From Pittsburgh's mayoral and council races to what those statewide ballot initiatives really mean, this week's Pittsburgh Explainer talks with political reporters from around Pennsylvania about what you can expect at the ballot box next week.

It is unclear what impact this will have on teachers, staff and students in the near term. In some states, masks in schools are already optional.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said," We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some kind of normalcy." But local authorities are making their own decisions on relaxing the rules.

President Joe Biden is welcoming a group of Republican senators to the White House to talk infrastructure. Thursday's meeting comes as negotiations intensify over a potentially bipartisan proposal that could become one piece of the administration’s ambitious $4 trillion public investment plan.

Some parts of public life in the U.S. still operate according to restrictive rules, and that includes planes, trains and buses.