DeSantis, Backing Away From Ukraine, Angers G.O.P. Hawks  —  The Florida governor, who joined Donald Trump in declaring that defending Ukraine from Russia was not a vital interest, drew swift condemnations from establishment Republicans.  —  Declaring this week that defending Ukraine …

L.A. riders bail on Metro trains amid ‘horror’ of deadly drug overdoses, crime  —  Matthew Morales boarded the Metro Red Line at MacArthur Park as classical music blared over the station loudspeakers.  —  It was rush hour on a Tuesday afternoon, and Morales made his way to a back corner seat …

DeSantis administration revokes Hyatt Regency Miami alcohol license after it hosted ‘A Drag Queen Christmas’  — Florida regulators revoked a hotel liquor license for hosting a drag show performance where minors were present.  — The DeSantis administration had previously said it was looking into “A Drag Queen Christmas.”

Russian fighter jet forces down US drone over Black Sea after intercept  —  A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to a US official familiar with the incident.

Hating Everyone Everywhere All At Once At Stanford  —  Don't Expect Free Speech Disputes To Have Heroes  —  When it comes to rights, deserve's got nothing to do with it.  —  When accused murderers and rapists get jury trials, we don't — at least, outside of Facebook …

Democrats, led by Warren and Porter, unveil bill to repeal Trump-era bank law  —  WASHINGTON — A group of Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Katie Porter of California will unveil legislation Tuesday to restore bank regulations that were undone under …

He Helps Trump Navigate Legal Peril While Under Scrutiny Himself  —  Boris Epshteyn is the latest aide to take on the role of slashing defender of the former president, even as the Justice Department seeks information about him in the Jan. 6 and documents inquiries.

GPT-4  —  We've created GPT-4, the latest milestone in OpenAI's effort in scaling up deep learning.  GPT-4 is a large multimodal model (accepting image and text inputs, emitting text outputs) that, while less capable than humans in many real-world scenarios, exhibits human-level performance …

North Carolina's high court seems inclined to toss past redistricting rulings  —  Republican justices look ready to use their new majority on the North Carolina's state Supreme Court to tear up the state's congressional maps, and the new ones would likely favor the GOP up and down the ballot.

The 72-hour scramble to save the United States from a banking crisis  —  It seemed like a simple question: Did the treasury secretary have any concerns about the economic risks posed by Silicon Valley Bank?  —  It was Friday morning, and a wave of public panic had started to spread …

Judge denies Jan. 6 defendant's motion for release, says no rights violated at DC Jail  —  A federal judge denied Christopher Quaglin's motion for release from custody, saying many of the issues his attorney raised were of Quaglin's making.  —  WASHINGTON — A federal judge denied …

Silicon Valley, once the underdog, is now too big to fail  —  The government stepped in to save the start-up industry from itself.  Not everyone is relieved.  —  An industry built on risk-taking, which made mountains of money when those risks paid off, has just been reminded of what happens when they don't.

Ron DeSantis Wants to Make It a Felony to Have an Undocumented Person in Your Home or Car  —  Around 772,000 Florida workers, students, and community members are undocumented.  And Governor Ron DeSantis wants to make it a felony for anyone to have them in their home or even give them a ride.

Gov. Ron DeSantis' takeover of New College of Florida puts $29 million in donations at risk  —  A former trustee at New College of Florida says 13 major donors told her they are canceling more than $29 million in planned contributions since Gov. Ron DeSantis began transforming the school, a huge financial blow to the small college.

Exclusive: Russia's secret document for destabilizing Moldova  —  Yahoo News obtains Putin's strategic plan for promoting Russian interests in Ukraine's next-door neighbor.  —  Read full article  —  President of Russia  —  CHISINAU, Moldova — On Friday, John Kirby …

Police Killed His Son.  Prosecutors Charged The Teen's Friends with His Murder.  —  It's been four years since a Phoenix police officer killed Jacob Harris.  Records obtained by The Appeal show officials have made inconsistent or false statements about the night police killed him.

GOP election deniers increasingly admit they're just going off vibes  —  There has never really been evidence the 2020 election was stolen, but even election deniers are acknowledging it  —  Sidney Powell has tacitly conceded that she didn't have the proof of a stolen election that she claimed.

Michigan Senate approves repeal of right-to-work law  —  Lansing — The Michigan Senate was approving landmark victories for organized labor Tuesday evening by repealing the 2012 right-to-work law that made union membership optional at unionized workplaces and re-establishing a prevailing wage standard for state projects.

At Wellesley College, Students Vote to Admit Trans Men  —  Students supported a nonbinding referendum on Tuesday that calls for opening admission to all nonbinary and transgender applicants.  Opponents say the school's mission is to educate women.  —  Wellesley College proudly proclaims itself …

Vermont Christian School that Refused to Play Trans Player Banned from Future Tournaments  —  A Vermont religious school that withdrew its girls' basketball team from a playoff game because a transgender student was playing on the opposing team won't be able to participate in future tournaments …

Ex-intelligence officials challenge the Hunter Biden witch hunt  —  Right-wing House Republicans have left little doubt that they want to spend the bulk of their time and energy investigating phony conspiracies and made-up scandals.  Their main obsession appears to be Hunter Biden …

PETA pleas for fakes at White House Easter egg roll  —  Tugging on the heartstrings of the pet-loving first family, PETA today urged first lady Jill Biden to pitch plans to use hen-laid eggs for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.  —  Instead, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk suggested …

Biden takes executive action on background checks for guns  —  President Biden is signing a gun control executive order on Tuesday that the administration says will get the country “as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation.”

Israelis Are Now Openly Talking About the ‘Total Destruction’ of the Jewish State  —  Benjamin Netanyahu's push towards autocracy has triggered massive protests — and a sense that the end of the 75-year-old Israeli experiment may be near … A grunt, or a long, drifting whistle.  Very often, a deep sigh.

Meta to Lay Off Another 10,000 Workers  —  It would be the tech company's second round of cuts since November.  Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, has declared 2023 the “year of efficiency.”  —  Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, said on Tuesday that it planned to lay off about 10,000 employees …

Doctors Warned Her Pregnancy Could Kill Her.  Then Tennessee Outlawed Abortion.  —  Post-Roe America  —  This story graphically describes serious complications in pregnancies and births, and it mentions suicide.  —  One day late last summer, Dr. Barry Grimm called a fellow obstetrician …

San Francisco board open to reparations with $5M payouts  —  Payments of $5 million to every eligible Black adult, the elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000 for 250 years and homes in San Francisco for just $1 a family.