F.B.I. Arrests Two on Charges Tied to Chinese Police Outpost in New York  —  Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged the men with conspiring with the People's Republic of China and destroying evidence in connection with a Chinese police outpost in Lower Manhattan.

Fiscal crisis nears as McCarthy takes debt ceiling plan to Wall Street  —  The House speaker is set to outline the party's new proposal at the New York Stock Exchange, more than a decade after a similar GOP-led standoff hammered U.S. markets  —  NEW YORK — Nearly 40 years ago …

‘Stop the Steal’ Organizer Apologizes After Being Accused of Asking Teen Boys for D*ck Pics  —  “I apologize for any inappropriate messages sent over the years,” said Ali Alexander, an ally of former President Trump and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.  —  A key figure in the pro-Trump …

Accused shooter in Kansas City shooting of Black teen who went to the wrong house is White man in his 80s  —  A white man in his 80s is the individual who apparently shot and seriously wounded Ralph Yarl, a Black teen, on April 13 in Kansas City, Missouri, according to a CNN review of property records …

Why Joe Biden Has Slow-Walked His Way to a 2024 Run  —  Closed-door meetings about when to roll out the president's campaign are intensifying.  Still, with no serious primary challenge and Republicans infighting, he feels little pressure.  —  Closed-door planning meetings involving White House officials …

DeSantis's Thuggish Threats Against Disney … Last year, Florida governor Ron DeSantis retaliated against the Walt Disney Company for criticizing his ban on gender instruction in the state (a law DeSantis has advertised as merely restricting sexualized instruction but in fact is driving …

Trump urges Murdoch to embrace false 2020 election claims in Dominion trial  —  Former President Trump is urging Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corp., to embrace his false allegations of voter fraud if the media mogul is to give testimony during a jury trial in the defamation lawsuit facing Fox News this week.

FBI investigating GOP Oklahoma officials caught on tape talking about lynching Black people, murdering newspaper reporters  —  GOP officials from McCurtain County, Okla. are being investigated by the FBI after they were caught on tape expressing their frustration about it not being socially acceptable beat …

Jim Jordan Tried to Pull Some D.C. Bullshit on New Yorkers  —  It went over exactly as well as you'd expect … It didn't get better from there.  —  As the hearing began, members of the public who were denied access shouted at cops and sundry congressional staffers outside the meeting room, demanding admittance.

Senate Republicans will try to block Feinstein's Judiciary replacement  —  Their objections complicate Democrats' path out of the judicial nomination slowdown caused by the California senator's lengthy absence  —  A second Republican senator on the Judiciary Committee announced their opposition …

U.S. Was Warned of Migrant Child Labor, but 'Didn't Want to Hear It'  —  The White House and federal agencies were repeatedly alerted to signs of children at risk.  The warnings were ignored or missed.  —  In the spring of 2021, Linda Brandmiller was working at an arena in San Antonio …

Clarence Thomas to amend financial disclosure forms to reflect sale to GOP megadonor  —  Justice Clarence Thomas intends to amend his financial disclosure forms to reflect a 2014 real estate deal he made with a GOP megadonor - an acknowledgment that the transaction should have been disclosed almost …

Vladimir Kara-Murza: Russian opposition figure jailed for 25 years  —  Opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Russia for charges linked to his criticism of the war in Ukraine.  —  He was found guilty of treason, spreading “false” …

Senate COVID origins report details lab leak theory  —  The coronavirus pandemic appeared to originate from a laboratory accident, based on biosafety issues in the epicenter in Wuhan, China, and factors observed in the nature and early spread of the virus, according to a 302-page Senate report obtained by Axios.

Why GOP culture warriors lost big in school board races this month  —  “Don't assume that a blanket message on critical race theory or transgender issues is going to claim every district,” one GOP activist said.  —  Amid all the attention on this month's elections in Wisconsin and Illinois …

Rep. Paul Gosar promotes pro-Hitler and Holocaust-denying site after it praised him for attacking “Jewish warmongers”  —  Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) used his House.gov newsletter to direct people to a story posted on a Holocaust-denier website that praised him for attacking “Jewish warmongers” for their support of Ukraine.

Hollywood Writers Approve of Strike as Shutdown Looms  —  The writers have not gone on strike in 15 years, and the vote gives their unions the right to call for a walkout when their contract expires on May 1.  —  Reporting from Los Angeles  —  Hollywood is getting ever closer to a shutdown.

The Bigger Story Behind the Charter School That Requires Girls to Wear Skirts  —  The dress code at the Charter Day School, a supposedly nonsectarian, publicly funded K-8 charter school in Leland, North Carolina, requires that female students wear skirts, jumpers, or “skorts.”

Pro-Russia propagandist unmasked as New Jersey tropical fish seller  —  Sarah Bils identified as the woman behind ‘Donbas Devushka’ social media accounts, notorious for spreading disinformation about the war  —  To her devoted followers, “Donbas Devushka” - or Donbas Girl …

George Santos Says He Will Run for Re-election in 2024  —  Mr. Santos, a Republican House member from New York, has admitted to lying about parts of his biography and is facing several ethics and criminal inquiries.  —  Representative George Santos, the Republican from New York whose unexpected victory …

After American's Killing in Syria, F.B.I. Builds War Crimes Case Against Top Officials  —  The inquiry aims to hold to account Syrian officials considered key architects of a brutal system of detention and torture that flourished under President Bashar al-Assad.