memeorandum: A new Virginia law will end school mask mandates and limit remote instruction. (Giulia Heyward/New York Times)

7:15 PM ET, February 16, 2022

Top Items:

Ryan Zinke broke ethics rules while leading Trump's Interior Dept., keeping improper ties with land developers, watchdog finds … While serving as Interior Department secretary under Donald Trump, Ryan Zinke broke federal ethics rules repeatedly by improperly participating in real estate negotiations …

Discussion: Insider, The Daily Caller, Occupy Democrats, NPR, The American Independent, Mother Jones, Truth and Consequences, Raw Story and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

Matthew Brown / Associated Press:

Investigation: Zinke misused position as Interior secretary — BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke misused his position to advance a development project in his Montana hometown and lied to an agency ethics official about his involvement, according to a report from federal investigators released Wednesday.

Discussion: Office of Inspector General …, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Law & Crime, Common Dreams, WTOP News and The Guardian

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Biden Rejects Trump's Claim of Privilege for White House Visitor Logs — The president informed the National Archives that it should turn over the logs sought by the Jan. 6 committee within 15 days. — President Biden is opposing another effort by former President Donald J. Trump …

Washington Post:

Texting through an insurrection — Thousands of frantic text messages that might have otherwise been lost to history are now key to piecing together a picture of the events surrounding the Jan. 6 attack. — The panicked texts started landing in Mark Meadows's phone long before thousands …

Discussion: Raw Story, IJR, Politico, The Hill and HuffPost

Myah Ward / Politico:
Biden names 2 people to replace Eric Lander in top science roles

Discussion: Washington Post and WTOP News

Colleen Long / Associated Press:
Biden orders release of Trump White House logs to Congress

Discussion: Reuters, Metro.co.uk, New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, The American Independent and NPR

Eric Boehlert / PRESS RUN:
Covid cases plummet — when does Biden get credit?

Discussion: Twitchy

Christopher Nardi / National Post:

My Pillow's Mike Lindell barred from entering Canada to support convoy protestors — Lindell, as well as a truck full of 10,000 pillows destined for protesters, were denied entry into Canada Tuesday evening — OTTAWA - My Pillow CEO and staunch Donald Trump supporter Mike Lindell …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Blair Crawford / ottawacitizen:

Threats close Stella Luna Gelato Café after owner's name appears in GiveSendGo data leak — Tammy Giuliani says that she now regrets making her $250 donation. — Ottawa's Stella Luna Gelato Café was forced to close Tuesday after receiving threats when owner Tammy Giuliani's name appeared …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Breitbart, True North, The Federalist, Mediaite, Townhall, Fox News, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Page Array, Ace of Spades HQ, Twitchy, National Post, The Line and spiked

Thomas Fuller / New York Times:

In Landslide, San Francisco Forces Out 3 Board of Education Members — The recall, which galvanized Asian Americans, was a victory for parents angered by the district's priorities during the pandemic. — In a recall election fueled by pandemic angst and anger, San Francisco voters ousted three members …

Matt Welch / Reason:
San Francisco Voters Fire 3 School Board Members

Discussion: The Western Journal, San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post

Jazz Shaw / HotAir:
San Francisco manages to recall embarrassing School Board members

Discussion: CBS San Francisco, CNN, TheBlaze, The Federalist, Washington Free Beacon, Politico, Townhall, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, Political Wire, CBS News, NBC Bay Area, The Daily Wire, Washington Examiner, Breitbart and CNN

Melanie Mason / Los Angeles Times:

Feinstein's approval ratings hit an all-time low; Harris underwater, poll says — Views of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's job performance have tumbled to the lowest point in her three-decade Senate career, with just 30% of California voters giving her positive marks in a new UC Berkeley Institute …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Politico, HotAir, The Daily Caller, RedState, IJR, The Hill, Words & Deeds, mailchi.mp, Fox News, Political Wire and KTLA

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

From liberal San Francisco, school board recall is a three-alarm warning for Democrats — San Francisco is quite familiar with earthquakes and what happened Tuesday — the ouster of three extreme lefties from the Board of Education — was not one of those. — Earthquakes are sudden and unexpected.

Discussion: Geoff's Newsletter and CNN

Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg:

Palin Jurors Knew Judge Dismissed N.Y. Times Case Before Verdict — Several jurors tasked with deciding Sarah Palin's defamation case against the New York Times knew that the judge presiding over the trial had already ruled in the newspaper's favor, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Associated Press and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Jury in Sarah Palin v. New York Times libel trial learned of judge's plan to throw out suit

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed News, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Post, Deadline, Insider and The Daily Caller

Seth Stevenson / Slate:
The Most Chilling Thing I Heard at the Sarah Palin-NYT Trial Came Before the Verdict

Discussion: Ground News

Isaac Saul / Tangle:
Sarah Palin vs. The New York Times

Discussion: New York Times and Wall Street Journal

Allison P. Davis / The Cut:

A Vibe Shift Is Coming Will any of us survive it? — One morning in June, while I was puffing away on my stationary bike — fine, a Peloton — pretending I had enough time to get my body ready for the “hot vaxx summer” that never really was, my friend Ellen messaged me: “Okay, please let me know if this person is dumb.

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:

Ohio's Sen. Portman backs former state GOP chair Jane Timken in race to succeed him — Retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Wednesday endorsed former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken in the race to succeed him, calling Timken “the best candidate to advance conservative Republican policies to help Ohio workers and families.”

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, Jane Timken, The Lima News, Washington Times, WTOP News and Fox News

Natalie Allison / Politico:
Missouri Senate poll alarms GOP

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and Heartland Signal

Mackenzie Wilkes / Politico:
Portman backs Timken in crowded Ohio GOP primary

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post and The Hill

Ed Yong / The Atlantic:

The Millions of People Stuck in Pandemic Limbo — When the coronavirus pandemic began, Emily Landon thought about her own risk only in rare quiet moments. An infectious-disease doctor at the University of Chicago Medicine, she was cramming months of work into days, preparing her institution …

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

The worst Ukraine take yet — It's not clear if Russia will invade Ukraine. It is clear that it is ready, with sufficient forces positioned close enough to Ukraine's borders to quickly strike should it choose to do so. That is obvious not just from government reports …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Media Matters for America, RedState, BizPac Review and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew C. McCarthy / The Hill:
Did Durham find something worse than Watergate? Not so far

Discussion: Fox News, New York Post, Althouse, Washington Post, Daily Briefing, IJR, The Western Journal and WGN-TV

Molly Jong-Fast / The Atlantic:

The American Fantasy of Canada's ‘Freedom Convoy’ — Why can't the right just leave Canada alone? … Since late January, a group of truckers has been staging protests in Canadian cities against COVID-19-vaccine mandates. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swiftly condemned the “Freedom Convoy” …

Discussion: RG Freedom Stack, Religion News Service and Los Angeles Times

Gizmodo:
Texas CEO Who Loaned Trump a Jet Has ‘No Comment’ on Funding Canada's Anti-Vax Truckers

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, Raw Story, National Observer and Insider

Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou / Bloomberg:

Money That Won Melania Trump NFT Came From Melania Trump Wallet — The source of funds for the winning bid in Melania Trump's first NFT auction appears to be the creators of the project themselves. — A series of blockchain transactions show that the cryptocurrency used …

Discussion: New York Post, Rolling Stone, Consequence and Political Wire

Jon Ward / Yahoo News:

How Democrats botched the fight over voting — Democrats told Americans over the last year that voter suppression was the biggest threat to democracy, even as it was clear that the far more immediate challenge is the potential for politicians to overturn election results after votes have been counted.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post and Election Law Blog

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Exclusive poll: Answers to the midterm's 2 big questions

Discussion: HotAir, The Daily Signal, The Hill, Breitbart, New York Post, Washington Examiner, National Review, RedState and Political Wire

Kira Lerner / The States:

State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases — In mid-December, Texas' highest criminal court revoked the state attorney general's ability to use his office to prosecute election-related cases without the request of a district or county attorney.

Lingling Wei / Wall Street Journal:

Beijing Weighs How Far to Go in Backing Putin on Ukraine — Behind closed doors, China's top leaders have debated how to respond to the Russia-Ukraine crisis without hurting China's own interests — China's top leaders have spent days weighing how far Beijing should go to back Russian …

Giulia Heyward / New York Times:

A new Virginia law will end school mask mandates and limit remote instruction. — After weeks of back-and-forth, Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, a Republican, signed into law on Wednesday a bill that will effectively bar mask mandates in schools, by giving parents the right to exempt …

Discussion: ABC News and The Hill

Politico:

Senate hustles to break GOP blockade ahead of Friday shutdown deadline — Several Republicans continue to block swift passage of a stopgap government funding bill, demanding votes on vaccine mandates. — Senate leaders are racing to land a deal that would thwart a government shutdown by appeasing a Republican blockade.

Brian Baxter / Bloomberg:

NFL Taps Ex-Attorney General Loretta Lynch to Fight Flores' Race Bias Suit — The National Football League has hired former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to defend it in a high-profile race discrimination case filed earlier this month by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores.

Discussion: NPR, Fox News, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, ProFootballTalk and The Hill

Teaganne Finn / NBC News:

Democratic group launches super PAC to counter election deniers running for office — WASHINGTON — The Democratic organization American Bridge 21st Century said it is launching a new multi-million dollar super PAC targeting Republican candidates running for key state and local offices who have denied the results of the 2020 election.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times and CNN

Jonah E. Bromwich / New York Times:

Ken Kurson, Kushner Ally Pardoned by Trump, Takes Plea Deal — Mr. Kurson, a former newspaper editor, was accused of cyberstalking his former wife both before and after their 2016 divorce. — Ken Kurson, a former editor of The New York Observer who was charged with unlawfully spying on his former wife …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, New York Post, Law & Crime, Raw Story and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

The Daily Beast:

Trump's Inner Circle Freaks That His Tax Firm ‘Screwed’ Him — “If he gets away from this, there's no God and no reason to live,” said Barbara A. Res, a former construction executive at the Trump Organization. — Predictably, Donald Trump wants you to think his longtime accounting firm's decision …

Discussion: The Bulwark, Raw Story and Salon

Wall Street Journal:

U.S., Russian Aircraft Flew Perilously Close to Each Other Amid Ukraine Tensions — Pentagon says it expressed concern to Russian officials through diplomatic channels — WASHINGTON—U.S. and Russian military aircraft flew dangerously close to each other in three separate weekend incidents …