Arizona can't use COVID money for anti-mask grants, feds say

The Biden administration on Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using the state’s federal pandemic funding on a pair of new education grants that can only be directed to schools without mask mandates.

In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department said the grant programs are “not a permissible use” of the funding. Ducey, a Republican, created the grant programs in August to put pressure on school districts that have defied the state’s ban on mask mandates. In the letter, the Treasury Department said the conditions “undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.”