Ralph Northam yearbook page shows men in blackface and KKK robe  —  A photo from Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook shows two men, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, on the same page as the governor.  —  The photo, which The Virginian-Pilot obtained a copy …

Polling on Howard Schultz for President  —  Change ResearchBlockedUnblockFollowFollowing  —  There's been much speculation about the impact of Howard Schultz running for president as an independent.  —  Change Research conducted a poll from January 31-February 1 of 1,338 likely 2020 general election voters …

McConnell privately cautions Trump about emergency declaration on border wall  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cautioned President Trump privately this week about the consequences of declaring a national emergency to build his border wall, telling him the move could trigger political blowback …

Excerpts From Trump's Interview With The New York Times  —  President Trump spoke with The New York Times on Thursday, sitting in the Oval Office for an interview with two White House correspondents, Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, and A. G. Sulzberger, the newspaper's publisher.

Booker is running.  I've watched him for 20 years.  Here's what I've learned  —  It was inevitable, and now it's official: Sen. Cory Booker is running for president.  —  That means he's about to face brutal and unrelenting attacks from competing Democrats, wary Republicans, and probably a few dozen Russian bots.

Elizabeth Warren Apologizes to Cherokee Nation for DNA Test  —  Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is running for her party's presidential nomination, has apologized to the Cherokee Nation for her decision to take a DNA test to prove her Native American ancestry …

‘Astonishing development’: Hawley AG office may have violated Mo. open records laws  —  Not long after Josh Hawley announced in 2017 that he was exploring a U.S. Senate run, Democrats requested records of any emails between his attorney general's office and the consultants running his campaign.

Roger Stone judge weighs gag order  —  A federal judge said Friday she's considering slapping a gag order on Roger Stone, the longtime Donald Trump associate who has been on a media blitz since being charged a week ago with lying to Congress and obstructing lawmakers' Russia investigation.

Russian escort says she gave Trump info to Russian tycoon  —  MOSCOW (AP) — A Belarusian model who claims to have information on the ties between Russia and Donald Trump's election campaign says she has turned it over to Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska.

Spotify is in talks to buy Gimlet for more than $200 million.  That's a big deal for the podcasting world.  —  Spotify wants to break out of the music streaming business.  Gimlet, the company behind shows like Crimetown and Reply All, can help.  —  Spotify, which has been trying to branch …

Fake News About Abortion in Virginia  —  No, Democrats aren't trying to legalize infanticide.  —  Under current law in Virginia, third-trimester abortions are permitted when a woman's physician and two other doctors certify that continuing a pregnancy would result in a mother's death, or …

Vice Media to Reorganize, Lay Off 10 Percent of Staff (Exclusive)  —  The cuts, which will impact around 250 people, are part of new CEO Nancy Dubuc's strategic plan to tighten spending and achieve profitability.  —  Vice Media is planning a reorganization that will include laying off …

This Is How Much Fact-Checking Is Worth to Facebook  —  More than nothing, but not much more.  —  Snopes has pulled out of its fact-checking partnership with Facebook.  The storied myth-debunking site was one of dozens of groups the social network enlisted to help combat misinformation after the 2016 election.

Washington Examiner fires reporters in apparent pivot toward more Trump-friendly coverage  — The Washington Examiner, a conservative Beltway publication, fired at least two reporters on Friday despite adding new hires.  — The firings are part of an effort to take the Examiner …

Supreme Court puts off decision on restrictive Louisiana abortion law  —  The Supreme Court on Friday night put off a decision about whether a restrictive Louisiana law that could close some of the state's abortion clinics can go into effect on Monday.  —  The court said the law …

McClatchy Follows Buzzfeed, Vice, and Others in Cutting Staff … This morning, Craig Forman, CEO of McClatchy Company, emailed all staff saying about 10 percent of the newspaper chain's staff would be offered voluntary buyouts.  All of the details were not immediately available …

The Real Story Behind the Viral ‘Poo Flip’  —  There are viral things that anyone — everyone — can love.  Grumpy Cat, the Dress, “Damn, Daniel!”  — the sort of stuff that, at the very least, you can bring up at the dinner table.  Then there's the other stuff — memes couched in so many layers …

I've been a senator for three weeks.  Washington is worse than you've heard.  —  Rick Scott, a Republican, represents Florida in the U.S. Senate.  —  I've been a U.S. senator for three weeks now, and I can tell you that reports of hate and incompetence in Washington are severely understated.

Undocumented Workers Lose Their Jobs at Yet Another Trump Property  —  President Trump's family business has employed undocumented workers more broadly than it was previously believed, with multiple workers losing their jobs last month at a Trump golf club in southern New Jersey.

E Pluribus Unum?  —  IDENTITY POLITICS STRENGTHENS DEMOCRACY  —  Recent political upheavals have reinvigorated a long-running debate about the role of identity in American politics—and especially American elections.  Electoral politics have long been a lagging indicator of social change.

How this amateur painting became a hilarious social media sensation  —  Florida schoolteacher Cindi Decker went to a painting class with a friend and came back with a vivid egret she'd painted on canvas.  —  Her teenage son snapped a photo of her holding it, and posted it on the social media site Reddit …

Democrats Announce Hearing On Trump's Tax Returns  —  Democrats will hold the hearing instead of just trying to obtain the documents.  —  The secrecy of President Donald Trump's tax returns will be the subject of a hearing next week, Democrats in the House of Representatives announced Thursday.