A World Health Organization official says the Omicron variant will infect more than half of Europe in the next two months. / CNN Hundreds of thousands of students in Los Angeles return to school from winter break. Chicago schools reopen tomorrow. / The Los Angeles Times, ABC7 Related: In case you missed
A slow drive (with horrible music) through redwood trees on Howland Hill Road, as found in this list of things to do in Northern California.
The US is now averaging 700,000 new Covid cases per day. / USA Today A malfunctioning space heater caused a fire in a Bronx apartment building that killed 19 people, including nine children. / News 12 Brooklyn With Omicron, pediatric hospitalizations—while still the lowest compared to other groups—have hit
The three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced to life in prison. / NBC News Kazakhstan's former anti-terror chief has been arrested on charges of attempting to overthrow the government following the recent violent protests. / Associated Press Texas claims 246 people died in the 2021 winter
Kazakhstan orders security forces to "fire without warning" amid a crackdown on anti-government protests. / BBC News The situation presents Russia with yet another opportunity to reassert influence in its former Soviet domain. / The New York Times When Putin issues demands down the barrel of a gun, "
Garland has told Justice Dept. employees that prosecutors remain "committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law." / Associated Press One year after Jan. 6, here are the numbers on where the legal efforts stand. / BuzzFeed News In unrest sparked by rising gas prices
People are building LIDAR-equipped, mobile aquariums that their fish can "drive."
One month before the Olympics, China puts a second city into total lockdown after just three asymptomatic Covid-19 cases are detected. / BBC News In Hong Kong, one of the few places still pursuing a zero-Covid policy, testing positive means lockdown for nearly a month, symptoms or not. / CNN
Driven by the Omicron variant, new Covid infections in the US shatter prior coronavirus records, with more than a million cases reported yesterday. / USA Today As schools across the US open today—or try to, anyway—the FDA authorizes Pfizer boosters for 12-to-15-year-olds. / NBC News, NPR
We asked some of our favorite journalists, writers, and thinkers: What were the most important events of 2021, and what were the least?
