Pandemic relief money spent on hotel, ballpark, ski slopes

By BRIAN SLODYSKO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Associated Press review finds that state and local governments have spent nearly $1 billion worth of federal coronavirus aid on projects that have little to do with combating the pandemic. The spending runs the gamut. In Broward County, Florida, $140 million will help to build an upscale hotel. In Dutchess County, New York, $12 million is being used to renovate a minor league ballpark. Alabama plans to spend $400 million building new prisons. When congressional Democrats passed their $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan a year ago, they characterized it as “emergency funding” that would keep front-line workers on the job, open schools and ramp up vaccinations.