
White House keeps encouraging masks in schools as some states move toward lifting mandates
CNN
The White House maintained its adherence to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance encouraging mask usage in schools Monday as some states take steps toward lifting mask mandates in the classroom.
The CDC recommends that those who are vaccinated should "wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission."
School masking continues to be a politically divisive topic as the pandemic enters its third year, with rising vaccinations and cases falling in recent weeks. As CNN reported earlier Monday, New Jersey's universal mask mandate for all schools and child care settings will be lifted on March 7, Gov. Phil Murphy, a Biden ally, announced during a news conference. Delaware Gov. John Carney announced that the state's universal indoor mask mandate will end on Friday and that school mask mandates will expire March 31.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









