As of Wednesday, December 16, 2020, Montana reports 74,644 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 629 new cases reported in the last day: 99 in Gallatin County, 65 in Yellowstone County, 62 in Missoula County, 58 in Flathead County, 51 in Lewis & Clark County, 41 in Cascade County, 28 in Dawson County, and more new cases in 34 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 9,071. Statewide, 3,153 people have been hospitalized, and 311 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Yellowstone and Cascade Counties and in Flathead Counties. 836 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Ten more deaths have been reported in the last day. Nationwide, more than 308,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 17,000,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

The Montana Legislature will meet in person, defying pleas to meet remotely. Republican members of the Montana Legislature voted Wednesday to hold the upcoming four-month-long legislative session in person, with the option to participate remotely. The vote came after pleas from many in the Helena community to follow public health guidance discouraging large, in-person gatherings and to meet entirely virtually. The amendment to the rules that govern how the Legislature will function came from state Sen. Jason Ellsworth, a Republican from Hamilton. Lawmakers are sworn in Jan. 4 and the session lasts up to 90 days. The vote came from the Joint House and Senate Rules Committee and fell on party lines, with 21 Republicans for the proposal and 13 Democrats against it. Republican sophomore senator Ellsworth said, “I would imagine that we are going to have members who get sick,” adding that it’s possible lawmakers will die from holding the session with in-person participation. Ellsworth said his proposal will let people participate remotely if they want to and acknowledged that public health officials don’t support meeting in person.

Tyson Foods terminated seven employees from an Iowa pork plant following an independent investigation into allegations that management wagered on how many workers would get infected with Covid-19. All of those fired were plant management employees at the facility in Waterloo, Iowa. The wagering allegations, which stem from a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of deceased Tyson Foods Inc. employee, Isidro Fernandez, stated that plant management did not do enough to protect employees while Covid-19 rapidly spread through the facility in early April. According to the suit, 1,000 of 2,800 employees at the Waterloo plant were infected. The plant manager, according to the lawsuit, “organized a cash buy-in, winner-take-all betting pool for supervisors and managers to wager how many employees would test positive for COVID-19.”

The Cleveland Indians announced Monday that they will change the team’s century-old name to a “new, non-Native American” moniker. It is not yet clear what new name the franchise will use, but the team said the change will “unify our community and bring people together.” The American League club’s new name will become effective after this upcoming 2021 season. A number of sports teams are recognizing the cultural slurs identified with their names, and have moved to change them. The NFL team the Washington Redskins went on to make the change and is now playing under the name Washington Football Team. The name of Cleveland’s team has been in use since 1915. For years, it’d been accepted that the franchise was named in honor of 19th century Cleveland Spiders star Louis Sockalexis, who was Native American. A number of new names are gaining in popularity, including returning to the name the Cleveland Spiders, but I like a different one: Cleveland Rocks.