Hospitals and long-term care facilities are so short-staffed, many are relying on new CDC guidance to bring asymptomatic doctors and nurses back to work — even as the U.S. is poised to break a record 142,000 covid-19 hospitalizations. Reporter Rachael Levy on the no-win situation that hospitals now face.

The Senate is back in session this week — covid numbers are rising and Joe Manchin has voiced his opposition to President Biden's social spending plan. So where do Senate Democrats go from here? Marianne LeVine on where things stand in Congress right now.

The best example of the Biden administration's industrial policy goals might be at Hanwha Q Cells, a solar panel factory in Georgia which employs 700 people and manufactures more than 10,000 solar panels a day. Trade reporter Gavin Bade reports with a dispatch from Hanwha.

This week, the CDC doubled down on its Dec. 29 guidance that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients can leave isolation after five days without a negative test. Erin Banco reports on the policy and politics behind that decision.

The message from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is that schools should do what they can to remain open for in-person learning. But with Omicron cases surging among students and school staff, plus a possible teacher shortage, how will schools adjust? Juan Perez reports.

The latest product launch from Google and Amazon? Being the underdog against Congress. Emily Birnbaum on the surprising ways Amazon and Google are mobilizing to counter regulatory efforts.

Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. As that date approaches, a slew of new polls out highlight the splintering effect the attack has with voters — and on Donald Trump's influence on the Republican party. David Siders reports.

On an episode of Weedcast from June 17, POLITICO's Natalie Fertig breaks down how the Mormon church was able to help get medical marijuana green lit in deeply red Utah.

Las Vegas tried to reopen without widespread vaccination, but those plans crashed into reality. Will things be different this time? POLITICO’s Megan Cassella reports.

In the middle of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt founded the Civilian Conservation Corps, a group responsible for hiring hundreds of thousands of white men to develop trails and build infrastructure that is still standing today. Now, Democrats want to create a similar, but more divers, group to build a new Corps to help the economy recover from the pandemic and fight climate change at once. POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna has the details on the plan for a Civilian Climate Corps.

“Somebody’s gotta do it. It might as well be me.” So says Ivan Adler, the “lobbyist hunter” who plucks D.C.’s most idealistic Hill staffers and turns them into K Street top dogs. POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza pry open the revolving door between the Hill and K Street — one of the most controversial but everlasting features of Washington’s underbelly.

On today's special episode of Dogs-patch — er, Dispatch: a brief history of presidential pets at 1600 Pennsylvania, featuring the Kennedy's dog Pushinka (who might have helped avert nuclear war), Teddy Roosevelt's badger (really more questions than answers here) and Nixon's dog Checkers (who sadly passed before he could rescue his owner from Watergate). Andrew Hager, the historian-in-residence at the Presidential Pet Museum, provides biting commentary on the furry residents of the White House.

"It's been brutal." POLITICO's Juan Perez on the biggest issues schools have faced in 2021 and the fights that are yet to come.

Consider this your politics-year-in-review, high school superlatives style. Ryan Lizza breaks it down.

At least 65% of Italians agree on one thing: Prime Minister Mario Draghi is doing a good job. So good a job he's a good candidate for president — in addition to Prime Minister. The problem? Those jobs are mutually exclusive. Hannah Roberts reports.

Robert Califf sailed through his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, despite some opposition from Democrats ranging from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin. A confirmation vote in January would give the agency a permanent political leader for the first time during the Biden presidency. Adam Cancryn reports.

In the land of beignets and Jazz, the Democratic Governors Association had its winter meeting to discuss reversing nationwide trends at the polls after losses last month in Virginia and New Jersey. If next year’s races are going to be any different, Democratic governors say the party needs to do a better job of hearing voters’ concerns about a frustratingly persistent pandemic. Zach Montellaro reports.

After a wave of blue wins in 2020 in Georgia, the GOP-led state legislature is taking steps toward dismantling the Atlanta-area engine that turned Georgia blue. Maya King reports.

The Supreme Court’s S.B. 8 ruling on Friday was mixed. It allows for some cases brought by opponents of the restrictive law to proceed — but closed major avenues for legal challenges, including one that has been sought by the Biden administration. Josh Gerstein reports.

While athletes prepare to travel to Beijing this February for the Winter Olympics, Canada, Australia and the U.K. joined the United States this week in announcing diplomatic boycotts of the Chinese Olympic games. Phelim Kine reports.

President Biden on Monday nudged members of his party in Congress push through his signature Build Back Better plan, which includes health provisions to change prescription drug pricing. Democrats’ ability to meaningfully impact drug prices, however, depends heavily on Congress passing the party’s $1.7 trillion social spending bill in the coming weeks. Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.

In a 36-page memo to the Jan. 6 committee, Col. Earl Matthews slams the Pentagon's inspector general for what he calls an error-ridden report. Plus, Marc Short, former chief of staff to Mike Pence, is cooperating with the Capitol riot committee. Meridith McGraw reports.

What will it take to declare victory over Covid? POLITICO's Sarah Owermohle reports.

In North Carolina, the race for the Senate reveals the party’s internal conflict over race and the best strategy to win a crucial seat. POLITICO's Michael Kruse reports.

After seven Senate terms and three runs for president, Joe Biden has mastered his folksy image. But behind "the Delaware way" are secrets in Joe's family tree and son Hunter's foreign deals. National political correspondent Ben Schreckinger tells Playbook's Ryan Lizza about what he uncovered while investigating his book, “The Bidens: Inside The First Family’s Fifty-Year Rise to Power.”