 Hello, and welcome to our newscast for the Boston University News Service. I'm Sierra Sardino. We begin with a call from the governor as COVID cases increase in Massachusetts. Governor Baker requests help from FEMA to set up a new mass vaccination site sponsored by the Disaster Relief Agency. More than 1.1 million people in Massachusetts are fully vaccinated. This is about 16% of the population, but the threat of variants increases the need for more vaccinations. During a hearing at Beacon Hill on Tuesday, the governor said more shots will help decrease cases. Health experts agree. Biden administration, with help from the delegation, to try to get another big mass vaccine here in Massachusetts, it will also help get more people vaccinated faster. Urgency for this new vaccination site grows as state cases rise. An infectious disease specialist said the UK variant could become the dominant strain in Massachusetts in four to six weeks. Only 1,500 new cases were reported in Massachusetts on Tuesday, 40% higher than last week, and 20 more deaths. The states in yellow are seeing a spike in cases as variants start to close in. Health officials urge local leaders to pause reopening as this threatens the nation's progress. More states are expanding vaccine eligibility for all adults ahead of Biden's May 1st goal. CNN's Britt Conway has more. State by state by state. More and more people are able to get vaccinated against COVID-19. In some states, expanded eligibility for people 16 years and older started earlier this month. Alaska was first, then Mississippi and West Virginia, and starting today, Utah. Texas, Indiana and Georgia have just announced plans to do the same. And at least 21 more states will be on board by the start of May. Those states right on track with President Joe Biden's goal. All adult Americans will be eligible to get a vaccine no later than May 1. Though a number of states aren't opening up eligibility until May or later. So why such a wide range of dates? Medical experts say it's because there are state by state differences in supply and demand. Something the president addressed Tuesday, saying there are plans to more rapidly acquire enough vaccines to vaccinate every person in the U.S. quicker than they'd hoped. The people leading the charge against COVID-19 see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hope is here. We see increasing supply vaccines are the way that we're going to get to the other side of this. But overcoming vaccine hesitancy is crucial, at least according to this epidemiologist. Good data and information and good stories can help people change their minds and make the right decisions. I'm Britt Conway reporting. British citizens face a threat of a $7,000 fine if they go on vacation abroad. The new government rules are banning travel outside Britain without a reasonable excuse. Members of parliament are expected to vote on the legislation Thursday. This COVID-19 travel restriction would increase the current travel penalty and is expected to last until the end of June. Boulder, Colorado is mourning the 10 lives lost during Monday's mass shooting at a local grocery store. The suspect has his first court appearance on Thursday. CNN's Camilla Bernal has more from Boulder. She's giggly and bubbly and just didn't, you couldn't be sad around her. Friends and family remembering the victims of the mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado. He's my best friend. He's a brother to me. 10 lives cut tragically short on Monday. She was a person who all of her life really she was about doing service, helping others Kevin was incredible. He was an incredible father, an incredible spouse, an incredible neighbor. He was just a wonderful, wonderful man who did deserve this at all. The suspect, a 21-year-old man from nearby Arvada is now facing 10 counts of murder in the first degree and one count of attempted murder. Authorities promising the grieving community that justice will be served. And now with the country in the middle of its seventh mass shooting in the past week alone, President Joe Biden has once again called for an assault weapons ban and a wave of new gun control measures. I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save the lives in the future and should not be a partisan issue. This is an American issue. We should also ban assault weapons in the process. In Boulder, Colorado, I'm Camilla Bernal. This tragedy was one of the seven mass shootings in the United States that took place over the span of just seven days. Included in that group is a series of attacks on spas that killed eight people in Atlanta. Now lawmakers and lobbyists are pushing for change. BU News Services' Laura Stickles has more. President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass legislation on gun control yesterday after the country's recent series of massacres in the mass shooting in Colorado on Monday. In particular, he's asking for a ban on assault weapons. I don't need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save the lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act. We can ban assault weapons in high capacity magazines in this country once again. Despite Biden's plea, Republican senators continue to oppose legislative action. The Democrats who want to take away the guns from those potential victims would create more victims of crimes, not less. In Colorado, Tom Mauser, who's a board member for a local grassroots gun violence prevention organization, is critical of the inaction of Senate Republicans. Nationally, we have to have a Republican party that is not completely holding to the ban line. For Mauser, the frustration he feels is personal. His son Daniel was killed in the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. My generation failed. We have failed to really deal with this issue adequately, but out of hand. And I think it's up to young people to say, we don't want to live like this. Reporting for BU News Service, I'm Laura Stickles. Friday, March 26, the Supreme Court justices are scheduled to discuss whether to consider the scope of the Second Amendment. That's the constitutional amendment, which protects the right of an individual to bear arms. A wall fan man is now arraigned on charges of attacking 11 men with blunt objects back in November and December. 24-year-old Klauvin's John VA, the man seen running in this footage, is being charged with 14 counts of assault and battery. Some of the victims were left unconscious and all reported that they attacked him from behind. Han V.A. has been held without bail since December for one of the attacks, and police believe they have linked the other 10 assaults to him. The COVID pandemic is having a grim, unexpected impact on pedestrians. Police say fewer cars on the road mean that more people are driving faster, causing the same number of pedestrian deaths as the previous year. A highway safety group says that deaths per mile are up by 20% during the pandemic year of 2020. Coming up next, the outcry from one Boston suburb about the treatment of Asian-Americans and how one local landmark feeder is enduring the pandemic year with the help of supporters. Those stories and more when we return. Hey, Chad. Why do I wear a mask? Because when I'm not behind the screen, my mask is my cheat code. And when we stop the spread, we level up. What's the next level? Hanging with friends again. You're right, masks have always been a part of our community. I miss you guys too. Being face-to-face is truly the next level. Here's the cheat code. Stop the spread of corona. Mask up, America. Welcome back to our newscast. Wednesday, Boston will have a new mayor. Kim Janie is sworn in midday as the first woman and person of color to become mayor of Boston. The former city councilor assumed the role when Marty Walsh resigned to become the nation's secretary of labor, a cabinet post in the Biden administration. Outrage continues from the local Asian-American community following last week's spa shootings outside Atlanta, which left eight people, six of them Asian-American, dead. The head of Quincy Asian Resources, a nonprofit focused on helping the Asian-American community, spoke at a forum on Zoom hosted by Quincy police last night. This was to address the growing concerns from the community about the rise in hate crimes towards them. As we saw with the horrific violence in Atlanta last week, this confirms many of the fears that have been growing within the Asian community. We know there's anti-Asian racism in this country. We all here have faced racial harassment, bullying, and we know this is an American and this is not why we came to this country. A Boston University professor's research indicates that the seeds for the recent rise in Asian-American attacks have been planted long before. Boston University professor, John Luca Stringini, and his team are researching the rise of anti-Asian sentiments online since the onset of the pandemic in the world in the fall of 2019. His team has combed over both Twitter and the 4chan bull board slash poll, the latter of which prides itself on politically incorrect speech. Their goal was to see if they could quantify a rise in Asian hate speech. We've been monitoring this kind of polarized communities for a while. And so we've been witnessing an increase of hate on these communities. Stringini said that the recent rise in these hate crimes can be explained due to people having suppressed racist views for a long time and that the pandemic gave them a reason to act on them. You know, certain narratives have been pushed by social media, but also the media and also certain political figures and whatever, which sort of brought out this kind of racist tendencies more. Stringini and his team are to present their findings this April in an annual web conference. From BUTV, this is Justin Schvitthorst. Stringini also mentioned that individuals can do their part by denouncing racism around them and that being proactively against it will help the reeling Asian-American community. A local movie theater has survived what it hopes is the worst of the pandemic after a long closure. BU News Services' Laura Stickles has more. Despite a difficult 13 months, the Coolidge Corner Theater on Harvard Street feels it has a lot to be thankful for. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the movie theater to shut its doors last March, but support from the community kept the long-standing local business alive. Fortunately, as a nonprofit and as a beloved nonprofit, we got a lot of support. I mean, donations started coming in right away and we kept our front office staff for a month and then we furloughed everybody. And I mean, our community, I was getting notes like, oh, I'm so concerned about the staff and this is for the staff and it was just it was really moving. The theater also received some global recognition last month when it was named one of the world's 50 most beautiful cinemas by Time Out. It was kind of ironic because you've probably seen if you've been to the theater, you've seen how beautiful it is. And if you look on our website, you see like you were you wouldn't have picked that shot to display them. It was like, oh, wow, look, it's like next to a CVS like whoo. He doesn't particularly show how gorgeous it is, but we're thankful for any little reminder to our community and the world that we're really important. The main theater is still closed to the public, but three smaller viewing rooms are available for small parties to rent. Reporting for BU News Service, I'm Laura Stickles. Talman said the theater is hoping to reopen its main theater to the public on June 1st. The deadline to enroll in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will be extended into the summer due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. President Biden announced the extension last night. The update features new eligibility guidelines boosting the number of people who qualify for coverage and new lower costs on insurance plans starting April 1st. Americans can enroll or change plans through August 15th, 2021 by going to healthcare.gov. Coming up, you won't believe the temperatures in the latest weather forecast and the Bruins are facing a formidable foe with the COVID pandemic. We will have all the latest sports news when we return. I hear someone go, didn't it come from you guys? Strangers cough at me. Move away from me. Someone spit towards my direction. All the stereotypes that we've worked so hard to break are just going to be reversed and it won't let that happen. We all have to play our part. I donate my plasma. I've been making masks. We deserve respect as much as everybody else. I'm a firefighter, not a virus. I'm a mass maker, not a virus. I'm a nurse. I'm a delivery woman, chef, a neighbor, artist, bus driver, I'm a doctor, fight the virus, fight the virus. I don't remember how it started. Go to bed. Our back and forth, it always came back. You probably don't remember what you told me. That was perfect. But I heard every word. Well, after a few days of sunshine, many Bostonians are wondering how long this warm weather will last. Daphne, should New England be wary of this burst of spring sunshine? Thanks, Sierra. It is a roller coaster of weather this week. So no matter what your favorite type of weather is, Boston has something for you coming up in the next seven days. Today started out sunny, but clouds will roll in for a partially cloudy day with the potential for showers in the evening. Be on the lookout for fog. Going across New England, there's going to be some wet weather to the west and the south of the state reaching Pittsfield this afternoon. You might want to ditch that big coat, though, because temperatures will be in the 50s and 60s. Looking at tonight, we will dip into the 40s and 50s across the state with temps as low as 41 in Nantucket and 43 out in Westerly. Tomorrow, we get the chance to feel some of that spring weather now that we've passed the vernal equinox. Temperatures will be in the 60s and 70s for most of the state. There'll be a high of 75 in Springfield and cooling off, but still in the 60s as we move towards the coast. And now for the seven day forecast. While the weather is a little gloomy today, you can soak up those rays tomorrow and you might even want to pull out a fan. We will have some of the warmest temperatures we've seen all year tomorrow with highs in the mid 70s. That'll be followed by showers on Friday brought in by gusty winds, then a cool but breezy Saturday or expecting rain in the 30s and 40s on Sunday. Then the temperature dips overnight and we just might see snow flurries on Monday. Tuesday is expected to be a beautiful sunny day. And so after this yo-yo of a week, Sierra, temperatures are going to start to even out in the next 10 days and we can expect a mild and rainy spring. And if you think Boston weather is dramatic, take a look at what's happening in Italy. One of the world's most active volcanoes is erupting again. Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy began oozing lava last night. The eruption sprayed debris into the sky, creating a volcanic ash advisory for the city of Contania, Sicily. This is the 16th eruption for Mount Etna this year, the most recent in February. Less than 100 deaths over the last 400 years are attributed to the volcano. Closer to home, the Boston Bruins canceled a scheduled game because of the coronavirus protocol. Bart Tachi has more. Thanks, Sierra. Yes, 14 total question marks for the Boston Bruins right now. Five of those are players on the Bruins COVID-19 list pending more tests. Beyond those five, there's nine players with injuries who we may or may not see in the next game. Bruce Cassidy is taking it in stride. And at the end of the day, it's one of those years you have to kind of just grind through it. It's the easiest way to say it. And then hopefully we continue where we left off. I mean, that's the best way I look at it. Play the hand you're dealt. Control what you can control. The Bruins missed two games and they'll play again Thursday against the New York Islanders. Goli Tuca Rask is expected to play either Thursday or Saturday. He was out with a lower back injury. The Mookie Betz trade drama is still haunting the Red Sox more than a year after Boston traded the baseball superstar to the L.A. Dodgers. Dodger's superfan group Pantone 294 placed a gigantic blue billboard just outside of Fenway Park as a tongue-in-cheek thank you for acquiring Betz. The 2018 American League MVP won the World Series with the Dodgers last season hitting a home run in the clinching game six in a familiar sight for Red Sox fans. The Boston Celtics are reportedly pursuing a trade for Orlando Magic star Aaron Gordon ahead of the Thursday 3 p.m. trade deadline. The Cs are hoping Gordon's arrival would salvage their disastrous season as they again fell into a negative record following the overtime Monday loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. The forward put in a trade request after spending six years in Orlando marred by increasingly growing frustration. By the way we've been playing, how we've been playing and how many losses have accumulated over the years so you know it's just my frustration kind of boiling over. The Celtics could finally get their man after showing interest in Gordon for years and the forward is believed to be interested in bringing his talents to Boston but rumors claim the Cs would have to send out Marcus Smart the other way to steal the deal. Health officials in Indiana are concerned about watch parties during March Madness and are urging watchers to continue following CDC guidelines. Here's reporter Kelsey Anderson with the story from Indianapolis. It's a gorgeous day out here, it's fantastic. The sun's shining, we couldn't be happier. The game is on, the sun is out and the circle city is alive again. We figured you know with all the games being downtown we just kind of wanted to see what was going on down here and get out of the house and just make the most out of it. Andrew Stegelmeyer says this is his first time downtown in a year. He's excited to be a part of the action. We brought our masks, got a little hand sanitizer in our pockets and doesn't seem overly crowded and so far it looks like everyone's kind of distant so you know we feel safe but you know we've got precautions just in case. Today things do look better compared to Friday and Saturday. That's according to Hailey Dahan. She works in the heart of the action at Good Neighbor. Today it's a little bit better. There's a lot more spaced out tables. Feels a little bit more family friendly. Yesterday felt a lot like a college party almost. We spoke to a vendor off-camera who says yesterday they only stayed for 30 minutes because it felt unsafe in the Bottle Works District. The Marion County Public Health Department saying quote after being notified of a potential public health hazard we dispatched inspectors to make sure critical safety measures are followed. The spokesperson went on to say when public health orders are violated the health department can take escalating enforcement measures to include fines and other actions. Well I know that they were talking about it for a place so like families come in and you know do things so for today it feels more authentic to what was we were expecting so that feels really nice. Back in Massachusetts the Duxbury High School football team was using anti-semitic language during play calling. They used highly offensive words like Auschwitz while calling plays referring to one of Nazi Germany's most infamous death camps in World War II. The play call system has since been changed and the Boston Globe has called on Duxbury to fire their head coach. Buzeman's ice hockey team is headed back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in two years. Sierra, back to you. If you're wondering what to have for lunch today is National Cheese Stake Day. The combination of chip beef, cheese and onions on a hoagie roll is a Philadelphia tradition. You can post your meal on social media with the hashtag National Cheese Stake Day. Fun fact, Philadelphia hot dog vendors Pat and Harry Olivieri are credited with inventing the cheese steak in the 1930s. And that's it for our newscast for the BU News Service. I'm Sierra Sorrentino.