Things to Know: Pentagon lends military aid to vaccine push

Here’s what’s happening Thursday with the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.:

THREE THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

— The Pentagon will deploy more than 1,100 troops to five vaccination centers in what will be the first wave of increased military support for the White House campaign to get more Americans vaccinated against COVID-19. President Joe Biden has called for setting up 100 mass vaccination centers around the country within a month. Two of the five new military teams will go to centers opening in California. Coronavirus senior adviser Andy Slavitt says military personnel will arrive at those centers in a little over a week. Three additional centers are expected to be announced soon.

— Tensions are running high in some state capitols over coronavirus precautions after this year’s legislative sessions began with a COVID-19 outbreaks. The Associated Press has tallied at least 40 state lawmakers in roughly one-third of the states who already have fallen ill with the virus this year. More than 330 state lawmakers have contracted COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Most of the tensions are in Republican-controlled statehouses, where Democrats have been raising concerns about GOP colleagues who don’t wear masks or practice social distancing. But some Republicans also are pushing back against statehouse restrictions in Democratic-led legislatures.

— Unemployment agencies across the country were bombarded with so many claims during the pandemic that many struggled to distinguish the correct from the criminal. Simple tax forms are now revealing the extent of the identity theft that made state-run unemployment offices lucrative targets for fraud after millions of people lost their jobs. Terri Finneman, of Lawrence, Kansas, was surprised when she got a form saying she owed taxes on $1,500 in unemployment payments that...