POLITICO Playbook: Is Kevin McCarthy toast?  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  For years now, through controversy after controversy, House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY has bent over backward to stay in former President DONALD TRUMP's good graces, all to serve one major purpose: He wants to be speaker someday.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is testifying as part of a legal challenge to her candidacy  —  Controversial Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia on Friday faces a challenge to her reelection by voters and a supporting legal group, who are seeking to knock her off the ballot …

Jan. 6 revelations will ‘blow the roof off the House,’ Rep. Jamie Raskin says  —  WASHINGTON — Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., suggested that the House Jan. 6 committee's upcoming hearings will be dramatic and include explosive revelations that the panel has been piecing together behind the scenes for months.

Mark Meadows was simultaneously registered to vote in three states  —  “I don't want my vote or anyone else's to be disenfranchised. ...  Do you realize how inaccurate the voter rolls are, with people just moving around? ...  Anytime you move, you'll change your driver's license …

End of Reedy Creek: Disney won't pay more taxes, but you will  —  ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — One of the biggest myths circulating on the internet is that the end of Reedy Creek will finally force Disney to pay its fair share of taxes, boosting the economies of Florida and the counties its resorts are located in.

Trump says he threatened not to defend NATO against Russia  —  Former president Donald Trump on Thursday offered his most explicit statement to date that he threatened not to defend NATO allies from attacks by Russia.  —  Appearing at an event held by the Heritage Foundation in Florida …

A Look Inside the Textbooks That Florida Rejected  —  The state rejected dozens of math textbooks.  The New York Times reviewed 21 of them to figure out why.  — Give this article- - - Read in app  —  After the Florida Department of Education rejected dozens of math textbooks last week, the big question was, Why?

‘Everywhere Babies,’ a picture book celebrating infants, just got banned  —  The inspiration for the popular children's picture book “Everywhere Babies” came to author Susan Meyers more than 25 years ago, after the birth of her first grandchild.  It was around Christmas, she recalls …

Are Biden and Putin agreeing on limits to the war?  Just read their statements.  —  Take a careful look at presidential statements from Russia and the United States this week, and you'll see that the leaders of the two countries appear to be clarifying their goals in Ukraine …

Vance surge remakes Ohio Senate race  —  INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — He was lagging in the polls.  His cash was running low.  With the state's primary fast approaching, J.D. Vance's chances of winning the Ohio GOP Senate nomination didn't look promising.  —  But his fortunes have changed dramatically …

Kara-Murza, Post contributor, charged in Russia for ‘false’ information  —  A Russian court on Friday charged dissident writer and Washington Post opinions contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza with spreading what it considers ‘false’ information about the nation's military after he called the government …

Community Input Is Bad, Actually  —  Development projects in the United States are subject to a process I like to call “whoever yells the loudest and longest wins.”  Some refer to this as participatory democracy.  —  Across the country, angry residents and neighborhood associations have the power to delay …

Ron DeSantis Aims at Disney, Hits the First Amendment  —  The right's about-face on free speech accelerates. … One of the bewildering things about being a conservative in a populist age is the sheer speed at which populists will shift their opinions, including on allegedly bedrock constitutional values …

Dear Taylor Lorenz, Brian Stelter, and the Rest of the Press— why not show the videos?  —  Taylor Lorenz is a reporter for the Washington Post who wrote a scathing piece about the lady who runs the LibsofTikTok account.  She claims the account has wrongly and falsely shaped narratives that have guided the right to act in homophobia.

As the pandemic exploded, a researcher saw the danger.  China's leaders kept silent.  —  The morning of Dec. 26, 2019, began as usual at Vision Medicals in Guangzhou in southern China.  This commercial laboratory, a private start-up barely a year and a half old, was also known by its Chinese name, Weiyuan Gene Technology.

This weekend's Michigan GOP convention marks a key moment for election denialism  —  Michigan Republicans will meet this weekend to decide which candidates to nominate for a number of key statewide positions, marking an early swing-state test of former President Donald Trump's influence in the midterm elections.

Exxon Ban on LGBTQ Pride Flag Triggers Employee Backlash  —  Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to prohibit the LGBTQ-rights flag from being flown outside its offices during Pride month in June, prompting a furious backlash from Houston-based employees.  —  Exxon updated company guidance on what flags …

Biden Job Approval Stuck in Low 40s  — Average approval rating essentially unchanged from fourth quarter  — All prior elected presidents except Trump had higher fifth quarter averages  — Presidents' approval ratings usually decline in their second year

Provisional Mortality Data — United States, 2021  —  Farida B. Ahmad, MPH1; Jodi A. Cisewski, MPH1; Robert N. Anderson, PhD1 (View author affiliations)  —  What is already known about this topic?  —  COVID-19 was associated with approximately 460,000 deaths in the U.S. during January-December 2021.

Mariupol survivors, dazed and exhausted, describe horrors they endured  —  ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — As the buses from Mariupol arrived one by one, the shellshocked passengers inside looked exhausted.  Barely any of them spoke when the doors opened.  —  Their escape from the shattered Ukrainian city …

Tucker Carlson Has a Cure for Declining Virility  —  A promo for an upcoming Fox show describes a testosterone “calamity” among American men, along with an unlikely treatment.  — Give this article- - - Read in app  —  Are you a man worried about your testosterone levels?  Hoping to give them a boost?

Biden White House stands behind Title 42 decision amid party revolt  —  Facing a growing rebellion from within the Democratic Party, the White House is standing behind its decision to end on May 23 a Trump-era deportation policy for migrants encountered at the southern border.

‘You only win if you fight’: Will Gallego unseat Sinema?  —  This week Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza is in Arizona to dig into a few big plotlines ahead of this year's elections.  Trump narrowly lost the state in 2020, Senator Mark Kelly — the Democratic incumbent — is one of the most vulnerable senators …