
There's a new COVID-19 variant and cases are ticking up. What do you need to know?
CBSN
It's winter, that cozy season that brings crackling fireplaces, indoor gatherings — and a wave of respiratory illness. Nearly four years since the pandemic emerged, people are growing weary of dealing with it, but the virus is not done with us.
Nationally, a sharp uptick in emergency room visits and hospitalizations for COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, began in mid-December and appears to be gaining momentum.
Here are a few things to know this time around:

The president of El Salvador is refuting allegations made by Kilmar Abrego Garcia - the man whose mistaken deportation by the Trump administration has fueled a monthslong legal saga – in which he said he was beaten and subject to psychological torture while in prison in the Central American country.

Washington — President Trump is bringing pomp and circumstance to his signing of the "big, beautiful bill" on Friday, with a 4 p.m. Independence Day ceremony at the White House. The current $2,000 child tax credit, which would return to a pre-2017 level of $1,000 in 2026, will permanently increase to $2,200. The bill would allow many tipped workers to deduct up to $25,000 of their tips and overtime from their taxes. That provision expires in 2028. The bill would make changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, expanding work requirements and requiring state governments with higher payment error rates to cover some of the program's costs. The legislation also includes more than $46.5 billion for border wall construction and related expenses, $45 billion to expand detention capacity for immigrants in custody and about $30 billion in funding for hiring, training and other resources for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The legislation would raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, going beyond the $4 trillion outlined in the initial House-passed bill. Congress faces a deadline to address the debt limit later this summer.