| Good morning. It's Wednesday, Dec. 29, and our music critic has some year-end suggestions to refresh your playlists. Now let's get to the news. |
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| Omicron isn't as dangerous for healthy, vaccinated people. - The new coronavirus variant is less likely to send people to the hospital, early data show, among some other encouraging signs.
- What's unknown: Whether boosted older people, or those with health problems, have the same lower risk.
- It's still spreading quickly: The U.S. set a record for new cases yesterday, with a seven-day average of more than 266,000, and some leaders are asking Americans to stay away from large New Year's Eve gatherings.
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| Harry Reid, longtime Senate majority leader, has died.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), center, in 2012. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) | - The 82-year-old Democrat represented Nevada in the Senate for 30 years, serving as leader from 2007 to 2014. He retired in 2016.
- What he achieved: Reid was essential to getting President Barack Obama's health-care bill passed in 2009. He also pushed through recovery bills during the Great Recession.
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| Expect prices to continue rising next year. - Why? Supply chain troubles, the omicron variant and increased demand, economists say.
- What will get more expensive? Pretty much everything. Food brands like Kraft, General Mills and the maker of Oreos, Ritz and Chips Ahoy have already announced price hikes.
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| Cities don't have enough bus drivers, mechanics and train operators. - What this means: Public transportation is being disrupted across the U.S. in cities including L.A., Houston, St. Louis and New York City.
- Why? Competition for qualified drivers with companies like Amazon and FedEx, as well as burnout and retirements.
- It's making commutes more difficult and could potentially raise prices, if costs go up to recruit more employees.
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| NFL Hall of Famer John Madden has died.  Former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden. (Mark Duncan/AP) | - The 85-year-old was a Super Bowl-winning coach who never had a losing season and a legendary broadcaster who called NFL games for three decades.
- Many younger Americans know him as the name, face and voice of a popular NFL video game series.
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| The coronavirus is disrupting football's postseasons. - In the NFL: More than 500 players have tested positive this month as teams try to make the playoffs. There are just two weeks left in the regular season.
- In college: The Holiday Bowl was called off yesterday just hours before the game, becoming the fifth bowl game to be canceled because of covid.
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| Tonight's Powerball jackpot is the third largest of the year. - It's worth $441 million, and if no one wins — matching all six numbers — it will grow before a drawing on Saturday.
- The odds of winning: 1 in 292.2 million. A person has a better chance of getting attacked by a shark (1 in 11.5 million) or struck by lightning (1 in 6.93 million).
You're all caught up. See you tomorrow. But before you go … if you're struggling to find inspiration to cook this week, give one of our most popular recipes of the year a try.  (Jordan Robertson for The Post) | Do you know someone who would like this newsletter? Share it with them. Prefer push notifications? Download The Post's app to get one when The 7 publishes. |
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