New York's vaccine czar called county officials to gauge their loyalty to Cuomo amid sexual harassment investigation  —  New York's “vaccine czar” — a longtime adviser to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — phoned county officials in the past two weeks in attempts to gauge their loyalty …

Trump was supposed to be a political Godzilla in exile.  Instead, he's adrift.  —  He backed away from creating a third party and has soured on the costly prospect of launching his own TV empire or social media startup.  —  His vow to target disloyal Republicans with personally-recruited primary challengers …

House Democrats draw the line: No bipartisan cooperation with Republicans who questioned the election  —  WASHINGTON - Freshman Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat, has begun turning to an unusual source when trying to decide whether he wants to work with a Republican he thinks makes a good point during committee hearings: Google.

Massive Facebook study on users' doubt in vaccines finds a small group appears to play a big role in pushing the skepticism  —  Internal study finds a QAnon connection and that content that doesn't break the rules may be causing ‘substantial’ harm  —  Facebook is conducting a vast behind …

Police Shrugged Off the Proud Boys, Until They Attacked the Capitol  —  Two Proud Boys accused of leading a mob to Congress followed a bloody path to get there.  Law enforcement did little to stop them.  —  A protester was burning an American flag outside the 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland when Joseph Biggs rushed to attack.

How Trump's team amassed a $1 trillion war chest for Biden to deploy  —  Republicans are bashing the new $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package for further ballooning the federal debt, but it's the Trump administration that greased the path for a smooth federal spending spree.

Kobach teamed up with Wichita businessman to sell COVID-killing device.  An investigation found no validity to their claims.  —  NEW YORK CITY — In early October, Kris Kobach, Kansas' former Secretary of State, and Daniel Drake, a Wichita-based venture capitalist-turned-CEO, made a sales pitch to Kansas legislators.

Georgia voting rights activists pressure big corporations to oppose GOP-backed ballot restrictions  — Civil rights and activist groups are turning up the pressure on large Georgia companies like Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines to oppose sweeping voting restrictions proposed by Republican state legislators.

Online harassment of female journalists is real, and it's increasingly hard to endure  —  Julia Carrie Wong remembers a time, years ago, when she felt that being a part of digital culture was fun.  —  “I used to really enjoy online spaces, having a personality and a voice,” …

POLITICO Playbook: Biden stiffs the Sunday shows  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  President JOE BIDEN just signed the first BFD of his administration — a massive Covid relief bill to boost the fortunes of everyday Americans.  But you barely heard a peep about it from his own administration on the Sunday shows.

Pentagon may reverse gender-neutral physical fitness test for US army soldiers  —  A new test has been scoring men and women on the same basis - but more than half of women are failing  —  The US Army is considering a reversal of its new gender-neutral physical test to instead include different evaluation categories for men and women.

What used cars tell us about the risk of too much inflation hitting the economy  —  Nationwide, used car prices soared 17 percent nationally in seven months last year — the most of any product.  —  When the coronavirus pandemic upended automobile supply chains last year …

Stripe valuation soars to $95bn after latest fundraising  —  Payments provider becomes Silicon Valley's most valuable private company  —  Stripe has become the most valuable private company Silicon Valley has produced, after investors struck a deal valuing the online payments processor at $95bn.

Americans see better days ahead in pandemic and economy — CBS News poll  —  Though “exhausted” from a year-long pandemic, confidence about containing the coronavirus is hitting new highs as more vaccines roll out, and Americans say they're also “grateful” and widely optimistic about the coming months.

Capitol rioter boasted he could access powerful weapons to ‘take back’ country, prosecutors say  —  A Texas man who joined a mob at the Capitol on Jan. 6 told two rioters he had set up a security company as a front to access law enforcement-grade weaponry that could be used to “take back our country …

Distinguished pol of the week: No progress was possible without Biden  —  Many public officials can claim credit for the passage of the extraordinary rescue plan, the eye-popping progress in vaccinations, the falling infection rates and the prospect of a normal-ish summer.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IMPLEMENTS REP. MARIA SALAZAR'S COVID RELIEF BILL  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden Administration has just implemented Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar's (FL-27) COVID relief bill as part of Small Business Administration (SBA) policy.

After receiving second dose, Yo-Yo Ma transforms waiting period into performance at Pittsfield vax clinic  —  PITTSFIELD — After Yo-Yo Ma received his second jab of a COVID-19 vaccine at Berkshire Community College Saturday, he transformed his 15-minute observation period into a concert for the newly inoculated.

Georgia's No. 2 Republican boycotts debate over election restrictions  —  As Georgia Senate lawmakers began debating sweeping elections restrictions on Monday, the top Republican in the chamber sat in a darkened Capitol office watching the proceedings on a TV screen wedged into the corner …

Fauci: CDC “analyzing” data that could change distancing guidelines to 3 feet  —  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking at data that suggests “3 feet are okay under certain circumstances,” for social distancing guidelines, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said on CNN's “State of the Union” Sunday.

Congressional Testimony: The Leading Activists for Online Censorship Are Corporate Journalists  —  A hearing of the House Subcommittee focused on anti-trust and monopoly abuses examines the role of the corporate media in these growing pathologies.  —  There are not many Congressional …

Leaving Portland  —  Portland, Oregon, has been the most politically violent city in the United States since Donald Trump was elected in 2016.  Just a few days after the result, a peaceful protest against the incoming president turned into a riot when anarchists broke off from the main group …

The growing number of children in custody on the US-Mexico border, explained  —  Biden is seeking an “effective and humane” border policy.  He's struggling to deliver.  —  As unaccompanied children from Central America arrive in increasing numbers on the US-Mexico border …