
Biden seeks tenuous balance on school reopening and variant threats
CNN
When officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that they were relaxing the physical distancing guidelines for many schools, White House officials hailed it as another moment when the barriers to in-person instruction were falling.
But the persistent tensions between White House officials and teachers' unions immediately resurfaced, demonstrating the difficult push-pull over the nation's safety guidelines and the continuing distrust of government that remain among the biggest obstacles to getting students back in the classroom. As states drop their Covid-19 restrictions and spring breakers flood popular venues like Miami Beach, the Biden administration is trying to strike an increasingly tenuous balance between nudging schools to reopen with an "everything will be fine" ethos and sounding the alarm about increasingly crowded public spaces, rising case numbers and the spread of more deadly and contagious variants like B.1.1.7, which Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday likely accounts for 20 to 30% of infections in this country.
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The retirement of Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin after nearly 30 years in office sparked an expensive three-way Democratic primary that has showcased the party’s divisions over how to confront President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and introduced pro-crypto forces as an influence seeking to shape the midterm elections. The contest is also setting up a test of Gov. JB Pritzker’s political clout in the state as he eyes a potential 2028 presidential bid.











