 Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and other top U.S. officials will meet with Russian officials in Geneva on Monday to discuss missiles in Ukraine and Russian military exercises in the area. The talks come as Russia has 100,000 troops stationed along the Ukraine border, prompting Western nations to seek diplomacy to avoid a potential invasion. More: - There is little to no expectation of a final agreement to come from Monday's session.
- Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed concern that the U.S. will place missiles in Ukraine, President Joe Biden has said there is no intention of doing so, making for one potential area of common ground in the talks.
- Moscow has ramped up its military exercises near NATO territory while complaining about NATO exercises in the Baltic region.
- Although the U.S. has expressed no desire to place missiles in Ukraine, there are other U.S. missiles in Eastern Europe, with an offshore missile defense system in Romania and another under construction in Poland. The defense systems are designed to strike down Iranian missiles, but Moscow has said they could also launch offensive missiles into Russia.
- The U.S. is not willing to discuss limits on its troops in the area.
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The number of people hospitalized in the United States due to COVID-19 will likely post an all-time high this coming week. The highly contagious Omicron variant is leading to a surge in infections. More: - Hospitalizations have been climbing since December as Omicron became the dominant strain in the U.S.
- The record of more than 132,000 was set in Jan. 2021.
- The U.S. reported 662,000 new cases on Thursday, the fourth-highest total on record, only three days after reporting nearly 1 million cases.
- The high number of infections is placing a strain on hospitals, which are facing a double whammy of a surge of patients and a high number of workers that have themselves been infected.
- 90% of those on ventilators at the Cleveland Clinic are unvaccinated.
- In a bit of good news, Omicron appears to be less deadly than prior COVID-19 variants.
- Although hospitalizations have climbed to nearly 123,000, the number of deaths has remained steady at around 1,400 a day.
- Some experts have said the spike could take the shape of an "ice pick," with a quick rise and a quick fall, and could even leave the U.S. on better footing when it's over.
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- 28% of people admitted using their personal device for work more than their work-issued device
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The three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia were each sentenced to life in prison on Friday. Travis and Greg McMichael were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, while William "Roddie" Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. More: - Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was jogging through a neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, in early 2020 when the McMichaels and Bryan, who are white, chased him down and killed him.
- The men said they suspected him of recent break-ins in the area, though there was no evidence.
- The judge made the courtroom sit in silence for a full minute, a fraction of the five minutes that Arbery ran for his life before he was shot.
- "This verdict doesn't bring you back, but it does help bring closure to this very difficult chapter of my life. I made a promise to you the day I laid you to rest. I told you I love you — and someday, somehow, I would get you justice," Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, said during the sentencing hearing.
- The murder took place in Feb. 2020, but it was only after footage of the killing from Bryan's cell phone was leaked online some 10 weeks later that the men were arrested.
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 GOOD NEWS: A baby lost in the chaos of the American evacuation of Afghanistan has been found and reunited with his family. Sohail Ahmadi was two months old when he was handed to a soldier across an airport wall in Kabul on Aug. 19. After Reuters ran a story in November with his picture, the baby was found in the care of a 29-year-old taxi driver in Kabul. After weeks of negotiations and pleading, the baby was finally handed to his grandfather and other relatives in Kabul. They will now attempt to reunite the infant with his parents, who were evacuated to the United States.
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Police in Virginia said they found what appears to be a fifth victim of the alleged "Shopping Cart Killer." Authorities recently identified the third and fourth victims and are searching for more. More: - Anthony Eugene Robinson, 35, of Washington, D.C., was arrested nearly a month ago on suspicion of the murders of two women whose bodies were found in a parking lot in Harrisonburg.
- Two more victims were recently found in a wooded area near Alexandria.
- The fifth victim was found in a shopping cart under a blanket in Washington, D.C.
- Police have said Robinson used dating apps to lure his victims.
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Only 25% of students in California took statewide assessment tests in the 2020-21 school year in the wake of the pandemic, according to a report from the state's department of education. The low rate means we'll never know the full extent of the pandemic's effect on learning. More: - Normally, 95% of eligible students, or about 3.2 million, take the tests each year.
- The tests measure proficiency in English, math, and other subjects, and the results determine decisions on programs and policies.
- Of those tested in 2020-21, 49% met or exceeded standards in English, 34% in math, and 29% in science.
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Quick hits: - A search party in Virginia has found the body of a man who tried to walk home six miles in a snowstorm after his truck broke down.
- A mother in Houston faces charges after putting her teenage son into her car's trunk to drive him to a COVID-19 testing site.
- Video shows the moment a man burst into flames after police in New York used a stun gun on him. He had doused himself in hand sanitizer.
- A blizzard killed at least 21 tourists at a resort in Pakistan.
- Sen. Joe Manchin, D. W.Va., appears to have withdrawn his $1.8T counteroffer to President Biden's Build Back Better plan.
- Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the Senate's second-ranking Republican, announced that he will seek re-election.
- The founder of Cyber Ninjas, the firm hired to audit the 2020 election in Arizona only to confirm that Joe Biden did in fact win the state, said he is starting a new firm with the same employees as the old one shuts down under the weight of massive court fines.
- Turkmenistan's president has ordered the "Gateway to Hell," a fire in a large desert gas crater that has been burning for decades, to be extinguished.
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 |  | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. |   | | Editor | He has also recently picked up a 1972 Ford, with a pile of parts for it sitting on the trunk of the 1962 Ford. | |
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