Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Hospitalizations: “COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a record high on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, as a surge in infections caused by the highly contagious Omicron variant strains health systems in several states. There were 132,646 people hospitalized with COVID, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January last year.”
* A diplomatic breakthrough appears unlikely: “The United States and Russia concluded high-stakes security talks Monday as part of a diplomatic effort to defuse soaring tensions over a Russian military buildup on its border with Ukraine.”
* The death toll in the Bronx fire stands at 17: “Hospitals worked Monday to save several people who were gravely injured in a Bronx apartment building fire as a clearer picture emerged of what caused New York City’s deadliest fire in three decades.”
* Climate crisis: “U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rebounded sharply in 2021, rising about 6.2 percent over last year when the economy was dampened by pandemic lockdowns, restaurant closures and travel disruptions. Still, emissions remained about 5 percent below 2019 levels, according to preliminary analysis from the Rhodium Group, an independent research and data firm that tracks greenhouse gas tallies.”
* That’s amazing: “A 57-year-old man with life-threatening heart disease has received a heart from a genetically modified pig, a groundbreaking procedure that offers hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with failing organs.” * The Senate doesn’t work the way it should: “A year into his term, only 41 percent of [President Joe Biden’s] nominees for Senate-confirmed posts have been approved, a new analysis finds, the worst rate in decades.” * A striking, well-researched report: “More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people…. The Washington Post has compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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