
A pandemic-scarred year ends in darkness -- but with hope on the horizon
CNN
2021 wasn't supposed to end like this.
The year dawned in a blaze of hope that new, effective Covid-19 vaccines -- free and available to all -- would deliver the country from the worst public health emergency in 100 years, in which 350,000 Americans had already died. The promise of a new President, Joe Biden, to shut down the virus rang in the nation's ears after his predecessor had lied about Covid-19's severity, botched the government response and prized his political goals over its health.
But the year ends in a dark place. Hospitals are flooded with Covid-19 patients, the transportation network is seizing up, and a new coronavirus variant -- Omicron -- is finding even the most careful citizens.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani used his executive powers to revoke a handful of orders put into place by his predecessor after the former mayor was federally indicted, including a directive that expanded the definition of antisemitism and another that barred city employees and agencies from boycotting or divesting from Israel.

Key figures in the long-running controversy over alleged fraudulent safety net programs in Minnesota
The Trump administration, for the second time in recent weeks, is using allegations of fraud to justify increased federal law enforcement actions in Minnesota, the state with the country’s largest Somali population.











