda, earmarks are back. Republicans did away with resort to a budgetary process Leaders in both major them,” DeFazio said in an in- that allows them to pass the      
   political parties took steps terview Friday before he met legislation on a simple majori- this month to allow limit- with Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo. ty vote in the Senate. / "#/
 /  /&(/''&!%*$%*/ ed earmarks on spending Over the weekend, advisers In particular, Republicans legislation, opening the door to DeFazio and Graves report- are leery of what type of taxes    
   to the sort of horse-trading ed that their Friday afternoon and revenue-raising devices that Democrats hope could meeting was a productive con- Democrats are considering to lead to GOP support for versation, and that no final de- finance a legislative package Biden initiatives on issues cisions have been made about that could top $1 trillion, all 
        ranging from infrastructure how to handle the earmarks. while the House has its lowest to the annual federal agency DeFazio is making the case level of bipartisan trust in de- ($ &/ )/ &($ (! / 
     
      funding bill. that these projects allow cades after the Jan. 6 insurrec- The early jockeying has be- Republicans have a stronger tion at the Capitol. gun: Senior Democrats have hand in determining how “It’s going to be tough,
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launched talks with Repub- federal money gets distribut- because it’s such a partisan 3148814-01  
   
 
 
      
 licans about including small ed in their districts, a lure to atmosphere,” said William 
      spending projects for their get GOP support. “Members Shuster, R-Pa.