Kari Lake, still pushing midterm fraud fiction, edges closer to Senate run  —  She would be tough to beat in a GOP primary, setting up a challenge for national Republicans who worry about her general election prospects  —  By Liz Goodwin and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez

Putin, czar with no empire, needs military victory for his own survival  —  MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin likes to portray himself as a new czar like Peter the Great or Ivan III, the 15th-century grand prince known as the “gatherer of the Russian lands.”

The former Trump aide crafting the House GOP's debt ceiling playbook  —  The national debt exploded on Russell Vought's watch.  Now he wants Republican lawmakers to play hardball.  —  Last month, amid the raucous battle to elect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, former president Donald Trump spoke …

Art Fair Visitor Breaks a Jeff Koons Balloon Dog Sculpture  —  A woman accidentally knocked over a bright blue dog sculpture at Art Wynwood in Miami, causing the $42,000 artwork to shatter, witnesses said.  —  The balloon dog sculptures made famous by Jeff Koons so closely imitate …

Why does the South have such ugly credit scores?  —  Today, we look at a big, fat map of credit scores reproduced from a recent economics paper.  And while the map suggests any number of tantalizing questions, we are most intrigued by that big band of credit-score calamity that stretches across the American South.

February 18, 2023  —  Republican leaders are recognizing that the sight of Republican lawmakers heckling the president of the United States didn't do their party any favors.  —  It not only called attention to their behavior, it prompted many news outlets to fact-check President Biden's claim …

28 Children Rescued, 59 Adults Arrested in Massive DFW Child Porn Investigation: Police  —  Local police, FBI work together to rescue 28 children investigators say were sexually abused, exploited online  —  More than two dozen children have been rescued and nearly 60 people …

Sen. Graham pushes for F-16s to Ukraine as US declares Russian actions ‘crimes against humanity’  —  “I believe a decision will be imminent” on the jets, he said on “This Week.”  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday pushed the Biden administration to provide more aid to Ukraine after Vice President Kamala Harris said

‘Brainwashing a Generation’: British Schools Combat Andrew Tate's Views  —  Alarmed by an online personality's popularity among their students, educators are mobilizing to combat the sexism he promotes.  —  As the seventh graders settled into a lecture hall at a school near London …

Bernie Sanders: ‘Oligarchs run Russia.  But guess what?  They run the US as well’  —  The veteran senator is now part of Joe Biden's inner circle, and is still fighting his country's vast inequalities  —  fter the State of the Union address at the beginning of this month …

Biden's ‘Buy America’ bid runs into manufacturing woes it aims to fix  —  Infrastructure officials complain they can't find U.S. suppliers for items they need to buy American by law  —  The “Buy America” initiative that President Biden says will promote domestic manufacturing and fuel …

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 18, 2023  —  Click here to see ISW's interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  This map is updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.  —  Russian forces conducted another missile strike targeting Ukrainian infrastructure throughout the country.

Timothy J. Heaphy Led the House Jan. 6 Investigation.  Here's What He Learned.  —  The top staff investigator for the House inquiry on the Capitol attack opened up about his biggest takeaways and why proving intent is the key to a criminal charge against former President Donald J. Trump.

Statement from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on the Day of Remembrance of Japanese American Incarceration  —  When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, eighty-one years ago today, it ushered in one of the most shameful periods in American history.

Blinken Has Tense Meeting With Chinese Official Amid Spy Balloon Furor  —  The meeting resumed diplomatic contact between Washington and Beijing that had been frozen since the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon.  —  Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken held what American officials described …