📝 Good afternoon and welcome to Notes on the News. Here’s what you should know today, Jan. 6. Violent protests in Kazakhstan leave dozens dead, President Biden blamed his predecessor for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on the anniversary of the attack and the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to workplace vaccine mandates.

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1. Dozens of people were killed in Kazakhstan as protesters clashed with security forces. Demonstrations began in reaction to surging fuel prices but have grown into broader antigovernment protests against the resource-rich former Soviet republic’s authoritarian regime. More than 2,000 people were detained.

2. Murders in U.S. cities were at near-record highs last year. Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., Louisville, Ky., and Albuquerque, N.M., set new records for homicides. Experts don’t agree on the reason for the increase in violence but some cite pandemic-related stress, strained relations between police and Black communities and bail reform in some jurisdictions among the possibilities.

3. The Supreme Court will consider whether the Biden administration can enforce workplace vaccine requirements. At issue are Covid-19 vaccination and testing rules for large private employers and vaccine mandates for healthcare workers, which business groups and largely GOP-led states have challenged. The U.S. is seeing a record number of Covid-19 cases.

4. WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS are thinking about selling the CW Network. The largest broadcaster in the U.S., Nexstar Media Group, is already far along in talks to potentially acquire the teen- and young-adult-focused network, which counts. “Riverdale,” “All American” and “The Flash” among its big hits.

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152 million — The number of hours Netflix subscribers spent watching the Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio movie “Don’t Look Up,” making the satirical film No. 1 on the streaming service’s weekly top 10 ranking for the second consecutive week.

50%+ — The share of Fresca consumers who mix the grapefruit-flavored soda with alcohol. But soon, Coca-Cola, the beverage giant that owns it, will help those drinkers out by partnering with Constellation Brands to launch a line of canned Fresca cocktails this year.

8 — The number of homes in the U.S. that sold for $100 million or more in 2021. That’s a 300% increase from the year before. Experts credit low interest rates and more wealth due to stock market gains and alternative assets, like cryptocurrencies, for the jump in luxury home sales.

President Biden stepped up his criticism of former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Today is the first anniversary of the attack, in which a pro-Trump mob stormed the building seeking to disrupt certification of the election results. In remarks commemorating the assault, Biden took aim at his predecessor without identifying him by name, saying that “bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution” and accused him of spreading a “web of lies about the 2020 election.” Trump, who has continued to falsely assert that the election was stolen, released a statement saying the current White House occupant was using him “to try to further divide America. This political theater is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed.” More than 700 people face criminal charges stemming from the riot, and four people died as a result of the attack, according to the Washington, D.C., medical examiner’s office.

Flying embers are to blame for causing Colorado’s massive Marshall Fire to spread.

The Dec. 30 blaze forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate and destroyed close to 1,000 homes in areas traditionally thought to be safe from wildfires because of their distance from the mountains where fires usually occur. Boulder County’s historic drought means hotter embers travel farther and torch dry land, despite the region’s vigorous fire-protection plans for foothills and mountain communities. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the 6,067-acre fire that spread to the suburbs.

It is possible to have work meetings that you don’t hate attending.

They tire you out and often don’t have a point, but they fill your calendar nonetheless. Experts have identified four types of meetings that make sense and suggest bosses take certain steps (e.g. have a clear agenda, trim the invite list, allow for informal shmoozing at the start, relegate some information-sharing to email, etc.) to make this workplace staple more bearable.

• Looking at art might be a path to mental well-being.
• Despite Theranos and other startup disasters, founders have more power than ever.
• The ‘Omicron LeBrons’—temporary basketballers who subbed in as Covid caseloads surged—want to stay in the NBA.
• 🎧 To find your dream job in 2022, know your goals.

• Go watch America’s newest team sport: It’s—wait for it—bull riding. The Professional Bull Riders, the largest league for a version of the sport in which teams rather than lone riders compete, is creating eight new franchises, which billionaire fans will own. Teams with American West-inspired names, like the Oklahoma Freedom and the Texas Rattlers, will compete for $8 million in winnings.

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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