NJ's indoor sports freeze to be lifted Sat.

At the end of last month, as new COVID cases and hospitalizations started rising rapidly, Gov. Murphy put a freeze on indoor practices and competitions for youth and adult sports, but now he's lifting the ban, beginning this weekend.

As New Jersey gets ready to ring in 2021, it's hard to believe that since March, COVID-19 has cost nearly 17,000 New Jerseyans their lives.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would not consider a standalone proposal for $2,000 stimulus checks.

Vigilance, not panic, projected by Dr. Anthony Fauci after another case of the apparently more contagious variant of the coronavirus is confirmed in California.

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Gov. Murphy has seemingly been happy with the job New Jersey schools have done at containing COVID-19 in the first four months of the school year, but an NJ.com report is now claiming possibly as many as seven dozen students or staff members caught the coronavirus at one Essex County school, which according to state data would be the largest outbreak yet.

Additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are coming to New Jersey at the start of 2021. The state has also unveiled a website that will eventually give you a chance to reserve protection for yourself.

With simultaneous office closures reaching 10 in recent days, although four are reopening today, long lines have become the norm at the state's Motor Vehicle Commission facilities as drivers try to get paperwork and inspections done before the end of the month, and year.

The state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control continues to crack down on bars and restaurants accused of violating Gov. Murphy's COVID-19 executive orders.

Patrick Lavery is New Jersey 101.5's afternoon news anchor. Follow him on Twitter @plavery1015 or email patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com.