A Deal on Drug Prices Undone by White House Insistence on ‘Trump Cards’  —  The White House and the pharmaceutical industry were nearing a major deal to lower drug prices.  Then the administration demanded that $100 cash cards be sent to millions of seniors before the election — and the industry balked.

U.S. Admits That Congressman Offered Pardon to Assange If He Covered Up Russia Links  —  Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017, a year after the emails that damaged Hillary Clinton had been published.  —  LONDON—Lawyers representing the United States …

Emails Detail Effort to Silence C.D.C. and Question Its Science  —  Emails from a former top Trump health official and his science adviser show how the two refused to accept Centers for Disease Control and Prevention science and sought to silence the agency.

A neighbor asked for a tomato.  This is where the story gets weird.  —  The following account is completely true, and, no, there is nothing funny about it.  —  I was on my laptop in the dining room of my rowhouse in downtown Washington, D.C., when someone rapped at the window.

Biden's fact-free ‘Park Avenue vs. Scranton’ line: A reminder that the major media will never fact-check Biden  —  Three years ago, Donald Trump had a nice turn of phrase when explaining why he would reject the Paris climate accord and instead defend U.S. industry.

Police Haul Man Out of Library for Not Wearing Mask During Meeting About Wearing Masks  —  A man was physically removed from a school board meeting in Mitchell, South Dakota, on Monday night because he refused to wear a protective face covering.  —  Reed Bender had attended meetings in the past …

Judge: Michigan must count absentee ballots that arrive late  —  A judge has cleared the way for more absentee ballots to be counted in Michigan  —  FBI director says there is little evidence for potential mass voter fraud  —  While he says there is little evidence for mail-in voter fraud …

Virus Pulls Down Trump, Poll Shows, and G.O.P. Senators Suffer With Him  —  A New York Times/Siena College survey showed Joe Biden leading President Trump by wide margins in Maine and Arizona, and effectively tied in North Carolina.  Susan Collins trailed her Democratic rival in Maine's Senate race.

Biden's Crew Will Go on Fox, ‘Even if Questions Are Insane’  —  The former VP hasn't sat down with Fox News since winning the nomination.  But his team still has a plan for winning over the network's viewers.  —  In 2019, a number of Democrats hoping to secure the presidential nomination argued …

The United States is backsliding into autocracy under Trump, scholars warn  —  The weakening of democratic values — a path that's difficult to reverse — has accelerated, according to hundreds of indicators assessed each year  —  Three years into the Trump administration …

An Idaho ‘no-masker’ pastor prayed against a mask mandate.  He's now in intensive care for covid-19.  —  When coronavirus cases began increasing in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in late July, Pastor Paul Van Noy prayed with his congregation that the city council would not pass a mask mandate.

New emails reveal the chaotic final days of Brett Crozier's command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt  —  The situation was so dire on the USS Theodore Roosevelt that by March 30 leaders on the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier found themselves “inside a tornado fighting a war,” …

Satchuel Cole, leader in the fight for racial equality in Indianapolis, lied about own race  —  Satchuel Cole, a highly visible community leader advocating for racial and social justice in Indiana, has apologized for misleading people about Cole's own race, saying “I have taken up space as a Black person while knowing I am white.”

Trump: America's perfection shall not be questioned, except by me  —  Every successful presidential candidate promises the voters rewards both material and emotional.  They say they'll improve our lives in tangible ways — better health care, higher wages — but they'll also make us feel how we want to feel …

Republican U.S. House campaign arm cancels $2 million in Houston-area advertising  —  The region is home to multiple competitive races, including Congressional District 7 where Republicans are seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher  —  WASHINGTON - The National Republican Congressional Committee …

The Falwells, the pool attendant and the double life that brought them all down  —  For 2½ years, Giancarlo Granda had been telling his family about the generosity of his business partners.  The wealthy couple from out of town had taken him under their wing, he said …

We Are All Algorithms Now  —  Is that what's really destroying the legitimacy of our democracy?  —  I've never felt this way about an election before.  For my entire adult life, campaigns could be exhilarating, tedious, crowded with incident or laden with foreboding, but you always felt that …

White Supremacists Are a Threat to Elections, Says the DHS  —  While the Trump administration publicly downplays the rise of the far right, Homeland Security anticipates “physical threats” to the 2020 election.  —  Last week, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whistleblower told the press …

REVEALED: Trump to announce billions in aid to Puerto Rico in desperate attempt to win Florida  —  President Donald Trump on Friday will announce a multi-billion dollar federal aid package for Puerto Rico, with most of the funds to be used to rebuild the U.S. territory's power grid …

A White House Aide Just Warned Us That Donald Trump Is a Sociopath  —  A procession of former Trump administration officials, speaking both on and off the record, have depicted the president as fundamentally unfit for office.  Yesterday, the latest addition to their ranks …

Book excerpt: An FBI sex crimes investigator helped trigger 2016's ‘October Surprise’  —  This article is adapted from “October Surprise: How the FBI Tried to Save Itself and Crashed an Election,” which will be published Sept. 22 by PublicAffairs.  The book is a comprehensive …

AP Exclusive: More migrant women say they didn't OK surgery  —  HOUSTON (AP) — Sitting across from her lawyer at an immigration detention center in rural Georgia, Mileidy Cardentey Fernandez unbuttoned her jail jumpsuit to show the scars on her abdomen.  There were three small, circular marks.

A Danish Children's TV Show Has This Message: ‘Normal Bodies Look Like This’  —  The program aims to counter social media that bombards young people with images of perfect bodies.  —  COPENHAGEN — “OK, children, does anyone have a question?” the TV show's host, Jannik Schow, asked.

Peters holds narrow lead over James in Michigan's US Senate race  —  U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., appears to be holding a slim 4-percentage-point lead over Republican businessman John James in his race for reelection, down from a 10-point margin he had two months ago, according to a new Free Press poll released Friday.

Poll: Biden Maintains Lead Over Trump With Likely Voters  —  Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to lead President Trump in the 2020 presidential election nationally by a substantial margin, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.  —  Biden leads Trump by 9 points, 52% to 43%, among likely voters, the survey finds.

Housekeepers Face a Disaster Generations in the Making  —  Ghosted by their employers, members of the profession are facing “a full-blown humanitarian crisis — a Depression-level situation.”  —  The scariest day of Maria Del Carmen's life started with a phone call that initially cheered her up.

Rating Change: Republicans Sound Alarm, Riggleman's VA-05 Moves to Toss Up  —  Is it deja vu all over again?  In 2008, Virginia's 5th District was the site of a gigantic upset when tireless 34-year-old Democrat Tom Perriello unseated GOP Rep. Virgil Goode by 727 votes.

No, a Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Didn't Partner With a Pro-Communist Chinese Group  —  On Thursday, an article from The Daily Signal, the blog of the conservative Heritage Foundation, claimed to show a damning link between an organization started by a Black Lives Matter co-founder …

Senior Biden campaign cybersecurity expert participated in racist internet troll group  —  A senior cybersecurity adviser to Joe Biden's presidential campaign spent years affiliating with a hacking organization and boasted on a personal blog about breaking into her neighbor's computers.

Scoop: Trump, Pence criticize U.S. Chamber CEO  —  President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence criticized the CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce during a phone call Thursday, venting their frustrations over its recent endorsement of nearly two dozen vulnerable House Democratic freshmen, two sources familiar with the call tell Axios.

How We Survive the Winter … On april 13, Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, appeared on the Today show and assured viewers that the worst was nearly behind us.  It had been a month since the last gathering of fans in an NBA arena …

Saudi Royal Family Divides Over Potential Embrace of Israel  —  The king and crown prince have been at odds over whether to ease relations with the Jewish state; deal with U.A.E. stunned the 84-year-old monarch  —  in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Summer Said in Dubai and Felicia Schwartz

What do Iowans think about the U.S. Senate, presidential races?  A new Iowa Poll will offer answers  —  Starting Saturday night at DesMoinesRegister.com and in the Des Moines Sunday Register, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll will check the pulse of Iowans on the upcoming election and other issues.