Mueller Expands Probe to Trump Business Transactions  —  Special counsel examines dealings of Kushner, Manafort, Trump  —  Trump has warned Mueller against going beyond Russia in probe  —  The U.S. special counsel investigating possible ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia …

Inspiring Little Fear in Senators, Trump Struggles to Sell Health Bill  —  WASHINGTON — President Trump thought he could sell balky Republican senators like Ron Johnson of Wisconsin on the Senate health care bill through pleasantries, cajoling and, ultimately, some Oval Office muscle.

Team Trump Used Obamacare Money to Run PR Effort Against It … The Trump administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the Affordable Care Act on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it.  —  The effort, which involves a multi-pronged social media push …

H.R. 1628, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017: An Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute  —  CBO and JCT estimate that enacting this legislation would reduce federal deficits by $420 billion over the coming decade and increase the number of people who are uninsured by 22 million in 2026 relative to the number under current law.

GOP signals infrastructure bill must wait  —  The timing and fate of President Trump's infrastructure plan may depend on whether the GOP enacts major tax reform — a task that could prove challenging amid the struggle to pass a healthcare bill.  —  Republicans are signaling …

Source: Senate leaders to offer $200 billion to win over moderates  —  In a bold move to revive their healthcare bill, Senate Republican leaders are getting ready to propose giving $200 billion in assistance to states that expanded Medicaid, according to a person familiar with internal Senate negotiations.

AlphaBay, the Largest Online ‘Dark Market,’ Shut Down  —  ‘Dark Net’ Site Was Major Source of Fentanyl and Heroin, Linked to Overdose Deaths, and Used By Hundreds of Thousands of People to Buy and Sell Illegal Goods and Services Anonymously over the Internet

IQ costs Oregon parents their kids, but is that fair?  (Column)  —  Gallery: Redmond couple fights for custody of their children  —  The nursery in Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler's home is filled with unread children's books and unworn baby clothes.  A Winnie the Pooh blanket lies untouched inside …

CBO: 22 million would lose coverage under Senate ObamaCare replacement  —  About 22 million people would lose health insurance coverage over the next decade under the most recent revision of the Senate's ObamaCare replacement bill, according to a new Congressional Budget Office analysis.

The Democratic Party's Billion-Dollar Mistake  —  The Democratic Party is at risk of repeating the billion-dollar blunder that helped create its devastating losses of 2016.  With its obsessive focus on wooing voters who supported Donald Trump, it is neglecting the cornerstone of its coalition …

One in eight people who voted for Trump having second thoughts - Reuters/Ipsos poll  —  6 MIN READ  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - About one in eight people who voted for President Donald Trump said they are not sure they would do so again after witnessing Trump's tumultuous first six months in office …

Russian official says talks on joint cyber group with US ongoing  —  A Russian official says that the United States and Moscow are negotiating to set up a joint cybersecurity working group.  —  Andrey Krutskikh, a top adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin on information security …

Big German Bank, Key to Trump's Finances, Faces New Scrutiny  —  During the presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump pointed to his relationship with Deutsche Bank to counter reports that big banks were skeptical of doing business with him.  —  After a string of bankruptcies in his casino …

The ‘Game of Thrones’ Creators' Next Show Sounds Stupid as Hell … The takes are already rolling in on Confederate, a forthcoming HBO series from the showrunners of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — but all you really need to know is that this show sounds stupid as hell.

Column Bill Nye on the terrifying ascendancy of American ‘dingbatitude’  —  From the Emmy-winning “science guy on” the PBS children's television program to the lab-coat crusader who “saves the world” on Netflix, Bill Nye is a longtime science-is-entertaining educator, a onetime mechanical engineer and a perpetual science lover.

Manafort Was in Debt to Pro-Russia Interests, Cyprus Records Show  —  Financial records filed last year in the secretive tax haven of Cyprus, where Paul J. Manafort kept bank accounts during his years working in Ukraine and investing with a Russian oligarch, indicate that he had been in debt …

A Top Rohrabacher Aide Is Ousted After Russia Revelations  —  Paul Behrends, a top aide to Representative Dana Rohrabacher, has been ousted from his role as staff director for the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that Rohrabacher chairs, after stories appeared in the press highlighting his relationships with pro-Russia lobbyists.

Jeff Sessions Should Drop His Expansion of Civil Asset Forfeiture  —  Attorney General Jeff Sessions should reconsider his plan to expand the use of civil asset forfeiture in the service of the so-called war on drugs.  If he fails to do so, Congress should reconsider it for him — indeed …