How Putin blundered into Ukraine — then doubled down  —  The decision to invade was taken after consulting only a tiny circle.  The Russian leader has since become even more isolated  —  At about 1am on February 24 last year, Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, received a troubling phone call.

Most people in most states support legal abortion  —  The Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade last year is perhaps the preeminent modern political example of the dog catching the car.  —  Republican leaders had pledged for decades to restrict abortion and to challenge the precedent in Roe …

Special counsel asks judge to compel Mike Pence to testify in Jan. 6 probe  —  Washington — Federal prosecutors have asked the chief judge in Washington, D.C.'s federal court to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to comply with a grand jury subpoena and testify as a witness …

Georgia Grand Juror Imperils Trump Case with Bizarre Media Tour  —  On the menu today: Meet the Georgia grand juror who's doing a nearly unprecedented media tour and likely complicating, if not torpedoing, any efforts to indict former president Trump or any of his aides and associates.

Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson Arrested After a Former Executive Pleads Guilty to Fraud  —  Samir Rao, company's former chief operating officer, appeared in court as John Doe and admitted wrongdoing in probe of the company's practices  —  Ozy Media Chief Executive Carlos Watson …

Trump's grip on the Republican base is slipping — even among his fans  —  More than 150 interviews in pivotal electoral states show the former president maintains a bond with his GOP voters, but faces rising interest in a new standard-bearer  —  One recent snowy evening at a gun range …

Remembering Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons  —  Dylan Lyons was born and raised in Philadelphia but made Central Florida his home, when he enrolled in, thrived in and graduated from UCF.  —  That's when he began his journey up the ladder of career success.

Crew tried to stop Ohio train after alert about overheating wheel bearing, NTSB says  —  Federal investigators' preliminary report provides clues about the cause of the derailment and the response.  —  By Ian Duncan and Luz Lazo  —  The crew of the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine …

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried hit with four new criminal charges  — FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with four new criminal charges in a superseding indictment in New York federal court.  — The new charging document lays out in greater detail Bankman-Fried's allegedly fradulent conduct related …

‘Incredibly damning:’ Fox News documents stun some legal experts  —  The disclosure of behind-the-scenes emails and texts greatly increased the chances that Dominion will win its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox, experts say.  —  The disclosure of emails and texts …

Kevin McCarthy's Jan. 6 footage stunt demands a real response  —  Democrats have loudly expressed outrage about House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's decision to grant Fox News's Tucker Carlson exclusive access to surveillance footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

DeSantis wants to roll back press freedoms — with an eye toward overturning Supreme Court ruling  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' broken relationship with the mainstream media could get even worse.  —  At the governor's urging, Florida's Republican-dominated Legislature …

U.S. to Expand Troop Presence in Taiwan for Training Against China Threat  —  The Pentagon is helping Taiwan focus on tactics and weapons systems that would make the island harder to assault  —  WASHINGTON—The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan …

Axios-Ipsos poll: Republicans call opioids No. 1 health threat  —  Republicans see fentanyl and other opioids as the biggest threat to Americans' public health, while Democrats say it's guns, according to a new Axios-Ipsos survey. … - The survey also found that Americans overwhelmingly …

House GOP looks for plan B after struggling to pass border security bill  —  House Republicans had hoped to pass a narrow border security bill within the first two weeks of their new majority, notching an easy win and delivering on a key campaign promise in the process.

Missouri AG issues ultimatum to Gardner: Resign or be removed from office  —  JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Amid mounting calls for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney to resign, the Missouri Attorney General has issued an ultimatum for Kim Gardner: resign or face removal.

No, Teen Suicide Isn't Rising Because Life Got Objectively Worse  —  Over the past 15 years, the mental health of young people in the United States has rapidly deteriorated.  Between 2007 and 2018, the suicide rate among Americans ages 10 to 24 increased by nearly 60 percent.

The Invisible Victims of American Anti-Semitism  —  If a hateful act doesn't fit a preset political narrative, the public rarely notices it.  —  Last week, a gunman shot two Jews at close range as they departed morning prayer services in Los Angeles.  The first victim was shot in the back on Wednesday.

Schiff, Porter in tight race to replace Sen. Feinstein, poll shows; others trail far behind  —  The race to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein is shaping up to be a close contest between two congressional colleagues who have built national profiles and potent fundraising operations but appeal …

House GOP's top tax man throws K Street into a tizzy  —  Rep. Jason Smith hasn't been chair of the House Ways and Means Committee very long, but he's already done something rare for a Republican: He's struck fear into the heart of corporate tax lobbyists.  —  The Missouri lawmaker is making …

R. Kelly Sentenced to 20 Years for Child Sex Crimes  —  The singer will serve most of the sentence in federal prison at the same time as a 30-year term for racketeering and sex trafficking.  —  CHICAGO — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced R. Kelly to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes …

Elon Musk's Twitter Goes Dark on Government Data Grabs  —  “That shit went out the window right after Elon came in,” one former staffer says of Twitter's previously routine transparency reports  —  TWITTER BOSS ELON Musk has railed against what he sees as U.S. government attempts to “censor” the social media company.

Internal chaos plagues Bannon-fronted $FJB cryptocurrency, critics say  —  Questions about mismanagement and donations to charities have surfaced.  —  When former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn took control of a MAGA-branded  —  cryptocurrency

Why This Democratic Strategist Walked Away  —  Simon Rosenberg delivered a major surprise last week when he announced that he was shutting down NDN, the Democratic advocacy and research group he has led since the mid-1990s.  —  After working for three decades as an operative in the upper reaches …

This ‘climate-friendly’ fuel comes with an astronomical cancer risk  —  Almost half of products cleared so far under a new US federal ‘biofuels’ program are not, in fact, biofuels  — This article is co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power