memeorandum: Romney forced into GOP primary for Utah Senate nomination (John Bowden/The Hill)

Maeve Reston / CNN:

Mitt Romney fails to secure Utah GOP nomination, will face primary — West Valley, Utah (CNN)Mitt Romney did not win the Utah Republican Party's nomination on Saturday, meaning he must compete in a June primary election as he seeks to replace retiring US Sen. Orrin Hatch.

John Bowden / The Hill:

Romney forced into GOP primary for Utah Senate nomination — Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney — failed to secure the Utah Republican Party's nomination for Senate on Saturday, triggering a June primary. — In the final round of voting at the party's convention …

Discussion: Small Dead Animals and Washington Press

Spencer Cox / Salt Lake Tribune:

Senate race — Romney blamed his second-place finish — out of a dozen Republicans seeking the seat of retiring seven-term Sen. Orrin Hatch — on delegates' dislike of candidates like him who hedge their convention bids by also gathering signatures to ensure at least a place on the primary ballot.

Discussion: Washington Post

Maeve Reston / CNN: Mitt Romney says he'll make decision on supporting Trump in 2020 ‘down the road’

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Barbara Bush: Fake Pearls, Real Heart — WASHINGTON — Barbara Bush was an expert at throwing shade, even before the term existed. — When Congressman Dan Rostenkowski gave the first lady a shampoo for white hair made in his Illinois district, she tried it on her dog Millie.

Washington Post:

Barbara Bush visited our facility for children with HIV/AIDS. It was unforgettable. — Debbie Tate is president of TERRIFIC, a D.C. nonprofit that provides housing and human services to families in crisis. Joan McCarley is executive director of TERRIFIC.

USA Today:
Before dying, Barbara Bush said she would miss George but was going to ‘a beautiful place’

Discussion: IJR, HeraldScotland and NPR

Manny Fernandez / New York Times:
Four Former Presidents Pay Respects as Barbara Bush Is Laid to Rest in Texas

Discussion: CNN, LifeZette and Mother Jones

Andrea Mitchell / NBC News: Remembering Barbara Bush, a beloved first lady of strength and purpose

Morgan Winsor / ABC News:
Barbara Bush remembered at funeral as ‘the first lady of the greatest generation’

Discussion: Mediaite and Washington Press

New York Times:

Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.: Fancy Homes, a Shell Company and Friends With Money — OKLAHOMA CITY — Early in Scott Pruitt's political career, as a state senator from Tulsa, he attended a gathering at the Oklahoma City home of an influential telecommunications lobbyist who was nearing retirement and about to move away.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Press, CNN, New York Magazine and Political Wire

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, BloombergQuint and Bloomberg

Dana Schuster / Page Six:

Ivana Trump thinks Vanessa will ‘have a problem’ finding a new man — Ivana Trump doesn't want Donald Trump to run for president again in 2020. — “I'll tell you something, I don't think it's necessary,” she told The Post during an interview Wednesday at her Upper East Side townhouse.

Kaylee Remington / Plain Dealer:

2-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed at Wickliffe hotel, police say — WICKLIFFE, Ohio — A 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed by her mother at a hotel Friday night, police say. — The shooting happened just before 11 p.m. at a hotel on Euclid Avenue …

Discussion: Raw Story

Verne J Troyer:

It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that — Verne passed away today. — Verne was an extremely caring individual. He wanted to make everyone — smile, be happy, and laugh. Anybody in need, he would help to any — extent possible. Verne hoped he made a positive change with the

Discussion: NBC News, IndieWire, The Guardian, New York Times and Mediaite

miamiherald:

Watch this judge brutally berate a woman in a wheelchair. The woman died. The judge has quit. — A Broward County circuit judge delivered a blistering, arm-waving, face-palming, tongue-lashing to a frail, out-of-breath woman — pushed into court in a wheelchair — who was facing misdemeanor charges following a family feud.

Eric Talmadge / Associated Press:

AP Analysis: Kim Jong Un tests Trump with latest nuke offer — TOKYO (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has finally broken his silence on what he plans to bring to the table during his summits with the South Korean and U.S. presidents, and it doesn't have a whole lot to do with tossing out his hard-won nuclear arsenal.

Washington Post: White House privately skeptical of North Korea's plans to freeze nuclear testing

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Suspicious factory underscores challenge of verifying North Korea's nuclear promises

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, Sputnik International and The Week

Marlow Stern / The Daily Beast:

Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Warns Trump: Evidence DVD Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ … Daniels, of course, is a renowned porn star who was paid $130,000 by President Donald Trump's longtime attorney/fixer Michael Cohen to stay silent about an alleged affair she had with Trump in 2011 …

Discussion: Breitbart

Larry O'Connor / Washington Times:

Conservative author Brad Thor announces 2020 challenge to Trump — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — Conservative author and commentator Brad Thor took to Twitter Saturday to announce he would challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020. — America is great because it is good.

Discussion: WGN-TV, RedState and The Daily Caller

Douglas MacKinnon / Fox News:

How long will I be allowed to remain a Christian? — “How long will I be allowed to remain a Christian?” — That was the deeply dismaying question posed to me by a friend with four young children as we discussed the plight of the Christian faith in America and around the world.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Mahablog, Hullabaloo, Bloomberg, Friendly Atheist and BloombergQuint

New York Times:

As Rod Rosenstein Battles to Protect Mueller, His Tactics Could Cost the Justice Dept. — WASHINGTON — He has a reputation as a principled lawyer. He has worked for both Republican and Democratic attorneys general. He has a jugular instinct in courtroom battles but a distaste for political ones.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

ABC News:

Mnuchin expresses optimism trade standoffs can be resolved — The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank repeatedly warned at their meetings this week that intensifying trade tensions could jeopardize a healthy global economic expansion. — But U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin …

Discussion: One America News Network

A Fine Theorem:

The 2018 John Bates Clark: Parag Pathak — The most prestigious award a young researcher can receive in economics, the John Bates Clark medal, has been awarded to the incredibly productive Parag Pathak. His CV is one that could only belong a true rocket of a career: he was a full professor …

Litigation & Trial Lawyer Blog:

The Who, What, Where, When, & Why of the DNC Lawsuit — Earlier today, the Democratic National Committee filed a massive lawsuit against almost everyone arguably associated with the hack on the DNC's servers, including the Russian Federation, Russia's foreign military intelligence agency …

New York Times:

The Business Deals That Could Imperil Trump — Put aside Russian collusion for a moment. Press pause on possible presidential obstruction of justice. Forget Stormy Daniels. The most significant recent development involving the president may be that the special counsel, Robert Mueller …

Discussion: Raw Story

Alexander Burns / New York Times:

Fearing Chaos, National Democrats Plunge Into Midterm Primary Fights — FULLERTON, Calif. — The Democrats' message to Mai Khanh Tran was polite but unsparing. With half a dozen Democrats running for Congress in her Orange County district, they showed her a discouraging poll and argued …

Paul P. Murphy / CNN:

Homework assignment asks students to list positive aspects of slavery — (CNN)A Texas charter school is apologizing after a teacher gave an assignment to an eighth grade American History class, asking students to list the positive aspects of slavery. — “When I first read it, I thought …

Jane Dalton / The Independent:

Chained, beaten, whipped and exploited like slaves: The hidden horrors meted out to India's temple elephants — They are the country's icon - but behind the dazzle of religious festivals, these giants of the wild are painfully abused in Kerala — Hunt threatens Facebook and Google with new age-limit laws

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Is it a coincidence that Trump uses the language of white supremacy? … “This is not normal,” James B. Comey said this week after President Trump threatened him with jail. — If I had a nickel for every time somebody said that, I could repay the national debt. There is so much abnormality from this president that we're numb.

Michael Kranish / Washington Post:

Michael Cohen, once at pinnacle of Trump's world, now poses threat to it — When Donald Trump won the presidency, his longtime attorney Michael Cohen seemed in position for a coveted spot in the senior ranks of the White House. — At one point, Cohen topped a list of five candidates …

Discussion: New York Daily News, Raw Story, Mashable, Jezebel, IJR, Mediaite and CNBC

Joe Scarborough / Washington Post:

It's becoming clear that Trump won't run in 2020 — It has been nearly three years since Donald Trump descended his faux-gold escalator to announce an improbable run for president, and Republican politicians seem just as baffled by the reality TV star's future as they were the day he first launched …

Discussion: Althouse

Joseph A. Wulfsohn / Mediaite:

Comey Says We'd Be Better Off With Hillary as POTUS...Hours After Punting on Exact Same Question From Tapper — Former FBI Director James Comey gave two interviews on Thursday and was asked the same question, but gave two very different responses. — On Thursday afternoon …

Discussion: Washington Post

Wendy Lee / San Francisco Chronicle:

‘Safe space’ for white men offered at SF diversity workshop — Paul Mann wants to create a safe space for white men. — Mann, a white man who has spent years in the education industry, has begun leading workshops in San Francisco that encourage people in his demographic to explore feelings …