Recording of Trump Phone Call to Georgia Lead Investigator Reveals New Details  —  Then-president says ‘Something bad happened’ and presses for investigation into Fulton County votes  —  ATLANTA—Then-President Donald Trump urged the chief investigator of the Georgia Secretary of State's office …

BREAKING: Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri acquitted after trial on charges from George Floyd protest in May 2020  —  Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri was acquitted Wednesday in a trial stemming from her arrest covering the George Floyd protests in May 2020.

Rep. David Cicilline Says He'll Propose Rule to Stop Marjorie Taylor Greene's Delay Tactics  —  Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's repeated efforts to delay work in the House of Representatives has drawn bipartisan ire and may result in a new rule change.

Senate confirms Garland as attorney general  —  The Senate has confirmed President Joe Biden's pick for attorney general, Judge Merrick Garland, by a vote of 70-30.  —  The victory for Garland, 68, came almost five years after his failed nomination to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2016.

Stimulus bill with $29B in direct restaurant aid appears headed for passage  —  The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which features grants to restaurants in need, overcame a key challenge over the weekend.  —  A landmark COVID-relief bill earmarking $28.6 billion in direct aid to restaurants …

Biden is leading a quiet revolution  —  Opinion by  —  “Our economic package is a closely knit, carefully constructed plan to restore America's economic strength and put our nation back on the road to prosperity,” the president declared in a speech from the Oval Office.  “Each part of this package is vital.”

Jayapal asks for investigations into three GOP members for their role in instigating the Capitol Insurrection  —  GOP lawmaker accused of giving ‘reconnaissance’ tour prior to Capitol riot  —  (CNN)Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington has sent letters to the House Committee on Ethics …

Somebody's Taking a Huge Risk on Biden's Bill.  It's Not Biden.  —  Try to imagine we are living in the following hypothetical world: A popular Republican president quickly passes emergency legislation that has the support of two-thirds of the country, while Democrats in Congress refuse to vote for it.

America Without God  —  The United States had long been a holdout among Western democracies, uniquely and perhaps even suspiciously devout.  From 1937 to 1998, church membership remained relatively constant, hovering at about 70 percent.  Then something happened.

Biden Got the Vaccine Rollout Humming, With Trump's Help  —  Trump administration officials grumble that they laid the groundwork for surging vaccinations, but some hard work in the trenches has helped pick up the pace of production.  —  WASHINGTON — When President Biden pledged last week …

BuzzFeed Is in Talks to Go Public Via 890 5th Avenue SPAC  —  BuzzFeed Inc. is in talks to go public through a merger with 890 5th Avenue Partners Inc., a special purpose acquisition company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.  —  Once public, the company may use its currency …

Newsom To Californians: Let's Face It, We're Never Getting Back To Normal  —  That's a great message to send to a restive electorate after a year of fumbling the response to COVID-19.  Gavin Newsom tried to get cute in his State of the State speech from an empty Dodger Stadium …

For Creators, Everything Is for Sale  —  Digital stars are coming up with new ways to make money.  Yet fans still hold the power.  —  A rash of new start-ups are making it easier for digital creators to monetize every aspect of their life — down to what they eat, who they hang out with and who they respond to on TikTok.

Roger Stone's Latest Mess: His Oath Keeper Bodyguards Arrested in Capitol Attack  —  Roger Stone has an Oath Keeper problem.  —  In recent days the FBI arrested two men, Joshua James, the owner of a cleaning services company in Alabama, and Roberto Minuta, a Newburgh, New York, tattoo artist …

Criticizing Public Figures, Including Influential Journalists, is Not Harassment or Abuse  —  As social media empowers uncredentialed people to be heard, society's most powerful actors seek to cast themselves as victims and delegitimize all critiques.  —  1 hr ago

Senate confirms Michael Regan to lead EPA  —  The 44-year-old North Carolina regulator, the first Black man to head the agency, has vowed to fight climate change and environmental injustice.  —  The Senate confirmed Michael Regan on Wednesday as the next Environmental Protection Agency administrator …

A $60 billion surprise in the Covid relief bill: Tax hikes  —  Democrats are getting an early start on their tax-increase agenda.  —  They've tucked a trio of little-noticed tax hikes on the wealthy and big corporations into their coronavirus relief package that together are worth $60 billion.

Exclusive: ‘Migrant president’ Biden stirs Mexican angst over boom time for gangs  —  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's government is worried the new U.S. administration's asylum policies are stoking illegal immigration and creating business for organized crime, according to officials and internal assessments seen by Reuters.

Run for Texas governor now ‘a real consideration,’ Matthew McConaughey says  —  HOUSTON, Texas — Can Matthew McConaughey lead Texans out of disaster as the state's governor?  —  That is a question that could only be posed if a rumored bid for the top seat in Texas government becomes reality.

US-based Sinn Féin support group places ads for vote on Irish unification  —  Adverts in New York Times, Washington Post and other US papers seek to rally Irish-American support  —  A US-based Sinn Féin support group has placed half-page advertisements in the New York Times …

Robin Bullock Claims ‘Prophets’ Have the Power to Call Trump Back Into the White House  —  Right-wing pastor Robin Bullock used his church service Tuesday to urge his fellow “prophets” to come together and call former President Donald Trump back to the White House, declaring that if they will do so …

Biden and his Covid-relief bill prove popular in new CNN poll  —  (CNN)The economic relief bill moving rapidly through Congress is broadly popular, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.  —  The popularity of the bill comes as President Joe Biden's approval rating tilts positive around 50 days after he took the oath of office.

Review: Exposing life in the shadows of the United States of Amazon  —  Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America  —  Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 400 pages, $28  —  If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.

Cuomo Administration Questioned U.S. Health Officials About Nursing-Home Data  —  Members of New York governor's inner circle worried federal statistics would conflict with state's  —  When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration learned last year that the federal government …

How Biden Funds His Next Bill: Shrink the $7.5 Trillion Tax Gap  —  The I.R.S. is often unable to detect or fight blatant tax cheating by the rich and big businesses.  Restoring it is a solution that pays for itself.  —  Ms. Huang is the executive director of the Tax Law Center at the New York University School of Law.

Oklahoma House passes bill that would protect drivers who hit protestors  —  The Oklahoma House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill aimed at protecting drivers who hit protestors while “fleeing a riot.”  —  House Bill 1674, authored Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore and co-authored by Rep. Kevin McDugle …

President Biden's second big bill may be China package pushed by top Senate Democrat  —  With fate of Biden infrastructure package unclear, Schumer pushes bill to curb China's influence  —  As the White House continues to work on another major spending bill to follow the $1.9 trillion stimulus …

GOP Decides Equal Representation Is an ‘Assault on Democracy’  —  The Republican Party has won the popular vote in just one of the six presidential elections held this century — but has nevertheless held the White House for 12 of the past 20 years.  Since 2000, the GOP's Senate caucus …

Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen to meet again with Manhattan DA in Trump probe  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, said he would go in for a seventh interview on Wednesday with the Manhattan district attorney's office pursuing a criminal investigation into the former U.S. president.

Restarting the Central American Minors Program  —  As another concrete step in implementing our comprehensive regional migration management strategy, we are expanding legal pathways to enter the United States by reopening the Central American Minors (CAM) program.