Roundup: COVID-19 memorial / Pension deficits / Tourism advocates

Mourning: Just over a year after the novel coronavirus pandemic made its way into Louisiana, state and local leaders united to officially mourn the loss of the many lives that have been taken by the virus, WBRZ-TV reports. Mayor Sharon Weston Broome joined several community leaders at an 8 a.m. memorial service this morning at the River Branch Library to mark the one-year anniversary of the first person to die from COVID-19 in East Baton Rouge Parish. Watch the service here. 

Deadline extension: Finance chiefs will get more time to cover their companies’ pension deficits and more flexibility with the cash they have put into retirement plans as part of the new COVID-19 aid package, The Wall Street Journal reports. Single-employer plan sponsors will have 15 years—up from seven now—to cover pension deficits, and flexibility in how money earmarked for 2019 and 2020 pension contributions can be used. Read the full story. 

Loosening restrictions: Airlines and other tourism-related businesses are pushing the White House to draw up a plan in the next five weeks to boost international travel and eliminate restrictions that were imposed early in the pandemic. The groups want people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to be exempt from testing requirements before entering the U.S. They also want the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to say that vaccinated people can travel safely. Read the full story.