MAGA world pans Stefanik  —  Donald Trump has called Elise Stefanik “a new Republican star,” a “smart communicator” and — perhaps his highest praise — “tough.”  —  But the MAGA faithful aren't so sure.  —  Within minutes of Trump's endorsement of the New York congresswoman …

BREAKING: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won't run for reelection  —  By J.D. Capelouto - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wilborn P. Nobles III - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Greg Bluestein - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  —  In a stunning announcement Thursday night …

Scientists have taught bees to smell the coronavirus.  They can identify a case within seconds.  — Dutch scientists have trained bees to smell COVID-19.  — Every time the bees were exposed to an infected sample, they stuck out their tongues.  — The animals could be a low-tech solution for identifying COVID-19 cases.

F.E.C. Drops Case Reviewing Trump Hush-Money Payments to Women  —  The case had examined whether Donald Trump violated election law with a $130,000 payment shortly before the 2016 election to a pornographic-film actress by his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

‘We Build The Wall’ Co-Founder Kolfage Indicted in Tax Case  — Kolfage charged in Florida after facing New York indictment  — Trump pardoned Bannon in ‘We Build the Wall’ fraud case  —  Brian Kolfage, whose work with Stephen Bannon to raise money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall resulted …

Russian agent accused of interfering in US elections is back meddling online, Facebook says  —  A man the U.S. intelligence community has assessed is an active Russian agent who interfered in U.S. elections is back stirring the pot on Facebook, the company announced Thursday.

1 in custody, 3 injured after active shooter incident at Rigby Middle School  —  WATCH NOW: KIFI LOCAL NEWS 8  —  RIGBY, Idaho (KIFI) - UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Idaho Falls Police and the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office are assisting the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office serving a search warrant …

Attorney General James Takes Legal Action Against Conspiracy Theorists For Threatening Robocalls to Suppress Black Voters  —  Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman Orchestrated a Large-Scale Robocall  —  Campaign to Intimidate Black Communities Ahead of the 2020 Election

The COVID Reporters Are Not Okay.  Extremely Not Okay.  —  An underprepared industry is losing a generation of journalists to despair, trauma and moral injury as they cover the story of a lifetime.  —  When I told my editors at The Daily Beast that I needed to quit my job …

The Secret Papers of Lee Atwater, Who Invented the Scurrilous Tactics That Trump Normalized  —  An infamous Republican political operative's unpublished memoir shows how the Party came to embrace lies, racial fearmongering, and winning at any cost.  —  It's a Washington axiom …

FBI still after ‘worst of the worst’ in Capitol riot as new arrests come at steady pace  —  Four months after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, FBI agents maintain a steady pace of arresting people accused of taking part, as one of the largest criminal investigations in American history keeps growing.

The Washington Post's ‘Toy Weapons’ vs. Cops  —  Can you tell which of the pistols above is the “toy,” in the usage of the Washington Post's Pulitzer-winning “Fatal Force” database on killings by police, and which is the real deal?  Answers below.  —  On Monday, April 19 …

Long March 5B, a Chinese Rocket, Expected to Tumble Back to Earth  —  The chances of it hitting a populated area are small, but not zero.  That has raised questions about how the country's space program designs its missions.  —  No, you are almost certainly not going to be hit by a 10-story …

Dimon on Raising Taxes: 'Just Throwing Money, It Doesn't Work'  —  JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon urged lawmakers to spell out — very specifically — targets for building roads, funding college degrees and creating jobs if they embark on a massive spending spree to bolster the economy.

Fact check: Elise Stefanik tried to get election overturned, promoted election lies  —  Stefanik previously called out Trump, now she mirrors his rhetoric  —  Washington (CNN)House Republicans are moving to oust Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from a party leadership position over her vocal repudiation …

Biden's National Day Of Prayer Proclamation Forgoes ‘God’ For ‘Climate Change’ And ‘Racial Justice’  —  President Joe Biden's National Day of Prayer proclamation has come under criticism for excluding any mention of God.  —  Like previous presidents, President Biden issued a proclamation …

Twitter suspends account that was posting Trump statements  —  Twitter suspended an account on Thursday that appeared to be circumventing their ban on former President Donald Trump by posting messages he shared on his own website.  —  The move was more evidence that the social media behemoth …

Whitmer Mooches Billionaires' Plane As Father Makes Miraculous Recovery  —  When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was outed last month for a secretive trip to Florida in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, her office claimed Michigan taxpayers did not foot the bill.  —  What they did not tell us …

Jenner has hangar pains after Hannity interview  —  OAKLAND — Move over French Laundry, there's a new social media obsession: Hangar Guy.  —  GOP recall candidate Caitlyn Jenner may have played right into Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's hands when she lamented on Fox News …

Sean Hannity used to rule Fox.  But in the post-Trump era, Tucker Carlson is king  —  New York (CNN Business)Sean Hannity finds himself in familiar territory as of late: second place.  —  For most of his career, the right-wing Fox propagandist has been in the shadows of someone else.

Joe Biden Is Starting to Sound Hawkish About the Deficit.  Uh-Oh.  —  Suddenly, Joe Biden is beginning to sound a little bit hawkish about the deficit.  On Wednesday, reporters asked the president whether he was willing to accept a lower corporate tax hike than the one he proposed to pay for his infrastructure and jobs plan.

Biden's ethics end-around for labor  —  The Biden administration is excusing top officials from ethics rules that would otherwise restrict their work with large labor unions that previously employed them, federal records show.  —  Why it matters: Labor's sizable personnel presence …

The Axe Files with David Axelrod  —  David Axelrod, the founder and director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, brings you The Axe Files, a series of revealing interviews with key figures in the political world.  Go beyond the soundbites and get to know some of the most interesting players in politics.

Melinda Gates Warned Bill About Jeffrey Epstein  —  After a secret meeting between the couple and the wealthy sex offender, Melinda was furious and told friends she wanted nothing to do with Epstein, The Daily Beast has learned. … Melinda Gates met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alongside …

Florida Democrat Nikki Fried and Matt Gaetz are pals.  Political insiders are dishing about how that could complicate her bid to unseat Gov. Ron DeSantis.  — Florida's agriculture commissioner, Democrat Nikki Fried, is a close friend of Matt Gaetz.  — They even hung out at the Trump hotel …

Nuclear Talks With Iran Could Reach Agreement Within Weeks, U.S. Says  —  Significant hurdles remain.  But it was an optimistic signal by the Biden administration that an American return to the accord between Iran and world powers could be within reach.  —  WASHINGTON — The United States …

Has Censorship Become Our Baseline Expectation?  —  For America's Journalistic Inquisitors—it's free speech that's surprising  —  Want proof that our norms are shifting?  Look no further than our headlines: “Amazon won't stop selling book questioning transgender youth” noted a surprised New York Daily News on Tuesday.

An Ex-Blackwater Employee Tied To Erik Prince Provided Security For Rudy Giuliani In Ukraine, Sources Said  —  A former Blackwater employee connected to Erik Prince, the billionaire security magnate who served as an informal adviser to the Trump administration, provided security …

Nearly one million people signed up for Obamacare coverage this spring.  —  Nearly one million Americans have signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage during the first 10 weeks of a special open enrollment period the Biden administration began in February.

U.S. Army trainee uses rifle to hijack school bus full of children, S.C. sheriff says … A rifle-toting U.S. Army trainee hijacked a busload of children in South Carolina on Thursday before letting the kids off, abandoning the vehicle and surrendering, officials said.

What's Happening At ‘The Believer’ Is About More Than Just A Zoom Incident  —  On Feb. 5, a media reporter for The New York Times called me.  She'd received a tip that the day before, my boss at The Believer magazine, Josh Wolf Shenk, had exposed himself on camera during an all-staff Zoom meeting.

Personal ties: Harris' family in India grapples with COVID  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — G. Balachandran turned 80 this spring — a milestone of a birthday in India, where he lives.  If not for the coronavirus pandemic, he would have been surrounded by family members who gathered to celebrate with him.

Chris Ruddy and Newsmax went all-in on Trump.  Now they might pay a price for it.  —  One night last month at Mar-a-Lago, Chris Ruddy positioned himself in a familiar spot: right next to Donald Trump.  —  The occasion came just days before a Republican National Committee fundraiser …