promoearn: A possible new COVID variant: Deltacron

Friday, March 11

The omicron variant accounted for more than 95% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. in the last week of 2021, according to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. Although omicron is reportedly causing less severe illness than the delta variant, the increased level of transmission would keep hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. […]

Researchers ID a potential new variant, Biden will call for suspending Russia's preferential trade status and more news to start your Friday.

Good morning, Daily Briefing readers. Just call it "deltacron." Researchers have identified a potential new COVID-19 variant, a combination of delta and omicron. President Joe Biden is poised to announce plans that would put Moscow's trade relationship with the U.S. in the same category as North Korea and Cuba. And Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Romania to discuss the growing numbers of refugees fleeing war-town Ukraine.

It's Jane, with Friday's news.

🦠 There may be a new COVID variant, Deltacron. Here's what we know about it.

🌎 "Very sobering": Global deaths from COVID may be more than 3 times higher than the official toll, a study says.

🗣 "Critical race theory" in the spotlight again: Florida passed the nation's first law restricting how employers talk about race at work.

⚖️ Jussie Smollett, the former "Empire" star found guilty of staging a racist and homophobic attack, was sentenced to 150 days in county jail.

📺 Emilio Delgado, who for 45 years was a familiar presence in children's lives and a rare Latino face as Luis on "Sesame Street," has died. He was 81.

Emilio Delgado

Zach Hyman

🎹 Bobbie Nelson — pianist, singer and the sister of country music icon Willie Nelson — has died. She was 91.

🎤 "I think something special is happening": Alicia Keys vividly remembers the moment she knew "Girl on Fire" could be a career-defining piece of work.

🏃‍♂️ Sportskind: Levi Gobin is determined, and fearless. Watch the 17-year-old from Sarasota, Florida, who is blind, smash it on the Rugged Maniac obstacle course.

📰 Did you follow the news this week? Take our quiz to test your knowledge.

🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, domestic security correspondent Josh Meyer discusses the Unites States' hesitancy to send fighter jets directly to Ukraine. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker.

Here's what's happening today:

Biden to call for suspending Russia's preferential trade status over Ukraine

President Joe Biden will announce Friday the U.S. will join the European Union and G7 allies in calling to revoke Russia's permanent normal trade relations status, which would allow new tariffs on Russian imports , according to a source familiar with the decision. The move, which requires congressional action, comes as a group of bipartisan lawmakers has pressured the president to take more aggressive action to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. The source said Biden looks forward to working with Congress on the legislation, which would put Moscow's trade relationship with the U.S. in the same category as North Korea and Cuba. A diplomatic confrontation is also expected in the U.N. Security Council on Friday . Russia requested the meeting to discuss its claims of "the military biological activities of the U.S. on the territory of Ukraine." The Biden administration has forcefully denied that assertion, saying Moscow could be laying the groundwork for its own attack.

📩 Ukraine-Russia crisis: The latest news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the newsletter

Vice President Harris visits Romania as Ukraine refugee crisis grows

Vice President Kamala Harris and Romania's President Klaus Iohannis will meet Friday in the nation's capital Bucharest to discuss growing concerns about the influx of displaced people fleeing Ukraine due to Russia's invasion. It's a problem that Biden administration officials and European leaders warn will likely get more complicated in the days and weeks ahead. Harris' talks with Iohannis come after she spent Thursday in Poland, which has already welcomed 1.5 million Ukrainians since the invasion began. While in Poland, Harris condemned Russia's airstrikes on a maternity hospital in Ukraine as "atrocities of unimaginable proportions" and urged an investigation into the attacks. She also underscored the United States' commitment to "defend every inch of NATO territory." The trip came amid a controversy after the Pentagon declined Poland's surprise proposal to provide Soviet-built MiG-29 fighter jets for the United States to give to Ukraine.

Harris underscored the United States' commitment to "defend every inch of NATO territory."

USA TODAY

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🏠 "Without a home again": A Jewish orphanage in Ukraine evacuated 300 children amid Russia's invasion.

🛢 The Ukraine crisis shows why the U.S. must become energy independent, President Biden says. Is that possible?

⚖️ "It's time": As Ketanji Brown Jackson met with senators on Capitol Hill, hundreds of Black women called for support for the nominee in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

⚾️ Winners and losers of MLB's new CBA: Owners retain their riches but modest gains for players after the long lockout.

Texas judge hears case in suit against Abbott's directive to treat gender-affirming care as 'child abuse'

District Judge Amy Clark Meachum will hold a hearing Friday on whether to grant an injunction barring the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from following Gov. Greg Abbott's Feb. 23 directive to treat gender-affirming care for minors as "child abuse." This comes after she issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the state's child-welfare agency from investigating a couple for child abuse because they helped their teenage transgender daughter access gender-affirming medical care. Lawyers from two national civil rights organizations asked Meachum in an emergency hearing last week to issue the temporary restraining order. Several families in Texas with transgender kids started to be investigated immediately after Abbott's February order, according to Paul Castillo, senior counsel for civil rights organization Lambda Legal. Meachum's temporary restraining order put those investigations on pause. If she grants an injunction, those and similar investigations would be blocked completely.

'Significant storm' to build into the weekend

A potential "bomb cyclone" storm could batter portions of the central and eastern U.S. Friday and into the weekend, forecasters warn. Severe thunderstorms could rattle portions of the Southeast on Friday and Saturday. "Damaging wind and a few tornadoes are possible late Friday night into early Saturday morning across parts of the Southeast and coastal Carolinas," the Storm Prediction Center said. Heavy snow is forecast across interior portions of the Northeast; as much as a foot is possible in some areas. "Not only is the Northeast looking at snow with this, but it could also be looking at some strong, gusty winds," Weather.com meteorologist Domenica Davis said.

ICYMI: Some of our top stories yesterday

🔴 Russia struggles to explain hospital bombing amid outrage and the massive convoy outside Kyiv breaks up: March 10 recap.

🕷 A spider as big as the palm of your hand could soon invade the East Coast, scientists say.

⛽️ Gas prices are high and up another 7 cents nationwide. Here is the average price in each state.

👶 Elon Musk and Grimes welcomed a second baby, singer Grimes revealed. Their new addition is a girl: Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, or "Y" for short.

MLB players can report to spring training sites after lockout ends

Spring training sites in Florida and Arizona will be open to players Friday, one day after Major League Baseball's acrimonious lockout ended with a new proposed five-year collective bargaining agreement. The deal came 99 days after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred imposed a lockout following the expiration of the last CBA, and one week after the clubs concluded eight days of bargaining in Florida with no deal. Opening day has been pushed back a week to April 7 to allow for a shortened spring training period of a little more than three weeks. The first week of games on the original schedule, which was supposed to begin on March 31, will be rescheduled as doubleheaders or played on teams' mutual off days. After Manfred initially canceled games as negotiations dragged on, the new agreement will keep the full 162-game schedule for the 2022 season.

📸 Life around the world, caught on camera: The day in pictures 📸

March 10, 2022: Paratroopers perform during a horse and cattle show organised by Youth Affairs Department Punjab in Lahore.

ARIF ALI, AFP via Getty Images

Paratroopers create dazzling loops in the sky in Pakistan. Destroyed Russian tanks are seen on a main road north of Kyiv as war rages in Ukraine. A skier takes part in the men's giant slalom at the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games in China.

These are just a few of the pictures of life captured by photographers around the globe. Scroll through the gallery to see more of the day in pictures.

Contributing: The Associated Press