Donald Trump Tops Ron DeSantis in Test of GOP Presidential Field, WSJ Poll Finds  —  No candidate beyond the two leaders draws substantial support in the still-developing primary race  —  WASHINGTON—Donald Trump has gained command of the GOP presidential-nomination race over Ron DeSantis …

I.R.S. Official Is Said to Assert Political Meddling in Hunter Biden Inquiry  —  An agent overseeing the agency's portion of the investigation into the president's son is asking Congress for whistle-blower protection to discuss what he says is misconduct in the case.

BuzzFeed News Is Shutting Down, Company Laying Off 180 Staffers  —  BuzzFeed is shutting down BuzzFeed News because it is not able to turn a profit, according to a memo CEO Jonah Peretti sent to company staff Thursday.  The digital publisher is laying off 15% of its employees, or about 180 people …

Smartmatic wants more than Dominion's $787 million payout, plus a retraction from Fox for its 2020 election lies, lawyer says  —  A top lawyer for Smartmatic, the voting technology company whose defamation lawsuit against Fox News is still pending, said Thursday that he won't accept …

McCarthy at risk of falling short on GOP votes for debt ceiling bill  —  House Republicans are feeling a debt ceiling hangover, with senior GOP sources worrying they're significantly short on votes now that members have read the 320-page bill. … - Much of the skepticism is coming …

Public schools would have to display Ten Commandments under bill passed by Texas Senate  —  The Senate also passed a bill that would set prayer and Bible reading times during the school day.  —  Public schools in Texas would have to prominently display the Ten Commandments …

Biden 2024 Re-election Announcement Could Come as Soon as Tuesday  —  A campaign video is said to be in production, and donors are being mobilized, for a run that could be announced early next week.  —  President Biden is nearing a final decision to formally enter the 2024 presidential race …

Abortion ban states see steep drop in OB/GYN residency applicants  —  States that have enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5 percent drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residencies in 2023 from the previous year, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn to be questioned for 2nd day by special counsel: Sources  —  Epshteyn met with prosecutors for multiple hours on Thursday, sources say.  —  After meeting with  —  special counsel Jack Smith's  —  office for multiple hours Thursday, top Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn …

Let's Look at Senator Josh Hawley's Connections to the Abortion Pill Case  —  Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk donated to his campaign in 2018, but that donation has since been scrubbed from Open Secrets.  Hawley's wife represents the plaintiffs.  —  Alerts  —  The Supreme Court is set to weigh …

Why so many top Republicans want to go to war in Mexico  —  An astonishingly bad idea that's gotten popular very quickly.  —  One of the hottest new ideas in Republican politics is, apparently, launching a war in Mexico.  —  Three recent articles — in Rolling Stone, Politico, and Semafor …

Is DeSantis Just Not Dumb Enough for Republicans? … A little over four years ago, Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign appeared to be, if not inevitable, then at least like the most strongly positioned candidacy to win her party's nomination.  The former Harvard professor had won …

The Threat of Civil Breakdown Is Real  —  National security officials are still not prepared for a far-right revolt.  —  The MAGA fever has yet to break for some voters.  Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images  —  The Manhattan district attorney's indictment of former President Donald Trump …

The Internet of the 2010s Ended Today  —  BuzzFeed News was more than a website: It defined an era.  —  If you're curious to know what it was like to work at BuzzFeed News in the salad days of the mid-2010s, here is a representative anecdote: I was sitting at my desk one morning …

GOP targets clean energy laws despite boons back home  —  Earlier this year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene heralded the expansion of a South Korean solar panel production company in her district — a $2.5 billion cash infusion.  —  “QCells, the solar company ... I think they're fantastic,” she said.

“Unprecedented” wave of fake threats at schools causes terror  —  “Swatting” calls — fake reports of shootings or bombs that draw an onslaught of SWAT teams and cause schools to lockdown — are rising nationwide. … - “Swatting” is the act of placing a fake emergency call to 911 …

RFK Jr.?  No Thank You, American Politics Is Crazy Enough As Is  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. begins his campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination with 14 percent in a survey of Democratic primary voters conducted by USA TODAY/Suffolk University.

Once-a-week nightmare: US mass killings on a record pace  —  The U.S. is setting a record pace for mass killings in 2023, replaying the horror on a loop roughly once a week so far this year.  The carnage has taken 88 lives in 17 mass killings over 111 days.  Each time, the killers wielded firearms.

McCarthy builds a kitchen Cabinet ahead of debt showdown — without his No. 2, Scalise  —  The House GOP is working to unify after a dramatic stretch that saw its budget chief sidelined.  But the speaker and majority leader still have trust issues.  —  After his brutal battle to lead the House …

Kremlin tries to build antiwar coalition in Germany, documents show  —  Marrying Germany's far right and far left is a Kremlin goal, according to a trove of Russian documents reviewed by The Washington Post  —  BERLIN — When 13,000 demonstrators gathered at the Brandenburg Gate on Feb. 25 …

Russia admits its own warplane accidentally bombed Russian city of Belgorod, near Ukraine border  —  Moscow — When a powerful blast shook a Russian city near the border of Ukraine residents thought it was a Ukrainian attack.  But the Russian military quickly acknowledged …

Poll: GOP voters say fighting “woke” ideology more important than stopping Social Security cuts  —  Most Republican primary voters say fighting “woke” ideology in schools and businesses is more important to them than protecting Medicare and Social Security from cuts, a new Wall Street Journal poll out today showed.

April 20, 2023  —  There were a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated stories in the news that all seem to point to an important theme:  —  Josh Dawsey and Amy Gardner of the Washington Post reported that lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who was deeply involved in Trump's attempt to overturn …

How to Make the Housing Market Worse  —  The federal government props up the housing market in too many ways to count.  The U.S. is unique among rich countries in having the national government insure mortgages, guarantee mortgage securities, and finance mortgages with government-sponsored enterprises.

New head of NYC Correction Department unit criticized for Rikers Island violence was accused in caught-on-video assault of Kalief Browder  —  A correction officer accused in a caught-on-video beating of a handcuffed and defenseless detainee in a Rikers Island jail has been promoted to lead …