Only a month ago, President Joe Biden finally admitted that the Covid pandemic is over. Long overdue, for sure, writes James Freeman in the WSJ. Then why isn’t the President willing to relinquish his emergency powers?

Amanda Seitz reports for the Associated Press:

The Biden administration said Thursday that the COVID-19 public health emergency will continue through Jan. 11 as officials brace for a spike in cases this winter.

The decision comes as the pandemic has faded from the forefront of many people’s minds. Daily deaths and infections are dropping and people — many of them maskless — are returning to schools, work and grocery stores as normal.

As the U.S. approaches the third anniversary of the original federal declaration—not to mention various state and local pronouncements—voters should ask candidates and especially governors a key question: Are they willing to curtail the emergency powers that have been so abused in this era of mandates, misguided prohibitions and misallocated resources?

Lowest ACT College Admissions

AP’s Cheyanne Mumphrey reported:

Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic.

The class of 2022′s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. What’s more, an increasing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject-area benchmarks set by the ACT — showing a decline in preparedness for college-level coursework.

The test scores, made public in a report Wednesday, show 42% of ACT-tested graduates in the class of 2022 met none of the subject benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, which are indicators of how well students are expected to perform in corresponding college courses.

Mr. Freeman, who worries that the political panic that resulted in lockdowns will haunt these kids for years, argues that as a nation we need to ensure this disaster is not repeated.