How inflation is wiping out pay raises. Plus, how Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s mask mandate ban has plunged Virginia’s public schools into chaos. 

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After years of barely budging, wage growth is finally at its highest level in decades. Workers have more negotiating power than many ever imagined, and average hourly wages rose 4.7 percent last year. But, as economics correspondent Abha Bhattarai explains, the same strong recovery that is emboldening workers is also driving up inflation, leaving most Americans with less spending power than they had a year ago.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) banned mask mandates in public schools recently. Now, school districts are suing in the name of science. National education writer Laura Meckler says this is not an isolated incident. Many states are dealing with a fight to either support mask mandates or parents’ rights.

Today on Post Reports we ask our Moscow correspondent: Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? Plus, 5G wireless service was turned on nationwide last week. We’ll talk about why that caused problems for air travel.

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On Monday, tensions over Ukraine and Russia continued to escalate amid growing fears that more than 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine might soon invade. Isabelle Khurshudyan reports from Kyiv. 

5G service was rolled out nationwide last week, and while it promises faster wireless to a lot of people, it's also raising concerns for airlines and airports. Lori Aratani reports.

A Rhode Island emergency department provides a window into how front-line health-care workers are coping with the latest covid surge. And a conversation about how André Leon Talley embodied the heart of the fashion world.

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Laura Forman, Kent Hospital’s emergency department director, says that her days dealing with a deluge of covid patients involves a lot of “best bad options.” Reporters Joyce Koh and Lenny Bernstein reported from Rhode Island, where overwhelmed emergency staff have been forced to see patients in their cars. Forman says her staff are burning out – and the conditions are the worst she’s seen in her 26-year career. 

Fashion icon André Leon Talley died this week at the age of 73. Talley was the former creative director of American Vogue, the first and only black person to hold that position. Senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan interviewed Talley many times over the years – and they were also friends. 

“He had an incredible capacity for generosity. And it came through in a way that was just as grand as his personality,” Givhan says.