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Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has issued an executive order banning the development or use of vaccine passports in Montana. Vaccine passports are documents that could be used to verify coronavirus immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine. The move by Gianforte on Tuesday comes as vaccine passports have drawn criticism as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices. Gianforte says in a statement that he encourages all Montana residents to get vaccinated but that it is “entirely voluntary.” (4/13)

Joanne Bennet eagerly slipped off the blue jacket covering her right arm so a nurse could inject a dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Bennet was all smiles, despite a dislike of needles, sitting in a chair in a community room of her own apartment building. “It’ll be nice to get back to a little bit of normal after being incarcerated,” said the 68-year-old resident of Bolton North apartments in Midtown Baltimore. “I call it incarcerated, but it was really me spending the past year in my apartment.” (Cohn, Miller and Mann, 4/14)

During his 39 years in prison, the closest Joseph Messere ever came to walking free was when he was intubated, unconscious, and dying of Covid-19. The opportunity pinged onto his attorney’s phone just before Christmas, in a series of voicemails from the Massachusetts Parole Board. (Boodman, 4/14)

Minnesota health officials are urging those who attended a recent youth wrestling tournament in South Dakota to get tested for COVID-19 after a number of wrestlers contracted the coronavirus. Officials have been concerned about youth sports fueling an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Positive infections have been found in 16 of the 2,000 wrestlers plus spectators from Minnesota who were in Sioux Falls for a state meet held by the Northland Youth Wrestling Association March 31-April 3, the Star Tribune reported. (4/13)