Cat in the Hat will remain available despite criticism of its blackface roots. Vince Bucci / GETTY IMAGES Here's your daily round-up of the latest local and national news. (Like our coverage? Please consider making a recurring contribution to The Stranger to keep it comin'!) Uhhh, U.S. COVID-19 cases appear to be plateauing at summer peak levels: Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Rochelle Walensky expressed "concern" about case averages flattening at around 70,000 after a steep drop in January, reports the BBC. "Please hear me clearly: At this level of cases, with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained," she said. Easing restrictions across the country right now, in other words, might not be such a great idea. The agency previously predicted B.1.1.7., the more virulent variant first identified in the U.K., would become the dominant strain by March, but we don't have enough surveillance of isolated cases to know for sure how prevalent the new variants have become.