An Interview With the School Board Chair Who Forced Out a Principal After Michelangelo's David Was Shown in Class  —  On Thursday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that the principal of a local charter school, the Tallahassee Classical School, was forced to resign after three parents complained …

Trump hush money probe goes quiet after chaotic week  —  New York CNN —  The Manhattan grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump is not concluding this week, with questions swirling over how close the grand jury is to bringing an indictment - or if it actually will at all.

Man at Center of Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory Demands Retraction From Fox  —  A lawyer for Ray Epps has demanded that the Fox host Tucker Carlson publicly apologize for “false and defamatory statements” that Mr. Epps served as a federal agent during the Capitol attack.

Donald Trump Shares Fake AI-Created Image Of Himself On Truth Social  —  Images created with artificial intelligence have flooded social media in recent months, with some people using AI tools like Midjourney to imagine what it would look like for Donald Trump to be arrested.

NPR cancels 4 podcasts amid major layoffs  —  NPR moved this week to cut 10 percent of its staff and stop production of a trio of acclaimed seasonal podcasts — Invisibilia, Louder Than a Riot and Rough Translation — as it seeks to close a yawning budget gap that stands in excess of $30 million.

Utah Law Could Curb Use of TikTok and Instagram by Children and Teens  —  The law, which prohibits social networks from allowing minors to have accounts without parental consent, may come as welcome news to many families even as it raises privacy concerns.  —  Natasha Singer, a technology reporter …

A Utah parent says the Bible contains porn and should be removed from school libraries.  Here's their full challenge.  —  The parent writes that the book should be considered indecent under Utah's new book banning law, after seeing the other titles that have been pulled.

U.S. and Canada expected to announce a deal on turning away asylum seekers  —  President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are expected to announce an agreement on Friday that would allow both the United States and Canada to turn away asylum seekers who cross their borders without authorization …

House fails to override Biden's first veto  —  A new administration rule for retirement plans will be implemented as planned after the House failed to override President Joe Biden's first veto on Thursday.  —  In a 219-200 vote, the House fell short of the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to undo a presidential veto.

In Trump Rape Case, Jurors Will Be Kept Anonymous to Protect Them  —  A judge said that they could become victims of “harassment or worse” from supporters of the former president as he faces a lawsuit by the writer E. Jean Carroll.  —  A Manhattan judge ruled on Thursday that jurors hearing …

Leave Trump Alone!  —  And TikTok starts to fight back against Washington.  —  Good afternoon, Press Pass readers.  If you haven't already upgraded to Bulwark+, you have just four days left to take advantage of the free 30-day trial for access to paywalled editions of this newsletter …

Jeff Zients discovers the thanklessness of the White House chief of staff gig  —  It's early and the job is thankless.  But Biden's new chief of staff and his leadership style have drawn some detractors.  —  The grumbling has already begun over Joe Biden's new chief of staff.

South Carolina comptroller to resign after $3.5B error  —  Embattled South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom will resign next month after a $3.5 billion accounting error in the year-end financial report he oversaw.  The state's chief accountant will leave the elected post he has held …

Kemp signs bill banning some gender-affirming care for transgender youth  —  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) announced on Thursday that he signed a bill banning certain gender-affirming care for minors in the state.  —  Kemp said he signed Georgia Senate Bill 140 — which prohibits minors …

The Secret Joke at the Heart of the Harvard Affirmative-Action Case  —  A federal official wrote a parody of Harvard's attitude toward Asian Americans and shared it with the dean of admissions.  Why did a judge try to hide that from the public?  —  Last fall, some mysterious new activity appeared on the Supreme Court's docket.

Stanford DEI Dean Escalates Battle against Law-School Dean  —  In a remarkable op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Stanford law school DEI dean Tirien Steinbach escalates her battle with law school dean Jenny Martinez.  Steinbach had already given Martinez ample cause to fire her.

The Crisis of the Intellectuals  —  Traditional notions of the intellectual were never meant to include people who looked like me or who had a background like mine.  —  In 2017, I was trying to write How to Be an Antiracist.  Words came onto the page slower than ever.  On some days, no words came at all.

Top Trump attorney appeared before grand jury last December in classified docs probe: Sources  —  Timothy Parlatore testified about documents found at Mar-a-Lago sources said.  —  A top attorney for former President Donald Trump gave previously undisclosed testimony before a grand jury late …

Senate Ethics admonishes Graham for campaign solicitations  —  The Senate Ethics Committee is admonishing South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham for soliciting campaign contributions inside a federal building after a Nov. 2022 Fox News interview in which he asked viewers to donate to a GOP candidate.

Live: Updates on TikTok CEO's Testimony in Congress  —  Thanks for joining us.  Thursday's long-anticipated appearance by TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew started on a combative note and offered little to convince skeptics.  Here are five key takeaways from the marathon session.

The Books That Show Conservatism at Its Best  —  Mr. Shields is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.  He has written widely on the American right and the politics of higher education.  —  When conservative undergraduates look around for mentors these days, who do they find?

Explaining the Ties Between Alvin Bragg and George Soros  —  Donald Trump's allies have accused the district attorney bringing a case against him as having been “bought” by Mr. Soros, the philanthropist.  That is misleading, though the men do have a financial connection.

Arizona Supreme Court Turns Down Kari Lake's Appeal in Her Election Lawsuit  —  The justices refused to hear Ms. Lake's claims disputing her loss in the governor's race, but sent one part of her lawsuit back to a trial court for review.  —  Arizona's Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request …

Biden moves to undo Trump's political play on the Space Command  —  The aftershocks from Donald Trump's presidency reach even to outer space, but the Biden administration is quietly moving to repair one piece of the damage that could affect national security.

Everything I, an Italian, thought I knew about Italian food is wrong  —  From panettone to tiramisu, many ‘classics’ are in fact recent inventions, as Alberto Grandi has shown  —  Parma is quiet at night.  The man sitting opposite me is paranoid someone will overhear our conversation.

Most trans adults say transitioning made them more satisfied with their lives  —  The Washington Post and KFF surveyed one of the largest randomized samples of U.S. transgender adults to date about their childhoods, feelings and lives  —  Transgender Americans experience stigma …

Where is DeSantis traveling on state business?  Legislature wants to make it a secret  —  Citing an increase in public records requests for the governor's travel schedule, Florida legislators are advancing a bill that would shield from the public any information about how and where Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials go.

Saudi Arabia, Syria Close to Resuming Ties in Russia-Brokered Talks  —  The emerging deal could leave the U.S. again on the sidelines during a dramatic shift in the Middle East's geopolitics  —  How Syria's Assad Used Earthquake to Help Stage Diplomatic Comeback

Norway watches warily as Russian subs and aircraft step up Arctic patrols  —  ABOARD THE KV SORTLAND — NATO ally Norway has announced that it is boosting the number of naval patrols near vital undersea gas pipelines off its coast, and released a trove of videos exclusively to NBC News illustrating …

Trump to GOP firms: Stop using my image or your clients will suffer  —  A memo sent on Thursday makes clear, the Trump campaign wants the digital dollars going to them.  —  The Trump campaign has sent a warning shot to the Republican Party's House campaign arm and some of its most prominent …