Lab testing confirms state's first COVID-19 case involving Omicron variant  —  Infected Minnesota resident recently returned from domestic travel; variant was found through MDH variant surveillance program, which is one of the strongest surveillance programs in the nation

John Kennedy Tells Biden Nominee Dale Ho He's Too ‘Angry’ To Be A Federal Judge  —  “We don't need federal judges who are angry,” said the GOP senator, who voted to put angry guy Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.  —  Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told President Joe Biden's judicial nominee Dale Ho …

Exclusive: Sinema won't commit to voting for Biden's sweeping social safety net expansion  —  (CNN)Kyrsten Sinema, the influential moderate Democratic senator from Arizona, did not commit to voting for President Joe Biden's sweeping social safety net legislation in a sit-down interview with CNN on Thursday …

Why a Pollster is Warning Democrats About the 2022 Midterm Elections  —  Focus groups with Virginia voters led to a bluntly worded memo on what Democrats need to do going into the midterms.  —  Brian Stryker, a Democratic pollster, didn't work for Terry McAuliffe's campaign in the Virginia governor's race.

Meadows' book possible ‘waiver’ of executive privilege, Jan. 6 investigators say  —  “It'd be very difficult for him to maintain 'I can't speak about events to you, but I can speak about them in my book,'” said Rep. Adam Schiff.  —  Jan. 6 investigators have tried to pry information from Mark Meadows for months.

A CIA Report Shows Trump Abandoned His Duty as Commander in Chief  —  The CIA is too polite to say this directly, but it has issued a report that shows that Donald Trump, while obsessing over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, abandoned one of his primary duties as president …

Cancel Mel Gibson  —  Every day, as dawn's rosy fingers reach through my window, I arise and check in with Twitter, to see what fresh hell awaits.  Generally, by about 6:30, I've been made furious by the outrage du jour.  But recently, I experienced more of a sense of bemusement than ire …

Andrew Cuomo Under Federal Investigation Over Sexual-Assault Allegations  —  Justice Department opened civil-rights probe into former New York governor's executive chamber  —  The Justice Department opened a civil-rights investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive chamber …

U.S. hedge-fund billionaire on China disappearing people: They're behaving like a “strict parent”  —  I missed this yesterday.  If you did too, make amends.  Not just because the contrast this clip draws with the moral righteousness displayed by the Women's Tennis Association is so sharp …

Major news outlets side with Steve Bannon on one part of his legal fight.  —  A coalition of the nation's largest media companies and news organizations has filed a legal brief in support of Stephen K. Bannon, asking a federal court not to bar him from publicly releasing documents related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Texas now bans medical abortions after seven weeks of pregnancy  —  Beginning today, a new law restricts abortion-inducing medication, the most common abortion method in Texas.  —  Copy link  —  A new law limiting the use of abortion-inducing medication in Texas goes into effect Thursday.

We Opened the Schools and ... It Was Fine  —  When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, many states and towns closed everything, including schools.  Public-health experts didn't know enough about how COVID was spread or how contagious it was, and the health-care system was overwhelmed in parts of the country.

Alec Baldwin exclusive: 'The trigger wasn't pulled.  I didn't pull the trigger'  —  George Stephanopoulos' exclusive interview airs Thursday on ABC, streams on Hulu  —  Actor Alec Baldwin told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that he had “no idea” …

‘Magic dirt’: How the internet fueled, and defeated, the pandemic's weirdest MLM  —  The social media posts started in May: photos and videos of smiling people, mostly women, drinking Mason jars of black liquid, slathering black paste on their faces and feet, or dipping babies and dogs in tubs of the black water.

Republicans defy COVID vaccine policy at the N.J. Statehouse, ignoring troopers who tried to stop them  —  1,456  —  A number of Republican members of the state Assembly openly defied a new COVID-19 vaccine policy at the New Jersey Statehouse on Thursday and took their seats to cast votes anyway …

Florida Power & Light execs worked closely with consultants behind ‘ghost’ candidate scheme, records reveal |  Special Report  —  Top executives at utility giant Florida Power & Light worked closely with the political consultants who orchestrated a scheme to promote spoiler candidates …

Two Election Workers Targeted by Pro-Trump Media Sue for Defamation  —  The two Georgia workers were falsely accused of manipulating ballots by Trump allies and right-wing news sites.  Election officials said the workers did nothing wrong.  —  Two Georgia election workers who were the targets …

Is web3 bullshit?  —  And is that even the right question? … Is web3 bullshit?  The hazy vision of new decentralized internet, built on the blockchain, to succeed the “Web 2.0” of Google and Facebook seems to be reaching a threshold of ambient cultural awareness such that non-tech pundits …

Trump intervenes in Ohio Senate primary — for himself  —  The Ohio Senate race is turning into one of the most brutal contests of next year's midterm elections — and former President Donald Trump is worried it could hurt him if he waged a 2024 comeback bid.

Revealed: how Sidney Powell could be disbarred for lying in court for Trump  —  The former lawyer filed cases across America for the former president, hoping to overturn the results of the 2020 election  —  Sidney Powell, the former lawyer for Donald Trump who filed lawsuits across America …