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 was charged with manslaughter.  —  BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, after appearing to mistake her handgun for her Taser was arrested on Wednesday and charged …

‘The Pentagon is not making these decisions’: How Biden's team overrode the brass on Afghanistan  —  The military spent more than a decade urging three different American presidents to stay in Afghanistan.  With President Joe Biden's decision this week to withdraw all U.S. forces by Sept. 11, they finally lost the battle.

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 …

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 …

Biden selects Erika Moritsugu as Asian American outreach director  —  President Biden has selected Erika Moritsugu, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, to serve as a senior adviser overseeing outreach to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities …

Mitt Romney And Kyrsten Sinema Team Up On Bipartisan Proposal To Increase Minimum Wage  —  Senate Democrats have had little success finding agreement among themselves on how much to increase the federal minimum wage.  —  Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) …

Moderna working to combine flu and coronavirus vaccines  —  Moderna said it's working on combining the flu vaccine with its COVID-19 vaccine.  —  Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC's Squawk Box that the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company is developing a vaccine that will protect …

Cruz challenges Biden DOJ pick's contention that she opposes defunding police  —  Kristen Clarke insisted she opposes defunding police, despite a 2020 op-ed with a headline calling for it  —  Cruz challenges Biden DOJ Kristen Clarke pick over her position on defunding police

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

Tucker Carlson's toxic ‘replacement’ rhetoric gets picked up in the House  —  From the moment Fox News's Tucker Carlson explicitly advocated the idea that immigrants are “replacing” real Americans — a rhetorical construct popular among self-proclaimed white nationalists — the danger was obvious.

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.

Mr. President, your misinformation on Georgia's voting law is dangerous  —  Gabriel Sterling is the chief operation officer and chief financial officer in the office of the Georgia Secretary of State.  —  “Someone is going to get hurt.”  I made that prediction four months ago regarding misinformation about the 2020 election.

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.

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 …

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.

WHCA will not hold 2021 dinner; plans rollout of other salutes to journalism  —  We regret to announce that we are unable to hold our annual dinner this year.  —  We have worked through any number of scenarios over the last several months, but to put it plainly: while improving rapidly …

'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.

Biden UN ambassador says ‘slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles’  —  White supremacy is woven “into our founding documents and principles,” President Joe Biden's ambassador to the United Nations said on Wednesday.  —  The United States needs to practice …