In leaked audio, L.A. council members make racist remarks, mock colleagues  —  Three Latino members of the Los Angeles City Council and a top county labor official held a conversation last fall that included racist remarks, derisive statements about their colleagues and council President Nury Martinez saying …

How California's Bullet Train Went Off the Rails  —  America's first experiment with high-speed rail has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare.  Political compromises created a project so expensive that almost no one knows how it can be built as originally envisioned.

Nikki Finke Dies: Deadline Founder & Longtime Entertainment Journalist Was 68  —  Nikki Finke, the veteran entertainment journalist who founded Deadline in 2006 and helped grow it into a major player among Hollywood trades, died Sunday morning in Boca Raton, FL after a prolonged illness.  She was 68.

House Republican defends Tuberville over reparation remark  —  Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Sunday defended Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) after the senator said Democrats want reparations for minorities because their party is “pro-crime.”  —  Bacon told NBC's “Meet the Press” …

Ron Johnson and Mandela Barnes in tight Senate race in Wisconsin — CBS News Battleground Tracker poll  —  It seems like Wisconsin elections are always pretty close these days, and here are two more following that trend.  The Senate race has incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson running …

‘Ukraine will win’: Estonia's departing spy chief opens up on Putin's war  —  TALLINN, Estonia — “Early retirement” is a strange way to describe a 44-year-old's acceptance of a new government role, but for Mikk Marran, Estonia's spymaster, it feels a lot like that.

The war in Ukraine has battered the reputation of Russian spies  —  As they take greater risks, they are getting caught  —  Viktor muller ferreira was a young Brazilian with impressive credentials and a big break.  Fresh from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington …

‘A time bomb’: Anger rising in a hot spot of Iran protests  —  Growing up under a repressive system, Sharo, a 35-year-old university graduate, never thought she would hear words of open rebellion spoken out loud.  Now she herself chants slogans like “Death to the Dictator!” …

Kanye West warns Jews about ‘toying’ with him and those opposing ‘agenda’  —  Kanye West said that he couldn't be antisemitic, because black people are actually Jews.  —  American rapper Kanye West threatened Jewish people about a supposed conflict with him over a Jewish agenda …

Trumpism Has Found Its Leading Lady  —  As election returns rolled in on the evening of November 3, 2020, a local news host in Phoenix was starring in an intensely awkward broadcast.  The Fox 10 anchor Kari Lake was refusing to call Arizona for Joe Biden—even though her network had already done so.

Crimean bridge: Excitement and fear in Ukraine after bridge blast  —  Ukraine is exploding with excitement this morning.  —  Videos of the damaged Crimean bridge have spread like wildfire on social media; this is already being compared to the sinking of the Russian warship Moskva in April.

In Russian-occupied Izyum, she was raped and tortured  —  IZYUM, Ukraine — Soon after Russian forces took her prisoner, the 52-year-old woman picked up a nail and carved her name into a brick wall.  —  A-L-L-A, she wrote.  —  Below, she scratched how many days she had been held in the shed outside a medical clinic in her hometown.