Department of Justice Closes Investigation into the Death of Ashli Babbitt  —  WASHINGTON - The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice will not pursue criminal charges against the U.S. Capitol Police officer involved …

The Minnesota officer who killed Daunte Wright will be charged with manslaughter.  —  BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — The white Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, after appearing to mistake her handgun for her Taser will be charged with second-degree manslaughter …

The C.E.O.s Who Didn't Sign a Big Defense of Voting Rights  —  Hundreds of leaders and companies signed a letter opposing strict limits.  They did not.  —  A big show of corporate solidarity  —  Amazon, BlackRock, Google, Warren Buffett and hundreds of other companies and executives …

Women detail drug use, sex and payments after late-night parties with Gaetz and others  —  ‘Bombastic, antagonistic, unapologetic’: A look at Gaetz's political career  —  Orlando, FL (CNN)The first thing some of the women were asked to do when they got to the house parties in the gated community …

North Atlantic Council Ministerial Statement on Afghanistan  —  In 2001, Allies invoked Article 5 of the Washington Treaty for the only time in NATO's history and went to Afghanistan together with clear objectives: to confront al-Qaeda and those who attacked the United States on September 11 …

Democrats signal limited patience for GOP opposition to Biden infrastructure package  —  They are warming to the idea of using budget ‘reconciliation,’ which would allow them to bypass Republicans but could carry other risks  —  Top Senate Democrats on Tuesday signaled they may have no choice …

Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady will retire from Congress at the end of his term  —  The Montgomery County Republican has served in Congress for more than two decades.  —  Copy link  —  WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, announced Wednesday morning that this will be his last term serving in the U.S. House.

POLITICO Playbook: ‘A gaslighting chamber of insanity’: Moderate Republicans seethe at Biden  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  “It's a f—ing nightmare.”  —  That was the lament of a staffer working for one of the members of the so-called G-10, the group of 10 Republican senators who insist they're itching …

Bad news for journalists: The public doesn't share our values.  But there's hope.  —  Ask almost any group of journalists to name the core values of their profession, and they'll probably deliver a list like this:  —  Oversight.  We're the watchdogs keeping an eye on government officials and other powerful people and institutions.

Late night hosts list things more dangerous than Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, including COVID-19  —  “In the last few months, we've gotten all sorts of vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Montero — but for at least a little while, it looks like there's gonna be one less,” Trevor Noah said on Tuesday's Daily Show.

New Target for New York's Ascendant Left: Rep. Carolyn Maloney  —  Justice Democrats, a left-wing group that fueled the rise of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is backing Rana Abdelhamid's primary bid.  —  Nearly three years ago, a little-known left-wing organization helped engineer …

Biden Receives High Marks On Pandemic, Low Score On Mexican Border Situation, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Infrastructure Plan Is More Popular If Corporate Taxes Fund It  —  As President Joe Biden approaches his 100th day in office, he receives a positive 48 - 42 percent job approval rating …

One in Five Still Shun Vaccine  —  Biden gets high marks for Covid response  —  West Long Branch, NJ - About 1 in 5 American adults remain unwilling to get the Covid vaccine, even as more people are getting the shot.  The Monmouth ("Mon-muth") University Poll also finds that President Joe Biden continues …

Trump didn't bring White working-class voters to the Republican Party.  The data suggest he kept them away.  —  White working-class voters had been moving to the Republican Party for years.  Trump stopped the trend.  —  Republican leaders have been hailing a class realignment of the parties.

Andrew Yang's mayoral campaign is being run by a lobbying firm  —  Andrew Yang's two campaign managers, his press secretary, his policy director and multiple senior advisers don't actually work for his New York City mayoral campaign.  They're employed by Tusk Strategies …

What We Know About The Suspect Who Planted Bombs Before The Capitol Riot  —  More than three months after the U.S. Capitol riot, a bomb-maker remains on the loose.  —  A majority of the public's attention has been focused on the hundreds of people who have been charged for their role on Jan. 6.

Welcome to the New Progressive Era  —  Washington in the first days of the Biden administration is a place for double takes: A president associated with the politics of austerity is spending money with focused gusto, a crisis isn't going to waste, and Senator Bernie Sanders is happy.

Anti-Vax Activists Are Quietly Bending State Politics To Their Will  —  At least five states are considering bills based on language written by a fringe group.  Across the U.S., legislators are promoting bad science and COVID denial.  —  Anna Merlan  —  South Carolina State Representative Bill Chumley was feeling vindicated.

Republicans prepping smaller counteroffer to Biden's infrastructure plan  —  Republicans are preparing a counteroffer to President Joe Biden's infrastructure proposal, a plan that's likely to be in the range of $600 to $800 billion, more targeted in scope and funded by unspecified user fees, according to several GOP senators.

Bernard Madoff, Architect of Largest Ponzi Scheme in History, Is Dead at 82  —  His enormous fraud left behind a devastating human toll and paper losses totaling $64.8 billion.  —  Bernard L. Madoff, the one-time senior statesman of Wall Street who in 2008 became the human face of an era …

The FBI wanted to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone.  It turned to a little-known Australian firm.  —  Azimuth unlocked the iPhone at the center of an epic legal battle between the FBI and Apple.  Now, Apple is suing the company co-founded by one of the hackers behind the unlock.

Shades of 2016: Republicans Stay Silent on Trump, Hoping He Fades Away  —  Just like when Donald J. Trump was a candidate in 2016, rival Republicans are trying to avoid becoming the target of his attacks or directly confronting him, while hoping someone else will.

'A mask shouldn't have a political party,' says GOP leader who thinks he caught COVID-19 at Republican meeting  —  KALAMAZOO, MI — Jason Watts said days after attending a Republican Party district meeting at a restaurant in Portage, he heard that several others at the meeting contracted COVID-19 and started feeling symptoms himself.

School Won't Be Named After Obamas Following Protests  —  A school in Waukegan, Illinois, will not be renamed after former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, following protests from members of the Latino community in the city.  —  Thomas Jefferson Middle School …

Statement of Prof. William A. Jacobson Opposing Cornell Faculty Senate Proposed Critical Race Mandates  —  “these Proposals both individually and collectively impose an ideological orthodoxy and adherence to a Critical Race Theory (CRT) view of the world, in violation of the educational purpose …

More Than 817 Million Shots Given: Covid-19 Tracker  —  In the U.S., 195 million doses have been administered; rollout goes global  —  The biggest vaccination campaign in history is underway.  More than 817 million doses have been administered across 152 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg.