As omicron spreads, New York will limit people at Times Square Ball Drop

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City readied to embrace the new year — and bid good riddance to another pandemic-marred 12 months — as it prepared to revive its annual New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square.It did so as an uneasy nation tries to muster optimism that the worst days of the pandemic are now behind it — even as public health officials cautioned Friday against unbridled celebrations amid surging COVID infections from the omicron variant.The city said it would lim