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Flu cases are surging

(NYT) — This flu season has been particularly brutal, and it isn’t showing signs of letting up.

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Since October, there have been at least 24 million cases in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that there have been as many as 650,000 hospitalizations, which would make it the highest hospitalization level since 2017. Many parts of the country are reporting “high” or “very high” flu rates.

The high case counts right now are striking, given that this is the time of year when flu typically starts to slow down, said Dr. Susan R. Russell, medical director at the medical intensive-care unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. But Russell said she was still seeing a flood of patients in the hospital sick with the flu.

It’s not entirely clear why the current flu season has been so severe. Doctors said vaccination rates have not been as high as they would like to see.

Trump made chair of Kennedy Center as its president is fired

(NYT) — President Donald Trump was made chair of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, he announced Wednesday, cementing his grip on an institution that he recently purged of Biden appointees.

The center’s longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, was then fired from her position, the center said. Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist who was ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration, was appointed the center’s interim president.

Trump’s actions prompted an outcry in the cultural world.

Unions sue Trump, fearing mass firings of federal employees

(Reuters) — Five unions sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, seeking to block what they called the possible mass firing of hundreds of thousands of federal employees who resist pressure to accept buyouts.

In a complaint filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, the unions accused the White House and others in the Executive Branch of undermining Congress’ role in creating and funding a federal workforce, violating separation of powers principles.

The plaintiffs include the United Auto Workers, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

Russia says it rescues all 139 fishermen stranded on ice floe

(Reuters) — Russia’s emergency services said on Wednesday that it had rescued all 139 fishermen stranded on an ice floe drifting in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Western Pacific.

Earlier, the ministry said that about 300 were stranded and that some of them refused “to leave without a catch under any circumstances”.

The ministry posted several videos from the rescue operation, including one showing fishermen walking on snowy ice away from the rescuers.

But later the ministry said on the Telegram messaging service that a rescue operation involving helicopters and vessels had brought all 139 stranded people ashore.