Democrats' 2018 advantage expands  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  WASHINGTON (CNN)Democrats' already wide advantage over Republicans in a hypothetical Congressional matchup has grown, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.  At the same time, enthusiasm about voting next year …

Court tosses out one-vote victory in recount that had briefly ended a Republican majority in Virginia  —  A three- judge panel declined to certify the recount of a key House race today, saying that a questionable ballot should be counted in favor of the Republican and tying a race that Democrats …

Alexander, Collins Statement on Bills to Lower Health Insurance Premiums  —  WASHINGTON, December 20, 2017—United States Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) today jointly released the following statement:  —  “Rather than considering a broad year-end funding agreement …

Glenn Thrush, Suspended Times Reporter, to Resume Work but Won't Cover White House  —  The New York Times said on Wednesday that Glenn Thrush, one of the paper's most prominent political reporters, would remain suspended until late January and then be removed from the team covering the White House …

Over Golf and an Airport Chat, Trump and GOP Hashed Out a Historic Tax Plan  —  Defeat of health-care bill hung over the tax legislation efforts, shaping the strategy used to pass it and mobilizing Republicans eager to show they could govern  —  Over rounds of golf at President Donald Trump's club …

With Tax Reform, AT&T Plans to Increase U.S. Capital Spending $1 Billion and Provide $1,000 Special Bonus to more than 200,000 U.S. Employees  —  Today, Congress approved legislation representing the first comprehensive tax reform in a generation.  The President is expected to sign the bill in the coming days.

2 Women Who Settled With O'Reilly Over Sexual Harassment Sue for Defamation  —  Two women who reached sexual harassment settlements with Bill O'Reilly joined a defamation lawsuit against Mr. O'Reilly and Fox News on Wednesday, asserting that statements that he and the network made depicted them as liars …

Tax victory may be fleeting for Ryan and McConnell  —  A beaming Speaker Paul Ryan high-fived and hugged his lieutenants after the House first passed the GOP tax bill Tuesday.  As the Senate prepared to follow suit hours later, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was elated.

The Republican tax bill was the easy part.  The next debate could be much uglier.  —  The Republican overhaul of the tax code sets the stage for years of politically fraught debate over what the government should provide for its citizens and how much it should demand in taxes.

Wall Street Journal Killed Editorial on Trump's Mob Ties  —  In a short period of time, five staffers have departed The Wall Street Journal editorial page.  The general cause of their departures, willing and otherwise, is known: the Journal editorial line has increasingly conformed …

McCabe draws blank on Democrats' funding of Trump dossier, new subpoenas planned  —  EXCLUSIVE: Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday's seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses …

Treasury Targets Individuals Involved in the Sergei Magnitsky Case and Other Gross Violations of Human Rights in Russia  —  A total of 49 individuals have been designated under the Magnitsky Act  —  WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) …

Tom Hanks Wouldn't Screen ‘The Post’ at the White House, Decries Attacks on First Amendment  —  “We have to decide when we take to the ramparts,” the Oscar-winner tells THR, noting that he would not attend a screening of his new film at the White House if invited.

Breitbart went all out for Roy Moore.  Now its top editor says he was a ‘weak candidate’  —  Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow was in his home office last Tuesday night running the front page of the far-right website when he learned that Judge Roy Moore would not be elected as the next senator from Alabama.

Author of online hit ‘Cat Person’ has 7-figure book deal  —  NEW YORK — The author of the online sensation “Cat Person” has a seven-figure book deal.  —  Scout Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kristen Roupenian's debut story collection …

Cornel West's attacks on Ta-Nehisi Coates, explained  —  Coates is the latest target in West's war against Obama.  —  A public feud between two of America's top black intellectuals has led one of them to abandon Twitter.  —  Cornel West, author of the well-known Race Matters …

USA Gymnastics Reached Settlement Over Abuse Claims With Gold Medalist McKayla Maroney  —  Settlement brings into sharp relief the potential exposure USA Gymnastics faces  —  Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnast McKayla Maroney signed a confidential $1.25 million settlement agreement …

A dream deported: Parents who built lives in U.S. separated from children  —  Maria Mendoza-Sanchez raised four children in Oakland, built a nursing career and bought a home.  Then came the election — and the most agonizing decision of her life.  —  Maria Mendoza-Sanchez raised four children in Oakland …

Meryl Streep #SheKnew posters pop up in Los Angeles amid backlash over Harvey Weinstein comments  —  A street artist is calling Meryl Streep on her bluff.  —  Posters showing the “The Post” actress standing with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein have been popping up across Los Angeles, Twitter posts indicate.

Senior White House adviser at Homeland Security repeatedly promoted fringe conspiracy theories on the radio  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  (CNN)A White House senior adviser at the Department of Homeland promoted several far-right conspiracy theories in past radio appearances, a CNN KFile review has found.

Rare hate crime alleged in Lyons  —  LYONS — Acting Wayne County District Attorney Chris Bokelman said his office hasn't prosecuted many hate crimes since it was instituted several years ago.  —  “It doesn't get enforced a lot up here,” he said Tuesday.  —  That is changing.

Donald Trump's Holiday Gift to America: A Fundamental Crisis  —  In a commencement speech years ago, author David Foster Wallace told this story: Two young fish are swimming along, and they pass an older fish swimming the other way.  The older fish says, “Morning, boys, how's the water?”

Cable TV's Password-Sharing Crackdown Is Coming  —  Using someone else's credentials to stream for free will soon be a $10 billion problem for pay-TV companies.  —  On Twitter, they are openly bartered, donated, even celebrated.  —  “Anyone have a Spectrum user ID & password I can trade for?” one Twitter user wrote last month.

‘Misinformer of the Year’ award goes to Mark Zuckerberg  —  Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck.  —  Those are some of the big media figures Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is joining with this year's dubious distinction of “Misinformer of the Year.”

Trump suggests US will cut off aid for countries that vote for UN resolution  —  suggested on Wednesday that the United States could withhold foreign aid for countries that vote in favor of a United Nations (U.N.) resolution calling on the U.S. to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The Tax Bill Shows the G.O.P.'s Contempt for Democracy  —  The Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is notably generous to corporations, high earners, inheritors of large estates and the owners of private jets.  Taken as a whole, the bill will add about $1.4 trillion to the deficit in the next decade …