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Facebook announced Tuesday that it will ban advertisements that discourage people from getting vaccines, another tightening of the platform’s rules on a subject it had previously avoided. Any ads that paint vaccines as unsafe, useless or harmful will no longer be allowed. (Mills Rodrigo, 10/13)

Your ears are not deceiving you: Songbirds in San Francisco have changed the way they sing this year, and in unexpected ways. Throughout the shutdown San Franciscans reported an unusual amount of birdsong ringing through the city streets, and a scientific study has now shown that birds have indeed changed their singing habits. ... Scientists discovered that while the songbirds of San Francisco increased the frequency of song, they did so at a lower volume than usual, as there was less noise to compete with. However, to residents' ears this resulted in a perceived increase in birdsong volume. (Chamings, 10/12)

KHN: Making Money Off Masks, COVID-Spawned Chain Store Aims To Become Obsolete
Darcy Velasquez, 42, and her mother, Roberta Truax, were walking recently in the Park Meadows mall about 15 miles south of downtown Denver, looking for Christmas gifts for Velasquez’s two children, when they spotted a store with a display of rhinestone-studded masks. It’s an immutable truth of fashion: Sparkles can go a long way with a 9-year-old. The store is called COVID-19 Essentials. And it may well be the country’s first retail chain dedicated solely to an infectious disease. (Hawryluk, 10/14)

In sports news —

Cristiano Ronaldo, one of soccer’s biggest stars and among the world’s most famous athletes, has tested positive for the coronavirus, Portugal’s soccer federation announced Tuesday. The federation’s statement said Ronaldo was not displaying symptoms of Covid-19, and that he had entered isolation, away from the rest of Portugal’s players. Those players continued their preparations for a match against Sweden on Wednesday in Lisbon. (Mather and Panja, 10/13)

Stephen Curry is launching a series of long-form interviews focused on the global pandemic and voting ahead of November’s election, the most recent move by an NBA star into civic engagement. The first video, released Tuesday on Curry’s YouTube channel, is a 20-minute conversation with Bill Gates in which they talk about the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus. Future conversations include a discussion with Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about how society will emerge safely from the pandemic. Another is with Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Democratic Senate candidate in Georgia, about voter suppression and registration. Several others are in the works, Curry said. (Strauss, 10/13)

In school news —

Brigham Young University-Idaho warned on Monday about accounts of college students “intentionally” trying to contract COVID-19 in order to make money by donating plasma with antibodies. The Idaho university issued a statement saying officials were “deeply troubled” by the alleged behavior and “is actively seeking evidence of such conduct among our student body.” (Coleman, 10/13)

Howard University and up to nine other schools will receive millions of dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support campus coronavirus testing facilities and expand screening for thousands of students at historically Black colleges and universities, the foundation announced Tuesday. The foundation’s three-year, $15 million donation will equip as many as 10 schools to be testing hubs that process tests for the novel coronavirus that are administered at other HBCUs in their regions. (Lumpkin, 10/13)

In obituaries —

Conchata Ferrell, the award-winning theater actress who became a television star as the gruff housekeeper of a toxic Malibu bachelor on the sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. She was 77.The death, in Sherman Oaks Hospital, was confirmed by her daughter, Samantha Anderson. Ms. Ferrell was hospitalized in December for a kidney infection, which spread to her bloodstream. In May, a heart attack put her in intensive care for four weeks. She was then moved to long-term care, remaining on a respirator and on dialysis until her death. (Gates, 10/13)