For more than two years now, a leading news story around the world has been COVID-19.

It's still going

In fact, new international records have been set in recent days for the number of people testing positive for coronavirus.

In the United States, the majority of those new infections ⏤ 90% in some places ⏤ have been linked to the newer Omicron variant of the virus which was first identified in South Africa last Fall.

Health officials say it's extraordinarily contagious, more so than other versions of COVID-19.

The US government says COVID vaccinations are the best defense against all of the virus variants that are currently spreading, and some hospital officials have told CNN that most of their COVID patients have been unvaccinated.

But despite the fact that more than 62% of the entire US population has been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, the country has seen more new infections than ever.

The record set last Monday was over 1,082,000 positive tests, as Omicron has infected both the unvaccinated and the vaccinated.

There is a silver lining, though.

Experts believe Omicron is less severe than other COVID variants, it has milder symptoms overall, and while more people may catch it, it appears to be causing fewer deaths.

Still, there've been major differences in how communities and governments have responded to Omicron spread.

In some cities, for instance, people need to show proof they've been vaccinated in order to go to restaurants, gyms, bowling alleys, or concerts.

In other areas, people are going about their business as usual without requirements or restrictions in place.

When it comes to schools, research has shown that in-person learning is better for students' mental health, but concerns about Omicron's threat to physical health have renewed debate in some communities about whether schools should stay open

Back-to-school hangs in the balance for the country's third-largest school district as negotiations between Chicago public schools and the teachers union remain deadlocked over returning to in-person learning.

I'm not happy that we're not at work; we want to be at work and we... we want people to understand that this... this idea was to go remote, not to stop working.

Melanie Lopez is a high school teacher in the school district and a union member.

It's a teachers union that has argued the city of Chicago hasn't provided adequate resources to be in-person safely.

Did you feel like you had what you needed in the classroom for it to run safely?

I did 'cause I bought it; I don't know if that makes...

- With your own money? - With my own money. Right.

The city, however, has argued, through masking, vaccinations, testing, and more, that school is still safer than being at home, even with record numbers of cases among students, staff, and across Chicago in recent weeks.

The difference between now and a year ago is, obviously, we have vaccines, uh, for a huge swath of our, uh, school-based population.

I think that the issues that are on the table, as I understand them, we can narrow the divide and get a deal done.

Schools are safe, um, there's been no question about that.

The union disagrees, and one of the major sticking points in their ongoing negotiations with the city is testing.

Governor JB Pritzker's office confirmed Friday it had been in touch with the White House in recent days, asking for more tests.

The White House confirmed those conversations with Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to assess their needs.

All the while, students have been out of class and parents have been frustrated.

10-second trivia: In terms of land area, which of these nations is the largest?

Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, or Ukraine.

Though it's not the most populated nation on this list, Kazakhstan is by far the largest in area.

Kazakhstan's been grappling with violent protests over the past week.

At least 164 people there have been killed, including dozens of demonstrators and at least 18 law enforcement officers.

More than 5,000 people are reportedly being held by the government.

It's declared a state of emergency and asked other nations to help protect government buildings ⏤ some of those have been burned.

The unrest started after the price of a type of gasoline suddenly doubled.

Afterward, the Kazakh government said it would limit what those prices would be, but the protests grew to include other complaints over corruption, the standard of living, poverty, and unemployment.

Some Kazakh leaders have resigned, though the nation's president remains in place.

He's characterized the protesters as criminals, murderers, and terrorists, and he's ordered government troops to shoot those who don't surrender.

Kazakhstan rarely makes headlines in the west, but that changed when these protests over rising living costs were met with brutal repression.

As so-called peacekeepers from Russia and other post-soviet states hit the streets of the country's biggest city, Almaty, there's deep unease at where the Central Asian state is now heading.

The rest is going to be keeping an eye on Russian imperial ambitions, and perhaps they could start stationing troops there.

But nonetheless, they could... they could make several power plays.

Home to 19 million people spread over the ninth-largest sovereign land mass, Kazakhstan stands between 2 increasingly autocratic superpowers, Russia to the North and China in the east.

Economically, it still has one foot in the past, relying on Russia for most of its trade, whilst also hosting the Baikonur cosmodrome, crucial to the Kremlin space program.

Large deposits of coal and natural gas, as well as a 3% chunk of the planet's oil reserves and 40% of its uranium, mean that Kazakhstan's people could be rich.

But, thanks to a ruling elite in power since the fall of communism, few share in that wealth.

For now, it's unclear what the future holds for Kazakhstan and the country's stymied potential.

What is becoming clearer is the world is watching and is worried.

Nina dos Santos, CNN, in London.

Up next today, thunderstorms in the American South, sub-zero wind chills in the Upper Midwest, treacherous, icy conditions in the Northeast ⏤ all of it is because of a cold front that swept across the country over the weekend.

Tens of millions were under a winter weather alert Sunday morning, with freezing rain, ice, and sleet threatening some parts of the Northeast.

It came less than a week after another snowstorm led to a number of accidents and a shutdown of Interstate 95 in Virginia.

Hundreds of drivers were stranded along a 50-mile stretch of the road and the backup was too severe for even snowplows to get through.

Thankfully, no injuries or deaths were reported, even though people were stuck in their cars overnight.

If you ever get caught driving in a fast descending snowstorm, here's a tip.

So, we're all used to seeing cars fishtailing on icy and snow-packed roads, but the more common and more expensive skid is called an understeer.

We turn in and the car doesn't want to respond.

And to make it turn better, I have to take steering out ⏤ and notice how the ark came right back, and we're now where we wanna be.

- We ⏤ the car almost re-corrected itself. - Correct.

If I... if I had just kept the steering turned in or added more, which is what's commonly done ⏤ because our instinct is to, well, if it isn't steering enough, I need to go ahead and steer a bunch more ⏤ the car is gonna respond even worse.

Eventually, you run into a curb or into oncoming traffic.

Your speed's good.

Alright, now go ahead and turn in.

Notice how it doesn't want to respond? Straighten the wheel out slightly, OK.

So, by letting go of the steering wheel, you almost notice it straightened out too much.

- Yes, right. - Okay, so just feed the steering wheel back gently.

Okay, break, break... off the brakes completely... now turn.

What a marked difference.

Henry Ford once said, "Customers could have a Model T painted any color they wanted, as long as it was black."

As far as this BMW concept is concerned, customers could have black or white or a whole lot in between, as this thing can change color.

The vehicle's wrapped in electronic ink, like the kind found in e-readers, that allows a variety of monochromatic patterns, including racing stripes.

If and when it's produced, other color options may also be possible.

So, it's both color-shifting and monochrome-automatic.

Would it make a "hue" difference? It would across the spectrum of buyers who are looking to break free from the "prism" of single-color options.

But while this is something that hasn't really been seen "Roy G" before, critics will say it's just "throwing shade".

I'm Carl Azuz; Elizabeth High School, thank you for watching from Elizabeth, Colorado.

The one place we look for the schools we mention is our YouTube channel, that's at youtube.com/CNN10.

We hope to see y'all tomorrow.