Live Updates: Mississippi Abortion Law Arguments Conclude at Supreme Court  —  The arguments are over.  Here's what happens next.  —  The justices will cast tentative votes at a private conference in the coming days.  The senior justice in the majority will then assign the majority opinion to a colleague or, just as likely, keep it.

Trump tested positive for Covid few days before Biden debate, chief of staff says in new book  —  Mark Meadows makes stunning admission in new memoir obtained by Guardian, saying a second test returned negative  —  Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19 three days before his first debate …

BREAKING: Stacey Abrams is running for Georgia governor in 2022  —  Stacey Abrams launched a campaign for Georgia governor on Wednesday with a pledge to fight for economic equality and expand healthcare access, setting up a potential rematch against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in one of the nation's …

First confirmed US case of Omicron coronavirus variant detected in California  —  Tonight, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta host a global town hall on the Omicron coronavirus variant and Dr. Anthony Fauci will answer viewer questions.  Watch live at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.

Ghislaine Maxwell trial: Sex crimes accuser testifies Jeffrey Epstein took her to meet Trump when she was 14  — A woman who says she was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell testified that Epstein took her to meet Donald Trump at his Florida club when she was 14 years old.

Governor Charlie Baker telling allies he isn't running for reelection  —  Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, the Republican who maintained the enduring support of his blue state constituents through boom times, the Trump presidency, and in the face of mass death during the COVID-19 pandemic …

Peter DeFazio will retire from Congress in latest blow to Democrats  —  Rep. Peter DeFazio, the Oregon firebrand who leads the House's transportation committee, will step down after 36 years in Congress, spelling more bad news for Democrats in 2022 and taking with him an encyclopedic amount …

Women's Tennis Suspends Events in China Following Allegation Against Government Official  —  The organization's chief executive expressed ‘serious doubts’ about the safety of Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis player at the center of global concern over her well-being.

POLITICO Playbook: Scoop: Conservatives plot government shutdown over vaccine mandate  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  FRIDAY'S SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN GETS REAL — Conservatives on both sides of the Capitol are privately plotting to force a government shutdown Friday in an effort to defund …

Marcus Lamb, head of Daystar, a large Christian network that discouraged vaccines, dies after getting covid-19  —  Marcus Lamb, founder of the large Christian network Daystar, died Tuesday after contracting the coronavirus.  Lamb's network during the pandemic has made the virus a huge focus …

The best response to Russia's threats is a closer relationship with Ukraine  —  Michael McFaul is the director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Hoover fellow at Stanford University and a contributing columnist for The Post.  Oleksiy Honcharuk …

Why the Discredited Dossier Does Not Undercut the Russia Investigation  —  Donald J. Trump and his backers say revelations about the Steele dossier show the Russia investigation was a “hoax.”  That is not what the facts indicate.  —  WASHINGTON — Former President Donald J. Trump and his allies …

1. A majority (52%) of young Americans believe that our democracy is either “in trouble,” or “failing”  — Only 7% of young Americans view the United States as a “healthy democracy”; 27% described the nation as a “somewhat functioning democracy,” 39% a “democracy in trouble,” …

America Is Running Out of New Ideas  —  In film, science, and the economy, the U.S. has fallen out of love with the hard work of invention.  —  About the author: Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he writes about economics, technology, and the media, and is the author of the Work in Progress newsletter.

Trump SPAC social media company appears to miss its first product deadline  — Former President Donald Trump's new social media company appears to have missed its own November deadline to launch an invitation-only beta version of “Truth Social,” its purported alternative to Twitter.

Judge: Trump and allies ‘stoked the flames of fear’ that led to Jan. 6 violence  —  A federal judge said Wednesday that those who organized a pro-Trump Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol “stoked the flames of fear” and deserve to be held accountable for what they unleashed.