Yes... I heard the code was dropped from the FCC exams in 2007. My guess as to the reason would be that computers can now send CW with something similar to our musical interfaces, that changes typed letters on the computer into Morse Code (CW) and send it at any speed, as well as receive it coming in and put it on the screen. The old-timers still take pride in their CW skills. Me... nahhhh.... never liked it.... now, don't need it. Back in the day, I knew the code well, and could send it just fine..... it was hearing it.... the other half of the equation, that I had issues with. I could not, for the life of me, understand that stuff inbound.
They also reduced the number of licenses to 3 from 5 IIRC.... Now, you simply study the materials and go take the test. Pass it, and you get your license. The higher level tests are still pretty intense. Reactance with angles, antenna length at given freqs, and lots of other cool things. If you don't understand the concept and theory behind things, it can be daunting to try to pass. Fortunately, I have an fairly solid background in electronics and theory. It's also a closed book test. No notes, no programmable calculators, ..... you gotta memorize the formulas you think you might need. But.... in spite of all that, still much easier to deal with and way less circuit schematics asking what a certain part does in that circuit, very little difficult math/formulas to calculate. It has changed considerably.
I actually wanted to get into this when I was studying radio theory & electronics back in the day. I went to Virginia Beach to test for 3rd class & 2nd class radio telephone and passed only the 3rd class at that time. The 2nd class test was a bear..... and the 1st class, I heard was nearly an engineering test. On the 2nd class test one question I recall was something like this.... An array consisting of 4 antennas for a commercial radio transmitter are spaced 500' apart in a square, aligned to the compass points. They are fed with 5000w total. What is the power and phase angle feeding each antenna to provide a directional signal gain main lobe of 50 degrees width in an Easterly direction?
Needless to say.....
I actually picked up a brand new Baofeng UV-5ra dual band radio for $35 from Amazon. That's what I will be using to get started in the 2 meter band. It also supports freqs in the 70cm band. I'm having lunch this week with a friend so we can talk, and I can learn some stuff about the HF bands. He told me that's where the fun is.
We'll see.