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Today's edition of quick hits:
* Great news for fans of pollution: "The Trump administration on Monday rejected setting tougher standards on soot, the nation's most widespread deadly air pollutant, saying the existing regulations remain sufficient even as some public health experts and environmental justice communities had pleaded for stricter limits."
* The latest infection within Trump's inner circle: "President Donald Trump announced Sunday that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has led his efforts to overturn last month's election, has tested positive for Covid-19.... On Monday morning, a source familiar with Giuliani's diagnosis said that he is at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in northwest Washington, D.C., feeling mild symptoms so far."
* In related news: "The Arizona Legislature will be closed all next week after at least 15 current or future Republican legislators may have been directly exposed to COVID-19 by meeting with Rudy Giuliani."
* A big ruling from Friday night: "A New York federal judge on Friday restored the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — which President Donald Trump has tried to end — in a court ruling that would swiftly grant thousands of immigrants whose parents brought them to the U.S. as young children the ability to continue to work and study in the country."
* If only Team Trump cared about such findings: "The White House's top trade advisor has now become the latest administration official to have violated the firewall between politics and government. Peter Navarro repeatedly violated the Hatch Act over several months in 2020 with attacks against Joe Biden, the Office of Special Counsel said in a report released Monday."
* The right will have to update its talking points: "Sweden's Covid-19 experiment is over. After a late autumn surge in infections led to rising hospitalizations and deaths, the government has abandoned its attempt -- unique among Western nations -- to combat the pandemic through voluntary measures."
* Climate crisis: "Last month was the hottest November on record, European researchers said Monday, as the relentlessly warming climate proved too much even for any possible effects of cooler ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean."
* Seriously? "A Wyoming Department of Health official involved in the state's response to the coronavirus questioned the legitimacy of the pandemic and described a forthcoming vaccine as a biological weapon at a recent event."
* Alabama: "Former Sen. Larry Dixon, a Republican who also served as the executive director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, died from Covid-19 on Dec. 4, the board said in a statement on Friday." Dixon told a close friend, "We messed up, we let our guard down. Please tell everybody to be careful. This is real, and if you get diagnosed, get help immediately."
See you tomorrow.