Worrisome Omicron COVID Variant Rattles World Leaders: Here's Why

Good morning! It’s Saturday, Nov. 27, the biggest day of the year for the “Shop Small” movement. We’ll have more about Small Business Saturday later — but first, here are a few of the other stories we’re following:

• The United States and other nations are responding to a worrisome new coronavirus variant with travel bans and other restrictions.
• Three people, including a 10-year-old, were injured in a shooting in a North Carolina mall on Black Friday.
• The bones of a rare dinosaur may rewrite the natural history of the area where they were found.
• GoFundMe yanked a crowdfunding campaign to help the man charged in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, Christmas parade make bail.

The discovery of a new coronavirus variant sent a chill through much of the world Friday as nations raced to halt air travel, markets fell sharply and scientists held emergency meetings to weigh the exact risks, which were largely unknown.

A World Health Organization panel named the variant "omicron" and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the delta variant. The WHO suggested the variant could pose greater risks than delta, which is the world's most prevalent variant and has fueled relentless waves of infection on every continent.

Early evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection compared to other highly transmissible variants, the WHO said. That means people who contracted COVID-19 and recovered could be subject to catching it again.

In response, the United States and Canada joined the European Union and several other countries in instituting travel restrictions on visitors from southern Africa. » New Omicron Variant Stokes World Fears, Triggers Travel Bans, via Across America Patch

• New COVID-19 Variant In South Africa: Explainer

Black Friday Shooting At Mall

Authorities said a 10-year-old child was among the three people shot on Black Friday at The Streets at Southpoint mall in Durham, North Carolina. The shooting involved two groups of people who knew each other, Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews, according to the News & Observer newspaper.

One person is custody in the shooting. Andrews said off-duty Durham police officers working security at the mall on one of the busiest shopping days of the year requested assistance after hearing gunshots around 3:23 p.m. local time. » The Latest Durham, North Carolina, Mall Shooting, via the News & Observer

Jurassic Park In Missouri?

Paleontologist Guy Darrough calls the discovery of four new dinosaur skeletons in an area not known for the prehistoric reptiles a “big, big deal” on par with “finding King Tut’s treasure in Missouri.”

Darrough found the skeleton at a site near Boliver, Missouri, and is working with archaeologists from the Chicago Field Museum to learn more. » A Rare Dinosaur Skeleton May Rewrite An Area’s Natural History, via Chicago Patch

No GoFundMe For Waukesha Suspect

The crowdfunding site GoFundMe yanked a campaign to raise money to help Darrell Brooks Jr., who was released from custody shortly before last weekend’s Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy, make bail again.

A GoFundMe spokesperson said the campaign violated the site’s service terms, and that it was removed before any money was raised.

A judge set a cash-only bond of $5 million when Brooks, 39, was arraigned Tuesday on multiple counts of first-degree homicide in connection with the tragedy. Six people were killed and more than 60 people were injured. » GoFundMe Says No Way To Waukesha Suspect Make Bail, via Waukesha, Wisconsin, Patch

• Thousands Donated After Waukesha Parade Catastrophe
• Parade Death Suspect Previously Arrested In Georgia
• Read All Of Patch’s Waukesha Christmas Parade Coverage

Think Big, But ‘Shop Small’

Small Business Saturday is an important day for small businesses and mom-and-pop shops that pump both cash and vibrancy into local communities.

But it’s important to remember the “Shop Small” movement is a year-round affair. Small-business owners sponsor Little League teams and fine arts booster clubs. They step up to fill voids you may not even have known existed. As George Bailey learned about his own life in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a mighty big hole would exist without them. » 5 Ways To Show Gratitude On Small Business Saturday, Year-Round, via Across America Patch

• Small Business Saturday 2021: ‘Shop Small’ This Holiday Season

Around ‘The Patch’

Your Good News Fix: Here are 13 good news stories to get your Saturday started on the right note, via Across America Patch.

All I Want For Christmas Is … Toilet Golf? No judgment — just sayin’ it was one of the more unique gifts available in Connecticut on Black Friday, via Across Connecticut Patch.

Soap Opera’s Soap Opera: Steve Burton, who has played Jason Morgan on the long-running soap opera “General Hospital” since 1991, abruptly left the show over its COVID-19 vaccination requirements, the second GH actor to do so, via Hollywood, California, Patch.

• Surfing Santas And Other ‘Only In Florida’ Traditions, via Sarasota Patch
• Photos: Claire Wins Again At National Dog Show, via Philadelphia Patch
• Stephen Sondheim, The Titan Of The American Musical, Dies, via Midtown-Hell’s Kitchen, New York City
• Gray Wolf Dies After ‘Epic’ California Trek, via San Francisco Patch
• Stores Kick Off Black Friday; Pandemic Woes Linger, via Across America Patch

Today In History

A Nov. 27, 1911, entry in a diary kept by White House housekeeper Elizabeth Jaffray notes a conversation she had with President William Howard Taft and his wife, Nellie, about the 322-pound commander in chief’s growing waistline. Typically, Jaffray noted, the president would have a breakfast of “two oranges, a twelve-ounce beefsteak, several pieces of toast and butter and a vast quantity of coffee with cream and sugar.” Taft said he would go on a diet, but at the same time lamented the fact that “things are in a sad state of affairs when a man can’t even call his gizzard his own,” via History.com.

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