‘This Is Actually Happening’  —  President Joe Biden and his inner circle were in an ebullient mood.  —  It was Wednesday morning, Aug. 11, and they were basking in the glow of back-to-back legislative wins.  The day before, the Senate had passed a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt exonerated in internal probe  —  The Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt outside a door of the U.S. Capitol has been formally exonerated after an internal investigation, according to a department memo obtained by NBC News.

Firm led by top donor to Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis donor isn't a major Regeneron investor  —  Citadel CEO Ken Griffin is a top campaign donor to DeSantis, but his firm isn't a major investor in Regeneron, a company that makes a treatment for COVID-19 that DeSantis endorses.  —  See the sources for this fact-check

The new ‘Jeopardy!’ host, Mike Richards, quits.  —  Mike Richards, who was named the new host of “Jeopardy!” last week, is abruptly leaving the role as the beloved game show confronts a roiling controversy over offensive and sexist comments he made on a podcast several years ago.

EXCLUSIVE: Logically Identifies GhostEzra, Florida Man Behind World's ‘Largest Antisemitic Internet Forum’  —  Logically, as part of our mission to understand and counter harmful online misinformation, conducts continuous research into the networks, channels, and actors that play an outsized role …

Local mask mandates allowed for now after Texas Supreme Court rejects Gov. Abbott's request to intervene  —  (CNN)The Supreme Court of Texas refused Gov. Greg Abbott's request to intervene Thursday in the case of mask mandates established by several local jurisdictions.

The F.D.A. is aiming to give full approval to Pfizer's Covid vaccine on Monday.  —  The Food and Drug Administration is pushing to approve Pfizer-BioNTech's two-dose Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, further expediting an earlier timeline for licensing the shot, according to people familiar with the agency's planning.

AP urges DeSantis to end harassing tweets aimed at reporter  —  NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press called on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to end “harassing behavior” by one of his press aides against an AP reporter who received threats and other online abuse.

Maker of Popular Covid Test Told Factory to Destroy Inventory  —  One of the leading producers of rapid tests purged supplies and laid off workers as sales dwindled.  Weeks later, the U.S. is facing a surge in infections with diminished capacity.  —  For weeks in June and July …

University of Virginia disenrolls 238 students for not complying with vaccine requirement  —  CHARLOTTESVILLE — The University of Virginia disenrolled 238 students ahead of its fall semester for noncompliance with the school's COVID-19 vaccine requirement.  —  Of that number …

COVID anxiety rising amid delta surge, AP-NORC poll finds  —  DENVER (AP) — Anxiety in the United States over COVID-19 is at its highest level since winter, a new poll shows, as the delta variant rages, more states and school districts adopt mask and vaccination requirements and the nation's hospitals once again fill to capacity.

The Science of Masking Kids at School Remains Uncertain  —  At the end of May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a notable, yet mostly ignored, large-scale study of COVID transmission in American schools.  A few major news outlets covered its release by briefly reiterating …

Biden Insiders: Our Afghanistan Exit Is a Part of a Much Bigger Reset  —  THE END OF THE POST-9/11 ERA … Biden and his team have clearer memories of the long litany of egregious and crippling missteps America's leaders made during the first years of this century than do their critics.

Liberal Democracy Is Worth a Fight  —  Of all the empty, pointless statements that are periodically repeated by Western politicians, none is more empty and pointless than this one: “There can be no military solution to this conflict.”  That was what Ban Ki-moon, then the UN secretary-general …

Facebook, Fearing Public Outcry, Shelved Earlier Report on Popular Posts  —  The company praised itself this week for being “the most transparent platform on the internet.”  —  When Facebook this week released its first quarterly report about the most viewed posts in the United States …

Mostly Pre-Afghanistan Turmoil, Biden Job Approval 49%  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gallup's latest job approval rating for President Joe Biden, conducted mostly before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban earlier this week, is 49%.  The current rating is one percentage point below the 50% registered …