China says balloon that entered US was ‘civilian airship’ for research that deviated from course  —  The suspected Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon flying over the continental US entered the entered US airspace “due to force majeure,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday …

Employers added 517,000 jobs in January, astonishing labor market growth  —  January marked the 25th straight month of solid job growth, and the unemployment rate edged down to a new low of 3.4 percent.  —  The labor market shattered expectations in January, as the economy added 517,000 jobs …

The State Where the GOP Would Rather Lose Than Change  —  PHOENIX — In a megachurch where the Arizona Republican Party met over the weekend to chart its course following heavy losses in the midterms, a package of resolutions was up for consideration, including one to censure Republican officials involved in running past elections.

DeSantis owes Trump nothing  —  There is no love lost between former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).  It seems nearly every week, DeSantis makes a name for himself in national headlines , strengthening his exposure and appeal and contrasting himself with Trump in a positive way.

Trump campaign staff on 2020 election lies: ‘fan the flame’  —  A newly released audio recording offers a behind-the-scenes look at how former President Donald Trump's campaign team in a pivotal battleground state knew they had been outflanked by Democrats in the 2020 presidential election.

Hunter Biden Claims His Laptop  —  And asks his dad's government to target his critics.  —  WSJ Opinion: The Biden Classified-Document Payback  —  YOU MAY ALSO LIKE  —  Created with sketchtool.  —  1x  —  Hunter Biden did some reckless things, is unhappy people found out, and so is now doing something equally reckless.

AOC decries vote to remove Omar from House Foreign Affairs Committee  —  Moments before House Republicans voted to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over what a resolution said was a series of antisemitic remarks, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. …

All shook up: Why Dems see sliver of opportunity in deep-red Mississippi  —  Republicans have had a lock on the Mississippi governorship for decades.  But Democrats hope that a candidate with one of the most famous last names in America can change that.  —  Democrats are coalescing around …

Leaked Audio And Staff Dispute Show Chaos Inside George Santos' Office  —  Start your day with TPM.  —  After a little over a week working with embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY), Derek Myers was informed that he would not be getting a permanent job.  During that tense conversation, Santos also offered some parting advice.

House Republicans float one spending cut in a debt ceiling bill: unspent Covid money  —  WASHINGTON — There's no Republican plan, let alone a bill, to resolve the debt ceiling problem.  But some GOP lawmakers are floating one idea to include in a package: rescinding approved but unspent Covid relief funds.

Former Trump Executive, Already Jailed, Could Face More Fraud Charges  —  Manhattan prosecutors warned that they might charge Allen H. Weisselberg with insurance fraud to pressure him to cooperate in an investigation of the former president.  —  Manhattan prosecutors this week warned …

Confidence in police practices drops to a new low: POLL  —  Just 39% are confident that the police are trained to avoid excessive force.  —  Americans' confidence in how police are trained and their  —  treatment of Black people  —  both have fallen to new lows in an ABC News/Washington Post poll.

I'm a teacher in Florida.  Here's what the DeSantis book bans look like in my classroom  —  A new crackdown on books in Florida schools has had a chilling effect in classrooms.  —  “I'm done!  I'm done!  What do I do now?”  Every teacher, in every classroom, hears this many (thousands) of times daily from their students.

Questioned on Biden documents, his press secretary has only one answer  —  Karine Jean-Pierre, eight months into her tenure as White House press secretary, has frustrated reporters with her inability to shed light on the classified documents probe, raising doubts about her own access.