📝 Good afternoon and welcome to Notes on the News. Here’s what you should know today, Jan. 25: The EPA plans to get tougher on power plants, people are now enrolling in tests of Pfizer and BioNTech’s reformulated Omicron variant vaccine and Elon Musk wants McDonald’s to accept dogecoin.

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1. The SAT is getting a makeover. The new college-admissions test will be digital, not paper, and two hours, not three. Scores will arrive in days, not weeks. It launches internationally in March 2023 and in the U.S. in March 2024.

2. U.S. commercial-property sales hit a record $809 billion last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to data firm Real Capital Analytics. 2021’s total was nearly twice 2020’s. The most popular commercial property type last year was rental apartments; landlords are charging high rents for tenants who can’t afford to buy. Also popular were industrial sites and hotels that cater to vacationers, not business travelers.

• Florida’s west coast cities top the Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index.

3. The Environmental Protection Agency wants stricter rules to limit power plant pollution. In the coming months, the agency plans to propose tougher air-quality standards for mercury and other toxic pollutants and more restrictive wastewater rules  to protect poor and minority neighborhoods that often get the brunt of power plant pollution and to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

4. Elon Musk says he will eat a Happy Meal on TV if McDonald’s starts accepting dogecoin. The Tesla CEO is known for his “lovin’ it” attitude toward the cryptocurrency. Earlier this month, he said the electric-vehicle maker would accept dogecoin as payment for some merchandise. The burger giant didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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$6.5 million — The average cost of 30 seconds of ad time during this year’s Super Bowl, the ad-tracking firm Kantar estimated. That’s up from $5.5 million last year. The game will air on CBS on Feb. 13.

131 — The number of countries that failed to make any meaningful progress on corruption over the last decade, according to the Berlin-based advocacy group Transparency International, which looked at 180. The reputations of more than two dozen were at an all-time low.

95% — The share of workers who want flexible hours versus 78% who want location flexibility. Future Forum, a consortium focused on reimagining the future of work led by Slack Technologies, surveyed more than 10,000 knowledge workers in November.

Pfizer and BioNTech have begun enrolling people in tests of their Covid-19 vaccine that targets the Omicron variant.

One person has already received the modified shot; people ages 18-55 in the U.S. and South Africa may sign up. Distribution could begin as early as March, if authorized. Omicron continues to rage, with U.S. Covid deaths topping 2,100 a day on average, the highest in close to a year. Meanwhile, the first batch of the federal government’s 400 million free N95 masks have shipped to pharmacies and community health centers, with a limited number already available now. The program is expected to be fully functioning by early next month.

• I think I might have Covid-19. Should I isolate or quarantine?

Experian will permit consumers who don’t have credit reports to create them from scratch, starting this week.

The program helps the roughly 28 million Americans without credit reports, because without credit scores, they often can’t borrow from banks and other mainstream lenders. Among those most affected are college students, people who avoid debt, immigrants and many Black and Hispanic adults. Many in Experian’s Go program will link recurring nondebt bills—including utilities, cable, cell phone and streaming services—to their newly created credit reports. Experian says that will get them, on average, from having no FICO score to a 665, the baseline for what lenders consider decent credit. Experian then can pitch them credit cards—and collect money from issuers, if consumers open accounts.

Russia and Ukraine: On the brink of war?

As Russian President Vladimir Putin deploys troops along the border of Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO face the possibility of a land war in Europe. What options does the West have? What is motivating Putin? Tomorrow at 1 pm ET, join Jerry Seib, the WSJ's Washington editor, in conversation with reporters Ann Simmons and James Marson about the origins of the crisis, the latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine border and where the U.S. goes from here.

• ▶️ The question now is how far the U.S. will go to defend Ukraine.

• Google overhauls its cookie replacement plan after privacy critiques.
• Fidelity, once stodgy and adrift, bets on the Reddit crowd.
• ▶️ It’s time to ditch your old remote. Here’s why.
• People itching to cruise by cargo ship hope for a reversal of Covid-19 bans.
• 🎧 Ask yourself if you’d trade your personal data for cheaper insurance.

• Go crazy with your Dua Lipa fandom: You already know about the Grammy winner’s incredibly popular music. Maybe you’re aware of her guest-hosting for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and her livestream concert that drew about five million views. Perhaps also on your I-heart list are the long-delayed “Future Nostalgia” tour, scheduled to start Feb. 9 in Miami and her film debut in the upcoming spy movie “Argylle.” Now, add a personal-recommendation newsletter, Service95, and a companion podcast, “At Your Service,” launching next week.

Today's newsletter was curated by Zlati Meyer in New York, in collaboration with publishing editor Rich Bellis in New York.

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