On Monday, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state’s public colleges and universities will require proof of vaccination for all students attending in-person classes this fall (affecting 89 campuses).

• The SUNY and CUNY schools join a growing number of public and private schools that have announced similar decisions, which generally only apply to students living on-campus or attending in-person classes. (See the full list.)

🤿 A deeper dive…
So far, there’s no legal precedent to know how courts will view an institution’s response to a student or employee refusing a COVID-19 vaccine under emergency-use status, experts say.

• The governors of five states - AZ, ID, FL, MT, & TX - have issued executive orders preventing government entities from requiring proof of vaccination, though AZ’s governor included an explicit exemption for public schools and universities.

Elsewhere… Utah’s governor signed a law in March preventing public universities from requiring vaccines unless they allow exemptions for medical reasons or religious and personal beliefs.

⏭️ What’s Next?
More colleges and universities are expected to announce COVID-19 vaccine requirements in the coming weeks and months, per CNBC.

• A CNN tally from late April found more than 100 colleges and universities plan to require vaccines for students returning to campus in the fall – up from 14 earlier that month.

😷 CDC Eases Mask Guidance for Vaccinated People

Image: CDC

The CDC released guidance saying fully vaccinated people can resume outdoor and indoor activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing – except where required by federal, state, or local regulations (including businesses and workplaces).

• The guidance still calls for wearing masks on all planes, trains, buses, and other forms of public transportation, as well as in hospitals, prisons, and homeless shelters.

From the Right: NY Post

From the Left: ABC News

A rarely-spotted ocean-dweller straight out of Finding Nemo washed up on a California beach last Friday.

• Experts say the creature is most likely a female Pacific Football Fish, which lives in the Pacific Ocean at depths of 2,000 to 3,300 feet.

+Bonus: Watch the Finding Nemo scene.

Image: 9News

It’s often said that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. But in this instance – luck is what happened after two planes collided in midair.

• A twin-engine Fairchild Metroliner (pictured above) and a single-engine Cirrus (below) were getting ready to land at a small regional airport in a Denver suburb Wednesday when they crashed into each other.

First, the Fairchild: The pilot (who was alone) requested an emergency landing for engine failure, not knowing his plane was nearly ripped in half. Somehow, the plane made it.

• “If it was the flight deck: Bad outcome. The wings: Bad outcome. The tail: Bad outcome. It happened in the perfect place for the pilot to make it down,” Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor of aerospace and occupational safety at the Daytona Beach, Florida campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told the AP.

Images: YouTube & screenshot

The Cirrus: One of the safety features on the plane is the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, which is pretty much what it sounds like (i.e, a giant parachute for a plane). The pilot - who was carrying a passenger - deployed the chute immediately.

• Here’s a video of the plane hitting the ground.

The Outcome: Everyone survived – and no one involved was even hurt.

Read more.

🎮 Virtually Reality…

Image: YouTube

Released in 2013, the video game Grand Theft Auto V is known for how accurately it recreates real-life Los Angeles and Southern California, with many famous streets and landmarks rendered in painstaking detail.

A new machine learning project from Intel Labs called “Enhancing Photorealism Enhancement” is attempting to make the game’s graphics even better.

• The team of researchers fed a collection of photos from urban environments into a neural network, which integrated the visual data into footage from GTA V, filling in details missing from the virtual landscape.

The result is the creation of a digital cityscape that appears as if it had been filmed by a Google Streetview camera.

Read more.

What is the official state question of New Mexico?

A) Chips and salsa?
B) Coffee or tea?
C) Red or green?
D) Hot enough for 'ya?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

Spread fun, objective news and earn exclusive rewards: #winning.

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#justspreadtheDONUTpls&thnkslearnhowbelow

1. Copy your unique referral link. 👇
2. Post said link on Reddit, drop it in the family chat, put it on a t-shirt and stroll around NYC, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.

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C) Red or green?

When dining in New Mexico, “Red or green?” refers to whether you prefer red or green chiles in your dish. The New Mexico State Legislature enshrined “Red or green?” as the official state question in 1996, in honor of the importance of chiles to the state economy.