THE BIG STORY

The CDC says people who are vaccinated can hang out indoors and not wear masks

First of all, if you’re vaccinated, I am incredibly happy for you. Please write us back and tell me how your vaccination went — I simply cannot get enough vaccination stories, and every one of them makes me more hopeful.

But folks who have received the coronavirus vaccine can have a lot more than my excitement — on Monday, the CDC issued new guidelines allowing them to meet indoors with each other without masks, or with one other household of unvaccinated people if they are at a low risk of serious illnesses.

It’s a long-awaited update to the guidelines as more and more people get the vaccine. Right now, about 59 million people in the US have received at least one shot. More than 90 million vaccine doses have been shipped nationwide.

CDC.

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STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

Prosecutors say the Oath Keepers’ leader directed followers during Capitol attack

Federal prosecutors alleged that Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, encouraged followers to come to Washington, DC, armed with non-lethal weapons and later stood outside the Capitol during the insurrection directing them toward a potential entry point.

In a new court filing, prosecutors said Rhodes sent a message on the encrypted Signal app to several of his followers saying: “Come to the South Side of the Capitol on steps” just after 2 p.m. on Jan. 6. Then, at 2:41 p.m., Rhodes posted a photograph of the Capitol with the caption: “South side of US Capitol. Patriots pounding on doors.”

This is a significant move — prosecutors have already charged several Oath Keepers with conspiracy for their actions at the Capitol, but the filing is the clearest indication federal prosecutors have given that they believe Rhodes played a significant role in real-time actions on the ground on Jan. 6.

SNAPSHOTS

Trump has now officially lost all of his postelection challenges in the Supreme Court. Trump argued a case he’d filed in Wisconsin wasn’t moot even after Biden took office. The Supreme Court refused to hear it.

A judge slammed an alleged Capitol rioter’s “media publicity stunt” and refused to let him out of jail. Jacob Chansley, an Arizona man known as the “QAnon shaman” and charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection, taped an interview from jail that aired on 60 Minutes+ last week — which ended up only hurting his case for release.

Biden is offering temporary legal status to thousands of Venezuelan immigrants to the US. The Biden administration said it will offer thousands of Venezuelan immigrants already in the US a temporary protected status that will allow them to live and work in the country for 18 months.

TABLOID TREATMENT

Here’s how British newspapers are covering Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah

Oprah’s sensational interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was a proper Television Event, drawing an estimated 17.1 million viewers, according to early Nielsen data.

In the interview, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle discussed how they felt they have been mistreated by the British press. Just last spring, the couple told British tabloids they would no longer “offer themselves up as currency for an economy of clickbait and distortion.”

Well, after the Oprah interview, the tabloids responded — we rounded up what their front pages had to say.

"An American actress and her well-spoken dope."

READING INTO IT

People are sharing things that authors do in books that distract them

Look, it’s hard enough to read during the pandemic as it is, but when you finally settle in for a book, you don’t want anything to take you out of the story.

People are sharing the things that distract them while they’re trying to read. One example that came up: when characters use other characters’ names too much — we simply don’t do that in real life! Here are the reading pet peeves. What bothers you when you’re reading?

Do something that feels restorative and healing today,

Elamin