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The application window for a new  $1,000-a-month cash assistance program  in Los Angeles run by City Hall kicks off Friday, making L.A. the biggest city in the nation to launch such an initiative. The city’s guaranteed basic income program will give 3,200 Los Angeles households the monthly stipend for a year. The 10-day application period opens Friday, when officials say they will release details about how to apply. Recipients will be announced in early January. Recipients will be randomly selected by the city’s research partner, the Center for Guaranteed Income Research, city officials said. To qualify, applicants must live within the city of L.A., have an income at or below the federal poverty level, have at least one dependent child or be pregnant, be at least 18 years of age or older and have experienced financial and/or medical hardships related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the strong voting results, many advisers had concerns and caveats. A panel of independent medical experts advising the Food and Drug Administration voted 17 to 0 (with one abstention) this afternoon in favor of authorizing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use in children ages 5 to 11 years old. The vote is a key step toward the first pediatric COVID-19 vaccine in the US. Next, the FDA will need to sign off on the recommendation from the advisory panel—the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC)—and issue an emergency use authorization for the 5-to-11 age group. That FDA authorization is expected within days. Once that occurs, the federal government will begin shipping pediatric doses of the vaccine to states for distribution at clinics, pharmacies, and pediatricians' offices. But before doses can go into any little arms, a panel of independent experts for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also need to weigh in. That pan...