*** REGIONAL NEWS FROM WEDNESDAY ***

+ KING-5 TV: Thieves are stealing copper wire along Washington’s highways

+ The Olympian: Active shooter drills cause depression, anxiety in students. [WA.] Lawmakers want to change that

+ McClatchy Newspapers: Western Washington starting to see Omicron wave let up as Eastern Washington revs up

+ Airliner Watch: Alaska Airlines expands Finnair codeshare agreement for deeper global reach – Finnair to begin nonstop service to Helsinki

+ CQ Roll Call via The Olympian: Unvaccinated truckers find roadblocks at Canada-US border – exacerbating the supply-chain logjam

+ KING-5 TV via MSN: Researchers monitoring ground swells under volcanic region of central Oregon

*** NATIONAL NEWS FROM WEDNESDAY ***

CNN: NSA watchdog finds ‘concerns’ with searches of Americans’ communications

MSNBC’s Morning Joe: Former Facebook Public Policy Director, Katie Harbathsays company not ready for election wave

*** VIRUS NEWS FROM WEDNESDAY ***

Common Dreams: U.S. Has the Highest COVID Death Rate Among Wealthy Countries

Associated Press: ‘Take back life’: More nations ease coronavirus restrictions

FOX News: US truckers slam Facebook for removing page organizing DC freedom convoy: ‘Censorship at its finest’

Business Insider: US Army starts kicking out COVID-19 vaccine refusers after over 3,000 soldiers got in trouble for not getting the shots – Truckers plan to drive from California to Washington, D.C., in protest of vaccine mandates.

New York Daily News: Nearly 4K unvaccinated NYC workers face firing next week amid slowdown in COVID shots

The Hill: WHO warns nations about lifting COVID-19 restrictions

*** TRUMP NEWS FROM WEDNESDAY ***

The New York Times: Memos Show Roots of Trump’s Focus on Jan. 6 and Alternate Electors – Just over two weeks after Election Day, lawyers working with the Trump campaign set out a rationale for creating alternate slates of electors as part of an effort to buy time to overturn the results.

Newsweek via MSN: Donald Trump Says ‘RINO’ Lindsey Graham Is ‘Wrong’ on Pardons for Capitol Rioters

CBS News via MSN: Impeachment witness Alexander Vindman sues Trump Jr., Giuliani