US News Roundup: More infectious COVID-19 variant found in Florida: state officials; After a year like no other, New York's Times Square empties out on New Year's Eve and more

Local funding crisis threatens U.S. vaccine rollout Seattle public health officials have so little COVID-19 funding on hand they worry they will have to shut down some virus testing sites as they mount a campaign to dose their 2.3 million residents with Pfizer Inc's and Moderna Inc's vaccines.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

After a year like no other, New York's Times Square empties out on New Year's Eve

Only a handful of invited guests, including health care workers and others from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, will gather on Thursday evening in New York's Times Square to witness the dropping of the New Year's Eve ball, marking the end of a sobering 2020 and a hopeful start to 2021. For decades, tens of thousands of merrymakers -- many of them tourists -- have filled the blocks around Times Square on New Year's Eve, standing for hours in the cold waiting to see a glittering crystal ball glide down a pole mounted atop a skyscraper in the year's final seconds. When the ball reaches the bottom, the crowds erupt in hugs, kisses and good cheer.

More infectious COVID-19 variant found in Florida: state officials

A more infections variant of COVID-19 that has swept through the United Kingdom has been identified in Florida, state health officials said on Thursday, marking the third known U.S. state to identify such a case. The Florida Department of Health said the case involved a male in his 20s in Martin County with no history of travel. Two other cases involving the UK variant have been identified in Colorado and California.

U.S. Senator Perdue quarantines after coronavirus contact days before Georgia runoff vote

David Perdue, one of two Republican U.S. senators facing a runoff election next week, is quarantining after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, his campaign said on Thursday. Perdue was notified on Thursday he was in "close contact" with someone on his campaign who was infected with the virus, a campaign statement said, adding that Perdue and his wife tested negative. Trump extends immigration bans despite opposition from U.S. business groups

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday extended a pair of immigration bans that block many "green card" applicants and temporary foreign workers from entering the country, measures he says are needed to protect U.S. workers amid the pandemic-battered economy. The bans, which were issued in April and June, were set to expire on Dec. 31, but will be extended until March 31, 2021, the latest in a series of last-gasp immigration moves by the outgoing Trump administration. A broad range of businesses oppose the ban on certain foreign workers. U.S. vaccinations in 2020 fall far short of target of 20 million people

Only about 2.8 million Americans had received a COVID-19 vaccine going into the last day of December, putting the United States far short of the government's target to vaccinate 20 million people this month. Shots are reaching nursing home residents at an even slower pace than others first in line even though they are most at risk of dying of the virus. Record-setting 'bomb cyclone' batters Alaska's Aleutian Islands with hurricane force

A Pacific storm of record proportions swept a remote stretch of Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain on Thursday, battering a region used heavily by commercial shipping with hurricane-force winds and seas five stories high. "It's the most intense storm ever recorded in the North Pacific, excluding typhoons," said Brian Brettschneider, a NOAA research scientist with the National Weather Service. In dueling New Year messages, Trump reflects while Biden looks ahead

President Donald Trump in a New Year's Eve message reflected on his accomplishments in office, calling them "historic victories," while his successor, President-elect Joe Biden, struck an upbeat tone in looking ahead to 2021. After weeks of vowing to win his fight to remain in office, Republican Trump said in a video posted on Twitter: "We have to be remembered for what's been done." After a year of loss, patients ring in 2021 from Houston COVID-19 ward

Shortly after midnight Duc Nguyen sat up in his hospital bed for a video call with his wife. The glow of a television and a street lamp outside his window provided the only light as a nasal cannula delivered oxygen to his lungs. It was not how the 33-year-old had envisioned welcoming in the new year, but he said he was grateful the United Memorial Medical Center (UMMC) in Houston had a vacant bed so he could be treated for pneumonia brought on by COVID-19. Wisconsin pharmacist arrested on charges of sabotaging COVID vaccine doses

A Wisconsin hospital pharmacist was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of sabotaging more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine by deliberately removing them from refrigeration to spoil, police and medical authorities said. The pharmacist, an employee of Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin, at the time that 57 vials of vaccine were found left out of cold storage earlier this week, has since been fired but has not been publicly identified, officials said. Local funding crisis threatens U.S. vaccine rollout

Seattle public health officials have so little COVID-19 funding on hand they worry they will have to shut down some virus testing sites as they mount a campaign to dose their 2.3 million residents with Pfizer Inc's and Moderna Inc's vaccines. King County, which represents greater Seattle, has $14 million of COVID-19 funding for 2021, roughly enough to fund its operations for a single month, and a fraction of the $87 million emergency COVID-19 aid it received in 2020, said Ingrid Ulrey, the public health policy director for King County.