Pentagon reports past Chinese surveillance balloons near Florida, Texas  —  The Defense Department tells members of Congress about several previous incursions of U.S. airspace as Republicans criticize Biden's response  —  The Defense Department has notified Congress of several previous incursions …

Few Americans are excited about a Biden-Trump rematch, Post-ABC poll finds  —  Most say they would feel dissatisfied or angry if either wins the general election  —  President Biden and former president Donald Trump may have each drawn a record number of votes in 2020 …

AR-15 lapel pin is a perfect symbol for a GOP that's become a death cult  —  The backward walk of devolution that is the modern Republican Party, and the near-death experience of American governing, can be best told through the story of two adjacent Long Island congressional districts that …

Inside Harvard's misinformation meltdown  —  The highest-profile scholar of misinformation is being forced out at Harvard's premier public policy school, and interviews and internal documents reviewed by Semafor illustrate the institution's discomfort with her high-profile and politically charged work.

Gut spending?  Slash the IRS budget?  7 GOP ideas for debt limit talks.  —  Republicans haven't settled on what to ask for in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, but officials are eyeing these proposals  —  House Republicans are demanding that President Biden agree to policy concessions …

Harry Whittington, longtime Texas GOP supporter shot by Dick Cheney in a hunting accident, dies  —  Whittington, 95, was active in Republican politics since the party was powerless in the state.  He died after a short illness.  —  Copy link  —  A potent Democratic machine used to dominate Texas politics.

Koch network to back alternative to Trump after sitting out recent primaries  —  The return of one of the biggest spenders in American politics to the presidential primary field poses a direct challenge to the former president's comeback bid  —  The network of donors and activist groups led …

In China's Covid Fog, Deaths of Scholars Offer a Clue  —  After Covid ripped uncontrolled through China, the government announced that 80,000 people had died.  But that is likely a vast undercount.  We scoured obituaries of the nation's top academics for clues about the true toll of the outbreak.