ALL ADULT Americans will be eligible for vaccination against the coronavirus in April 19
(Flickr/EpicTop10.com).

All American adults will be eligible to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on April 19, President Joe Biden announced today (Tuesday). That’s two weeks ahead of schedule.

According to the Associated Press, the president lauded the country’s success with vaccinations, but warned against complacency.

“Let me be deadly earnest with you: We aren’t at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still in a life-and-death race against this virus,” he said.

Factors complicating the battle against COVID-19 are the development of variants of the virus, “virus fatigue” in which people get tired of wearing masks and socially distancing and fear of side effects from the inoculations.

According to The New York Times, new cases have risen by 20 percent – that’s 76,624 people – over the last two weeks. Deaths, however, are down by 24 percent. It’s estimated that 19 percent of all adult Americans are fully vaccinated, while a third – 33 percent – have had at least one “jab.”

News: No tears for tiers in California

California will be dropping its tier system soon and will “open up” the state by June 15 is the supply of vaccines stays on track, it was announced on Tuesday. According to USA Today, many “everyday activities” will be green-lighted and businesses will open their doors, with customers and staff protected by “common-sense risk-reduction measures.”

Business: Tax us, says Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

Should the federal government raise the corporate tax rate on big multinational corporations to pay for expensive infrastructure projects? Yes, says Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com Inc.  “We support the Biden administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure,” said Bezos is a blog post on Tuesday. President Joe Biden this week singled out Amazon as one big firm worth billions of dollars that did not pay any income tax in 2017 and 2018.

What goes up … Must come down. After a few days of optimism and rising stock prices, Wall Street investors retreated a bit on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Average fell 96.95 points to 33,430.24. The S&P 500 dropped 3.97 points to 4,073.94 and the Nasdaq slipped 1.35 points to 13,698.38

Sports: MLB All-Star Game moves to Denver

The 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star game will be played in Denver this July, with the Colorado Rockies the host team at Coors Field. The game was originally planned for Atlanta, but MLB decided to move the game in response to a new state law in Georgia that critics say is intended to make it more difficult for African Americans to vote.

Supporters of the bill say that the bill is aimed at combating “voter fraud.”

Tuesday’s games:

• Dodgers 5. Oakland 1
• Houston 4, Angels 2
• Lakers 110, Toronto 101
• Clippers 133, Portland 116
• Ducks 5, San Jose 1

Weather: Sun making its return

We will be able to see a bit more blue sky Wednesday, as the clouds part and give West Orange County a sun shower. The daytime high is forecast to be 77 (overnight low of 54). Skies will be mostly sunny on Thursday with a high of 76 (53). Partly cloudy/mostly sunny conditions will continue through Friday and the weekend. In the coastal areas of Huntington Beach, it will be a bit more cloudy with daytime highs five to seven degrees cooler.