North Korea issued $2 million bill for comatose Otto Warmbier's care  —  BEIJING — North Korea issued a $2 million bill for the hospital care of comatose American Otto Warmbier, insisting that a U.S. official sign a pledge to pay it before being allowed to fly the University of Virginia student from Pyongyang in 2017.

America Is An Idea  —  It's time for respected leadership on the world stage—and dignified leadership at home.  It's time for equal opportunity, equal rights, and equal justice.  It's time for an economy that rewards those who actually do the work.  It's time for a president who will stand up for all of us.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to open his formidable fundraising network to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign  — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has indicated to party donors that he's looking to open his formidable fundraising network to Joe Biden, according to people who have spoken with him recently.

FBI raids Baltimore City Hall, home of Mayor Catherine Pugh, offices of job training center  —  FBI and IRS agents are raiding Baltimore's City Hall and the home of Mayor Catherine Pugh.  —  Dave Fitz, an FBI spokesman, confirmed agents from the Washington field office were executing search warrants …

Joe Biden Reaches Out to Anita Hill, but She Is Not Satisfied  —  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. called Anita Hill earlier this month to express his regret over “what she endured” testifying against Justice Clarence Thomas at the 1991 Supreme Court hearings that put …

Why Won't Twitter Treat White Supremacy Like ISIS?  Because It Would Mean Banning Some Republican Politicians Too.  —  A Twitter employee who works on machine learning believes that a proactive, algorithmic solution to white supremacy would also catch Republican politicians.

Biden hires strategist Symone Sanders, adds diversity to bid  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden has hired Symone Sanders, a prominent African American political strategist, as a senior adviser to his newly launched presidential campaign.  —  The move adds a younger, diverse voice to Biden's cadre …

A reality of congressional oversight: Democrats can only do so much if Trump just says no  —  President Trump's White House appears to have figured out the secret of congressional oversight: there's not much Democrats can do if they say no to everything.  —  The big picture …

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Did President Trump obstruct justice?  —  When the Department of Justice designated Robert Mueller as special counsel to take over the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign in May 2017, Mueller's initial task was to determine if there had been a conspiracy …

How angry pilots got the Navy to stop dismissing UFO sightings  —  A recent uptick in sightings of unidentified flying objects — or as the military calls them, “unexplained aerial phenomena” — prompted the Navy to draft formal procedures for pilots to document encounters, a corrective measure that former officials say is long overdue.

Bernie Sanders visibly frustrated as hecklers unload at She The People Forum for women of color  —  2020 presidential contender Bernie Sanders faced an aggressive and, at times, outwardly combative audience at the She The People Forum devoted to women of color in Houston on Wednesday …

Mueller report shows Trump campaign left itself wide open to Russians, officials say  —  “The Russians found a group of people who were not intelligence savvy” and didn't listen to U.S. intel officials, said a CIA veteran.  —  WASHINGTON — The Mueller report's narrative of secret meetings between members …

The Daily 202: The U.S. Chamber wants to disentangle its brand from the GOP and hopes to rebuild the center  —  THE BIG IDEA: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, navigating dramatic cultural change that's transforming the worlds of politics and business, plans to become less aligned with the Republican Party than it has been for decades.

We found 85,000 cops who've been investigated for misconduct.  Now you can read their records.  —  USA TODAY is leading a national effort to obtain and publish disciplinary and misconduct records for thousands of police officers.  —  At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA …

The Scruton tapes: an anatomy of a modern hit job … Sometimes a scandal is not just a scandal, but a biopsy of a society.  So it is with the assault on Sir Roger Scruton, who in recent weeks has been smeared in the media, fired by the government and had his life's work assailed.

Boston-area judge charged with helping undocumented immigrant escape courthouse to elude ICE  —  Judge Shelley Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor were hit with obstruction of justice charges for their role in aiding the defendant in April 2018.  —  A Massachusetts judge conspired …

NYC To Ban Hot Dogs and Processed Meats To Improve Climate  —  New York City is the first city in the United States to eliminate processed meats.  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio approved an ambitious $14 billion Green New Deal on Monday, April 22, to combat climate change.

Is the Government Required to Count the Number of Citizens in Each State?  —  I don't myself have any expertise on the Census citizenship question case (which has mostly been litigated as an administrative law case), but I thought Prof. Blackman's query was intriguing, and wanted to post it:

Maria Bartiromo's stock has risen at Fox Business Network and Fox News  —  As an anchor at Fox Business Network, Maria Bartiromo can lay claim to the title of hardest working person in TV business news.  Five days a week she is front and center at “Mornings With Maria,” a three-hour mix of financial news …

Trump's Chief of Staff Is Having a Great Time  —  Here's the thing, Mick Mulvaney says, sitting in his West Wing office on Wednesday afternoon: He knows that Donald Trump's administration doesn't always make good on conservative ideals.  He knows that they're “spending a bunch of money …

IRS Commissioner Charged with Releasing Trump Tax Returns Profits from Trump-Branded Property  —  President Trump's hand-picked IRS Commissioner, Charles Rettig, earns as much as $1 million in rental income from the Trump-branded properties he co-owns while facing demands from Congress to release Trump's tax returns.

Facebook fact-checker has ties to climate doubt  —  Facebook's newest fact-checking partner is connected to an enterprise that was founded by a conservative Fox News host and that routinely promotes climate doubt.  —  The social media giant is partnering with CheckYourFact.com …

How Trump has changed white evangelicals' views about morality  —  So what if Mayor Pete Buttigieg calls him a “porn star president”?  —  Recently, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has been criticizing religious conservatives — especially Vice President Pence …

U.S. incarceration rate drops 10 percent over decade to hit lowest level in 20 years  —  Department of Justice statistics also showed that “noncitizens made up roughly the same portion of the U.S. prison population, 7.6 percent, as of the total U.S. population.”

Scoop: Dems plan to teach 2020 candidates how to talk to a Trump voter  —  Former Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Donnelly, who both lost their 2018 re-election races in North Dakota and Indiana, respectively, are launching the One Country Project to help their party win back rural voters ahead of the 2020 cycle.