Texas leaders failed to heed warnings that left state's power grid vulnerable to winter extremes, experts say  —  Texas officials knew winter storms could leave the state's power grid vulnerable, but they left the choice to prepare for harsh weather up to the power companies — many of which opted against the costly upgrades.

Did Ted Cruz fly to Cancun during Texas' winter disaster?  —  Cruz hasn't commented but some Twitter sleuths believe they have proof  —  Kolten Parker, Digital Executive Producer  —  Photos circulating on Twitter late Wednesday purport to show Texas Senator Ted Cruz on a flight to Cancun …

FBI, U.S. attorney in Brooklyn probing Cuomo administration on nursing homes  —  Investigation is in its early stages; no allegations of wrongdoing have been made  —  ALBANY — The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn have launched an investigation that is examining, at least in part …

Limbaugh obituaries show the mainstream media still fawning over the people who poisoned politics  —  The leaders of our elite newsrooms had a whole year to figure out how they were going to frame Rush Limbaugh's life.  —  He announced he was dying of lung cancer last February …

A Grim Measure of Covid's Toll: Life Expectancy Drops Sharply in U.S.  —  American life expectancy fell by one year, to 77.8 years, in the first half of 2020.  It may rebound as the pandemic's end approaches.  —  Life expectancy in the United States fell by a full year in the first six months of 2020 …

White House announces sweeping immigration bill  —  What Biden has said he'll do about immigration  —  (CNN)The White House announced a sweeping immigration bill Thursday that would create an eight-year path to citizenship for millions of immigrants already in the country and provide …

Trump-McConnell rift threatens GOP's Senate hopes  —  Republicans are starting their life in the Senate minority mired in a civil war over the future of the GOP and former President Donald Trump's role in the party.  —  Trump's scathing attack on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday exposed rifts …

The Supreme Court is still sitting on Trump's tax returns, and justices aren't saying why  —  (CNN)Lawsuits involving Donald Trump tore apart the Supreme Court while he was president, and the justices apparently remain riven by him.  —  For nearly four months, the court has refused to act …

US jobless claims rise to 861,000 as layoffs stay high  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid rose last week to 861,000, evidence that layoffs remain painfully high despite a steady drop in the number of confirmed viral infections.

Why Biden's New Dawn of Net-Zero Is Looking Like a Dark Day for Labor  —  Last Labor Day, candidate Joe Biden made an impassioned pitch to leaders and members of the AFL-CIO, America's largest labor federation.  Stressing that “the great American middle class was built by unions,” …

Here's What Trump Said When Asked If He's Running for President  —  On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump gave his first interviews since leaving the White House.  While the former president discussed the remarkable life of radio legend and conservative icon Rush Limbaugh …

How a Liberal Lawyer in Georgia Took an Extreme Right Turn  —  W. McCall Calhoun Jr., who ran for office in Georgia as a Democrat, is a walking embodiment of his state's political contradictions.  —  AMERICUS, Ga.— Over the past three decades, as the state around him turned ever more resolutely Republican …

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 …

It might just be game over for the Iowa caucus  —  The siege of Iowa and New Hampshire has begun.  —  The two states with privileged places on the presidential primary calendar are finding their roles more threatened than ever before — most recently in the form of a bill introduced in Nevada …

Trump Frets Foes Will Be ‘Suing Me for the Rest of My Life’  —  Though the riot was the culmination of Trump's months of attempts to overturn the election, it's hardly the only incident that may have left the ex-president legally exposed.  —  A criminal investigation in the state of Georgia.

Former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken launches Senate bid  —  Former Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken is joining the race to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).  —  Timken was widely expected to make a run for Portman's seat.  Prior to launching her campaign, she resigned from her role …

The Christian Prophets Who Say Trump Is Coming Again  —  Perched on a cream-colored armchair, Johnny Enlow, a 61-year-old, California-based Pentecostal pastor with short-cropped gray hair, a trim beard and Tom Selleck-style mustache, looked into the camera and prophesied that Donald Trump would become president again.

Statues of four U.S. presidents among 41 under the microscope by Chicago committee  —  Mayor Lori Lightfoot is confronting the “hard truths of Chicago's racial history,” launching a public process to review the fate of 41 statues and other monuments, including some of former presidents Abraham Lincoln …

How Oracle Sells Repression in China … Police in China's Liaoning province were sitting on mounds of data collected through invasive means: financial records, travel information, vehicle registrations, social media, and surveillance camera footage.  To make sense of it all, they needed sophisticated analytic software.

Allegations of sexist cyberstalking by Trump's top advisor roils secretive paternity case  —  The key advisor in Donald Trump's post-presidency is an often-deadbeat dad who just sent a grave threat to opposing counsel, upending the extraordinarily lengthy Florida paternity case he's spending a fortune to fight.

'There's No Natural Dignity in Work'  —  Punishing mothers for needing help cannot be the answer.  A generous child allowance might be.  —  Wanda Lavender lives in Milwaukee.  She's 39, with six children and one grandchild.  She used to be a day care teacher and proud of the work.