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memberships at Iexl.com slash kid news. Good morning and welcome to kid news. I'm Tori. Today is Wednesday,

January 7th, 2026. And we begin with a seasonal reason for all those empty classroom desks. U.S. health experts say the

number of kids and adults walloped by fever, body aches, sore throats, and overall head-toe misery

from the flu is the most in nearly 30 years. Forty-five states are reporting high or very high

levels of activity, much of it pegged to a new

virus strain called subclade K, which continues to spread. Only Montana, South Dakota, Vermont,

and West Virginia have escaped its wrath so far, while data from Nevada was said to be insufficient.

Has this year's bug run its course? No, according to an

epidemiologist with the CDC. We're not anywhere close to being done. People sometimes take

their fashion inspiration from the strangest of places. The latest? Captured Venezuelan President

Nicholas Maduro. American forces slapped a

gray Nike sweatsuit on him before leaving Caracas, and that's reportedly now a bestseller.

And the blue hoodie he was wearing on arrival to New York City? It's made by a company called

Origin, and founder Peter Roberts says his phone is ringing off the hook. He doesn't know exactly how the sweatshirt ended up on the ousted leader, but he's more than happy to accept the free worldwide publicity it provided. In a post on Instagram with a photo of Mr. Maduro wearing the hoodie and giving two thumbs up to the camera, Origin wrote, Welcome to America. Unfortunately, our Patriot Blue RTX hoodie won't be

shipping till spring, but they are available for pre-order. The countdown is on to NASA's biggest show

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