Northampton, Massachusets officials have greenlit a plan to create and install four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-themed manhole covers to celebrate the fact that the massive franchise was originally created there. And to pay for it, the town is using funds intended to help rebuild towns and businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic (which is still a thing, even if a lot of people are trying to pretend otherwise) devastated cities and businesses across the United States starting in March 2020. So in 2021, congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 aka ARPA. This was a nearly $2 trillion economic stimulus package that was designed to help the country recover faster from the various effects of the pandemic as well as to try to deal with the ongoing recession. After barely passing in congress, President Biden signed it on March 11, 2021. As a result, Northampton, Massachusets received $4 million that the town and its officials could put toward its Covid-19 recovery efforts.

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