Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Thursday. |
 | | People wait in line to be tested for Covid in Brooklyn on Thursday.Dave Sanders for The New York Times |
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1. Amid worries about Omicron, virus cases are jumping across the U.S. |
Across the country, the average of new cases a day is up to more than 120,000, a 40 percent increase from two weeks ago. Cases are spiking again in New York City, past anything seen since the end of last winter's surge. |
Outbreaks are growing most severely around the Great Lakes and in the Northeast. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant continues to upend companies' plans for a return to the office. |
In the Army, 98 percent of active-duty soldiers have received at least one vaccine dose; in the Navy, it's 98.3 percent. Those still refusing will soon be dismissed. |
 | | A man receiving the J&J coronavirus vaccine in the Bronx in July.James Estrin/The New York Times |
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2. A C.D.C. panel recommended that other Covid vaccines should be preferred over Johnson & Johnson's. |
The panel's vote effectively discourages vaccine providers and adults from using Johnson & Johnson's shot, citing increasing evidence that it triggers a rare blood clot disorder now linked to dozens of cases and at least nine deaths. |
Some committee members expressed the hope that exceptions could be made when people do not have access to the Moderna or Pfizer shots, or want J. & J.'s vaccine despite being informed about the elevated risk. The agency must still decide whether to accept the panel's recommendation. |
Separately, the C.D.C. said that only a little more than half of nursing home residents in the U.S. have received a booster shot. |
 | | People survey the damage after a thunderstorm swept through Hartland, Minn. on Thursday.Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press |
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3. "Off the charts" storms caused widespread power outages in the Midwest. |
Hundreds of thousands of customers were without electricity after unusual December weather last night: 70-degree temperatures, wildfires, tornadoes and winds that surpassed 75 miles per hour. |
The storm system, which was moving into Canada today, came five days after tornadoes whipped through Kentucky and five other states, killing at least 88 people. |
On Wednesday alone, there were at least five tornadoes across the state of Iowa. Dust storms whipped through Colorado, as well as Kansas, which also faced wildfires and winds of up to 100 m.p.h. One man was dead after a gust of wind overturned his tractor-trailer on an Iowa highway. |
 | | President Donald Trump seemed to believe that the lawmakers would help him stay in office.Doug Mills/The New York Times |
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4. Six members of Congress were key foot soldiers in Donald Trump's effort to overturn the election. |
The lawmakers, all Republicans, bombarded the Justice Department with dubious claims of voting irregularities. They pressured members of state legislatures to conduct audits that would cast doubt on the election results. They plotted to disrupt the certification of President Biden's victory. |
All members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, they worked closely with the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, according to dozens of interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of congressional testimony about the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. |
 | | A nurse practitioner advises patients seeking self-managed abortions. Jeff Roberson/The Associated Press |
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5. The federal government will allow patients to receive the abortion pill by mail, without seeing a doctor in person. |
The F.D.A.'s action means that medication abortion will become more available to women who find it difficult to travel to an abortion provider or prefer to terminate a pregnancy in the privacy of their homes. |
So far this year, six states have banned the mailing of pills, seven states have passed laws requiring pills to be obtained in person from a provider, and four states have passed laws to set the limit on medication abortion at earlier than 10 weeks' gestation. |
 | | People walk past the Houses of Parliament in London on Thursday.Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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6. After the U.S., more central banks are trying to rein in inflation. |
Britain's central bank surprised markets by increasing its main interest rate for the first time in three and a half years. The European Central Bank announced that it would end its pandemic-era bond-buying program in March. But Christine Lagarde, the bank's president, said that it was "very unlikely" it would move its interest rate higher in the coming year despite rising inflation, which the bank sees as largely driven by high energy prices. |
 | | A rally in New York City supporting a measure ending gas use in new construction buildings.Dieu-Nalio Chéry for the New York Times |
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7. New York will join other cities in banning gas stoves and furnaces, despite a fierce pushback. |
Cities in blue states like California, Massachusetts and Washington are working to shift homes away from burning natural gas because it releases carbon dioxide. In 2019, Berkeley became the first city to ban gas hookups in most new homes and buildings. New York City will become the largest city in the world with such a ban. |
But the gas industry has mounted a counteroffensive. At least 20 mostly red states have passed laws that forbid their cities from restricting gas use. Most of these bills have passed in the last year, backed by the natural gas industry and local gas utilities. |
 | | Urban Meyer went 3-11 with the Jaguars. Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press |
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8. The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Urban Meyer after less than one season as head coach, in the middle of the night. |
The final straw appeared to come on Wednesday, when The Tampa Bay Times reported that a former Jaguars kicker had claimed that Meyer kicked him during a practice in August. |
 | | Olivia Rodrigo, "Reservation Dogs" (top) and "Sanctuary City."Clockwise from left: Mat Hayward/Getty Images; Jeremy Dennis for The New York Times; Sara Krulwich/The New York Times |
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9. The breakout stars of 2021 brought the cultural world back to life. |
The 18-year-old Disney star Olivia Rodrigo released a "nuanced and often exceptional" debut album. LaTasha Barnes — a leader in the dance forms of house, hip-hop and the Lindy Hop — reconnected Black audiences and Black dancers (like herself) to their jazz heritage. Meet the artists who gave us a fresh outlook. |
In other entertainment news, Bruce Springsteen has sold his music rights to Sony Music Entertainment in what may well be the biggest transaction ever struck for a single artist's body of work: a deal that may exceed $500 million. |
 | | This is a mosquitofish's worst nightmare: a robot fish.Giovanni Polverino |
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10. And finally, a menacing robot fish. |
The mosquitofish is not fussy. It can live in filthy water and will eat larvae, other fishes' eggs and garbage. Often, the voracious little creature chomps off the tails of freshwater fish and tadpoles, leaving them to die. |
How do you stop it from threatening native populations? Scientists in Australia designed a likeness of its worst enemy — a robot version of the largemouth bass, its natural predator. The robot not only freaked the mosquitofish out, but also scarred them with such lasting anxiety that their reproduction rates dropped. |
Have an ingenious evening. |
| Eve Edelheit compiled photos for this briefing. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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