Ted Cruz flew to Cancun with his family amid power crisis in Texas: source  —  Millions in Texas without power, at least 20 dead  —  Texas outages is proof we need to expand energy options: Wesley Hunt  —  Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, with his family this week as Texas dealt …

Manhattan D.A. Recruits Top Prosecutor for Trump Inquiry  —  The Manhattan district attorney has enlisted a former federal prosecutor who is an expert on white-collar crime to join the team investigating the Trump family business.  —  As the Manhattan district attorney's office steps …

Texas was “seconds and minutes” away from catastrophic monthslong blackouts, officials say  —  Officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said that grid operators implemented blackouts to avoid a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months.  —  Copy link

Immigration Overhaul Would Offer 8-Year Path to Citizenship for Millions  —  The proposal offers an eight-year path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, eliminates restrictions on family-based immigration and expands worker visas.

White House announces $4 billion in funding for Covax, the global vaccine effort that Trump spurned  —  The White House is throwing its support behind a global push to distribute coronavirus vaccines equitably, pledging $4 billion dollars to a multilateral effort the Trump administration spurned.

Trump snubs Haley  —  SCOOP: NIKKI HALEY reached out to former President DONALD TRUMP on Wednesday to request a sit-down at Mar-a-Lago, but a source familiar tells Playbook that he turned her down.  The two haven't spoken since the insurrection on Jan. 6, when Haley blasted Trump for inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol.

AG Jason Ravnsborg charged with three misdemeanors in crash that killed Highmore man  —  South Dakota's Attorney General will face misdemeanor charges for his role in a crash that killed a Highmore man more than five months ago.  —  The Hyde County State's Attorney's Office announced Thursday …

Trump Can Still Be The Republican Party's Future.  Just Look To Arizona.  —  Arizona Republicans keep losing.  But the Arizona Republican Party has already turned itself into a Trump machine, still trying to win an election that's long over.  And that might be the future of conservatism.

What Rush Limbaugh Discussed on His Final Radio Show  —  After Rush Limbaugh's heartfelt message to his audience before the holiday season, longtime listeners feared it would be the last time they heard from him.  He told them how he outlived his diagnosis many times over and was grateful to have been alive to hear his eulogies.

“My Job Is Not to Protect ‘the Squad’”: Briahna Joy Gray Wants to Upend Democrats' Political Strategy  —  The Bernie Sanders vet and progressive host envies the right-wing media's ability to drive messages and corral Republican lawmakers—as a recent “Medicare for All” podcast push showed the limits of the left's clout in Congress.

‘Recipe for disaster’: Dem fears mount over immigration overhaul  —  “Biden is going to be dealing with a minority in Congress if he continues down some of these paths,” said one Democratic congressman.  —  Migrants are loaded onto a bus by U.S. Border Patrol agents after being detained …

Lincoln Project paid ex-Obama spokesman's consulting firm to appeal to Black voters in Pennsylvania  — The Lincoln Project paid a consulting firm run by former Obama deputy press secretary Bill Burton to get out the Black vote.  — The relationship between the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and Burton had not been reported.

US life expectancy drops a year in pandemic, most since WWII  —  Life expectancy in the United States dropped a staggering one year during the first half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its first wave of deaths, health officials are reporting.  —  Minorities suffered the biggest impact …

Reply All Is Having Its Own Reckoning Now  —  Oh, you like podcasts?  Sign up for Vulture's new recommendation newsletter 1.5x Speed here.  —  Earlier this month, Reply All kicked off an ambitious miniseries, “The Test Kitchen,” which sought to take on one of the bigger stories …

8 A.M. ET MONDAY  —  Story by Joel Achenbach.  Photography by Rachel Wisniewski.  —  It's the first day back at work for Scott E. Lynn, the Montour County coroner.  He's been sick with covid-19.  He was out for a month and lost 25 pounds.  As he arrives at his office in a remote corner …

America has experience curbing dangerous industries.  We can do the same with tech.  —  Roger McNamee is a technology investor, activist and author of “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.”  —  Every generation or so, an industry comes along that is vital to the nation's future …

NASA Lands Its Perseverance Rover on Mars  —  Here's what you need to know:  —  Cheers erupted in the control room as NASA's rover reached the red planet.  —  NASA landed a new robotic rover on Mars on Thursday, its most ambitious effort in decades to directly study whether there was ever life on the red planet.

Ella Emhoff Drops a Small (Very Small) Collection of Knits  —  The second daughter turned model released a five-piece collection.  Only one of each item was made.  —  Ella Emhoff, the 21-year-old knitwear designer who signed a major modeling contract in January, has released …

AP source: Police suggest keeping Capitol fence for months  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Capitol Police officials told congressional leaders the razor-wire topped fencing around the Capitol should remain in place for several more months as law enforcement continues to track threats against lawmakers …

Grosse Pointe Park man hangs KKK flag in window facing Black neighbor sparking outrage  —  GROSSE POINTE PARK, MIch. (FOX 2) - A racist display has a community outraged in Grosse Pointe Park after a white resident displayed a KKK flag in the window of a home facing their Black neighbor Tuesday.

Why We're Taught to Not Speak Ill of the Dead  —  We used to widely honor the instruction to not speak ill of the dead, at least in media and public communications.  But in our modern era of social media, the instinct is largely the opposite.  When a prominent political figure passes away …

Michael Madigan resigns from Illinois House after being ousted as speaker, defends his legacy in face of ‘vicious attacks’  —  By E. JASON WAMBSGANS / CHICAGO TRIBUNE “,sourceId: “119780616”,shareUrl: “https%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicagotribune.com%2 Fnews%2Fchi- illinois-politician-michael-madigan …