president harris travel to atlanta for what the white house describes as an urgent call on congress to deliver voting rights legislation. the senate majority leader, chuck schumer, apparently hearing that call, insisting that a vote is coming this week to amend the filibuster in advance of the holiday commemorating dr. martin luther king s life. and as voting rights activists are like myself and dr. king s eldest son, we are prepared for action around that holiday. but not necessarily celebration, as we have noted. no, that party may have to wait until we re celebrating and certain that we re celebrating that democracy can stand up to the national surge of voter suppression legislation aimed at minority voters. and the ongoing national trauma unleashed by the big lie, as the nation awaits a date for former vice president mike pence to appear before the house committee investigating january 6th. all of that tonight on politics nation. and we begin with voter rights. join
this festive season how will the great white way handle the set back? and a magical reunion the cast of harry potter are back together for a 20th anniversary special, on new year s day. thank you forjoining us. for more than 30 years, the human rights organisation, memorial, has been chronicling the abuses of the soviet era to ensure the crimes and victims are unearthed and are not forgotten. but now the supreme court has banned russia s oldest human rights organisation, liquidated it to use their language, accusing it of violating a law requiring groups to register as foreign agents. it comes at the end of a year in which the kremlin has cracked down vigorously on its critics. our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg reports. more and more, it feels as if russia is turning the clock back. liquidate, the judge says, as she orders one of russia s oldest civil rights groups, international memorial, to shut down. the n60 was found to have broken russia s draconian foreig
national hospital are testing positive. all told, an average of more than 300 children are being hospitalized each day. that s not because current variants are uniquely targeting them but because we see children who are hospitalized because of covid or in the icu because of covid. they are all unvaccinated. parents are unvaccinated, siblings are unvaccinated. reporter: others fear the return to school next week could be even worse. i think that what we are gaeigae going to see is once children going to school, within a week or two of schools opening is when we are going to see our highest numbers. reporter: amid the winter weather, the pandemic is roaring across the country with over a quarter million new cases now diagnosed daily. that s a record. this omicron variant is such a game-changer, in terms of its high, high transmissibility. it s like this big virus blizzard. reporter: hospitalizations are only about half of what they were last winter, but some state
variant as they are to older strains. this, as hospitals, schools, transportation networks, and other institutions are scrambling to cope with all of it. a lot to talk about tonight. cnn s tom foreman starts us off. reporter: nationwide, hospitalizations of children with covid are up. on average, nearly 50% in just one week. new york city has seen pediatric admissions jump to five times what they were. in washington, d.c., half the kids coming to children s national hospital are testing positive. all told, an average of more than 300 children are being hospitalized each day. that s not because current variants are uniquely targeting them but because we see children who are hospitalized because of covid or in the icu because of covid. they are all unvaccinated. they are unvaccinated. parents are unvaccinated, siblings are unvaccinated. reporter: others fear the return to school next week could be even worse. i think that what we are going to see is once children go b
speaking out as questions grow about the tactics used by police. remembering american legends. longtime senator harry reid and nfl great john madden. tributes are pouring in for these two giants. we begin with the united states reaching a grim milestone in the pandemic as the delta and omicron variants continue to wreak havoc, the u.s. shattering its record for daily cases. the seven-day average now topping 265,000 cases a day. the prior record was set nearly a year ago. public health officials warn these numbers are going to continue to rise. hospitalizations are also up, but not as rapidly. they are about half the all-time high set last winter. the cdc this morning is defending its decision to cut the recommended time of isolation for asymptomatic patients. some scientists are accusing the agency of caving to public pressure instead of following the data. all this as the white house pandemic response team holds a briefing in just moments. let s begin our coverage with c