New Covid variant triggers urgent moment for Biden health team  —  The emergence of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 has sparked urgent conversations among top Biden administration health officials about how to fend off a potential new surge in the U.S. and about the need to significantly ramp …

Oakland police release new lead in killing of KRON4 security guard  —  OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) - Oakland Police Department Homicide investigators are asking for help from the public finding a car that might be connected to the killing of a KRON4 security guard.

POLITICO Playbook: MTG plays cat and mouse with McCarthy  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  Just a few days after Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE called KEVIN MCCARTHY “weak” and said he needed to earn her vote to become speaker, the Republican lawmaker from Georgia took a different tone toward the GOP leader Friday night.

In Minneapolis Schools, White Families Are Asked to Help Do the Integrating  —  In a citywide overhaul, a beloved Black high school was rezoned to include white students from a richer neighborhood.  It has been hard for everyone.  —  MINNEAPOLIS — When Mauri Friestleben learned that Minneapolis …

Laser-focused on 2020, Trump seeks a Michigan Legislature that could help him in 2024  —  Jon Rocha was settling in to watch the new “Ghostbusters” with his young daughter at the movies last week when he got the news: Former President Donald Trump had endorsed his bid for state representative in Michigan.

BA to temporarily suspend passenger flights to and from Hong Kong  —  Two separate sources say British flag carrier took decision after at least one of its aircrew members tested positive for Covid-19 at Hong Kong airport Most of the BA staff on flight were then taken to Penny's Bay quarantine centre …

Charlottesville verdict another missed opportunity for Republicans to disavow hate  —  Despite a jury's $25 million verdict against a group of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and organizers of the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, “Unite the Right” rally, Republican leaders, once again …

Court blocks Covid-19 vaccine mandate for California prisons  —  WHO calls Omicron strain a ‘variant of concern’ as U.S. adds travel restrictions  —  A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked an order that all California prison workers must be vaccinated against the coronavirus or have a religious or medical exemption.

Russian & Chinese Ambassadors: Respecting People's Democratic Rights  —  Anatoly Antonov, Qin Gang  —  The upcoming American-led online Summit for Democracy will stoke ideological confrontation.  Faced with an array of global challenges, countries urgently need to strengthen coordination and cooperation for common progress.

Walter Kirn Is Middle America's Defiant Defender  —  The novelist discusses the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict and urban elites' illiberal attitudes toward those who live between the East and West coasts.  —  The Kyle Rittenhouse case reminds Walter Kirn of an incident from his youth in rural Minnesota.

The Deadly Myth That Human Error Causes Most Car Crashes  —  Every year thousands of Americans die on the roads.  Individuals take the blame for systemic problems. … More than 20,000 people died on American roadways from January to June, the highest total for the first half of any year since 2006.

Seeking Backers for New Fund, Jared Kushner Turns to Middle East  —  Former President Donald J. Trump's son-in-law is trying to raise capital for his investment firm and is turning to a region that he dealt with extensively while in the White House.  —  As a White House adviser …