Inside Ted Cruz's last-ditch battle to keep Trump in power … Sen. Ted Cruz was dining near the Capitol on the evening of Dec. 8, 2020, when he received an urgent call from President Donald Trump.  A lawsuit had just been filed at the Supreme Court designed to overturn the election Trump had lost …

Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian Peace Negotiators Suffer Symptoms of Suspected Poisoning  —  The Russian oligarch and others developed symptoms they blamed on hard-liners in Moscow who they say want to sabotage talks to end the war  —  Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace …

Novaya Gazeta, the hard-hitting Russian newspaper, suspends publication.  —  President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that he would not cede sovereignty to Russia, as the two sides prepared to meet in person for the first time in weeks.  Large explosions were reported near Kyiv early Monday.

'Don't Say Gay' bill signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday that forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, a policy that has drawn intense national scrutiny …

GOP pushes Biden to do more to pressure China over Russia  —  Republicans want the Biden administration to do more to pressure China on pushing Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine and to make the consequences clear to Chinese leader Xi Jinping if he decides to help Russian President Vladimir Putin even more.

The Revenge of the Normal Republicans  —  HELOTES, Texas—Last spring, having just retired from Congress, Will Hurd was feeling adrift.  He had agreed to write a book, telling his remarkable life story and diagnosing a malfunctioning political system, all while teasing out a run for the presidency in 2024 …

Hochul Has Commanding Lead Over Williams & Suozzi with Dems; With Cuomo in Race, Hochul Leads 38-30%, Other Two Way Behind  — 56% of Voters Say Bail Reform Law Has Been Bad for NY; 64% Say it Has Resulted in Crime Increase; 82% Say Give Judges More Discretion; 56% Concerned Discretion Will Result in Poor Being Unjustly Incarcerated

Applebee's Tone-Deaf Franchise Executive Giddily Says He Can Pay Lower Wages Because Of Inflation And Higher Gas Prices  —  The working and middle classes are having a hard time.  Runaway inflation, hitting record highs, serves as a vicious cruel tax.  Everything from food to gas prices has surged.

Prosecutors Advance Tax Probe of Hunter Biden  —  Grand jury heard witness in February about past drug use, spending habits of president's son  —  A federal tax investigation into Hunter Biden is gaining momentum as prosecutors gather information from several of his associates about the sources …

First look: Biden to ask Congress to fund the police  —  President Biden will propose more than $32 billion in new spending to fight crime, two White House officials familiar with his 2023 budget plans tells Axios, putting a price tag on his State of the Union call to fund — not defund — the police.

For red and blue America, a glaring divide in COVID-19 death rates persists 2 years later  —  Post-vaccine, death rates in red states were 38% higher than in blue states.  —  Political polarization in the U.S. was evident and intensifying long before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, two years ago.

Tucker Carlson Broke Never Trumper Chris Wallace  —  Chris Wallace, the disgraced ex-Fox News Channel host, took a number of cheap shots at his former place of employment during an exclusive interview with The New York Times.  —  “I just no longer felt comfortable with the programming at Fox …

Shifting Support for Some, But Not All, Covid Mandates  —  West Long Branch, NJ - Support for Covid-19 face-mask and social distancing guidelines has dropped from half of the public to just a third in the past two months as a large majority of Americans endorse the C.D.C. relaxing its recommendations.

Why Trump Says He ‘Just Might Have to’ Run Again  —  He doesn't want to be remembered as a loser, sure—but he also fears prosecution.  —  At a rally on Saturday in Commerce, Georgia, Donald Trump all but announced his 2024 run for president as he lobbed more verbal missiles …

Biden requests $813B for national defense  —  The White House asked Congress for $813 billion for national defense on Monday — including $773 billion for the Pentagon, or $30 billion more than approved by Congress for this year.  —  The 4 percent boost from the 2022 submission will come …