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 …

Navy probe finds contractor charged in Capitol insurrection was well-known Nazi sympathizer  —  (CNN)An Army reservist charged with storming the US Capitol was a well-known White supremacist and Nazi sympathizer at the Navy base where he worked as a contractor, and was even rebuked for sporting a distinctive …

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 …

Number of unaccompanied migrant kids in US custody up 25% since last week, administration facing unprecedented crisis  —  Over 500 kids per day are being detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.  —  Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.  —  The number of unaccompanied teens …

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.

New Suitor May Enter Fray for Tribune Publishing  —  A Maryland hotel magnate who had a deal to buy The Baltimore Sun is now weighing a bid for all of Tribune's newspapers that could thwart a hedge fund's plan.  —  A deal that would reshape the American newspaper industry has run …

Piers Morgan Can't Wait to Bring the Worst of America Home  —  British TV executives see opportunity — and money to be made — in bringing American cable-style clashes to their screens.  —  When Piers Morgan stormed off the set of “Good Morning Britain” last week as a Black colleague chided him for …

Biden's conspicuous silence on the Cuomo scandal  —  Based on everything we know about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's psyche, it's impossible to imagine him resigning unless he knows he has no way out.  The only Democratic figure who could plausibly persuade Cuomo to resign is President Biden.

Officials located December recording of Trump call in a trash folder on Georgia investigator's device  —  (CNN)Officials in the Georgia Secretary of State's Office located a recently released recording of former President Donald Trump's call to a state investigator in a trash folder on her device …

Biden eyes Gene Sperling to serve as Covid rescue plan czar  —  President Joe Biden is eyeing Gene Sperling for a role to oversee the implementation of the administration's coronavirus relief plan, according to two sources with knowledge of the plans.  —  The White House could announce …

Vaccine brawl riles House  —  Uncertainty about why only 75% of the House is confirmed as vaccinated against the coronavirus is fueling a debate about when the chamber can return to its normal rules of operation.  —  Between the lines: The other 25% of members have either refused to get the vaccine …

Opportunity Beckons in the Mideast  —  The Biden administration called Iran's bluff early.  It should continue to play the strong hand it was dealt.  —  The geopolitical earthquake that began with the Abraham Accords hasn't ended.  More than 130,000 Israelis have visited Dubai since President Trump hosted …

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.

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.

School is coming back.  But many parents have moved on  —  The schools open-versus-closed debate has raged since the earliest days of the pandemic.  Early on, there were indications that the system, which was often regarded as antiquated prior the pandemic, was ill-suited to respond …

New Arkansas abortion law a sign of the times  —  Earlier this week, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a new law barring abortions “except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.”  This near-total ban on abortion clearly violates the rights spelled out in Roe v. Wade.

The media fact-checkers finally come for Joe Biden  —  “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please,” author Mark Twain once said.  —  Distorting facts has been all the rage for a Biden administration that was billed from the beginning as the most honest team assembled since the days of George Washington.

Stimulus payments are already arriving.  Americans say they really need them.  —  Days after Biden signed his relief bill into law, Americans are receiving much-needed payments.  —  Stimulus checks have begun to arrive in Americans' bank accounts — just days after President Joe Biden authorized …

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.

As Gov. Cuomo Faces Calls to Resign, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul Treads Lightly  —  New York's lieutenant governor has focused on representing the administration at public events around the state  —  As New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo fights for his political life, the woman in line to succeed …

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.

Sen. Cruz: US Military ‘Launching Political Attacks’ Against Tucker Carlson, Requests Meeting  —  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he requested a meeting with the head of the U.S. Marine Corps after one of its units tweeted statements insulting Tucker Carlson, along with unusually bellicose comments about the Fox News host.