Oath Keeper claims she was VIP security at Trump rally before riot and says she met with Secret Service agents  —  (CNN)A leader in an alleged Oath Keepers conspiracy in the US Capitol insurrection claims she was given a VIP pass to the pro-Trump rally on January 6, had met with Secret Service agents …

“Mark Changed The Rules”: How Facebook Went Easy On Alex Jones And Other Right-Wing Figures  —  In April 2019, Facebook was preparing to ban one of the internet's most notorious spreaders of misinformation and hate, Infowars founder Alex Jones.  Then CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally intervened.

How Investigative Journalism Flourished in Hostile Russia  —  A new wave of news outlets has used conventional, and unconventional, methods to pierce the veil of Putin's power.  —  The Russian language has introduced a few words that in recent years have been widely used and misused in English: disinformation, kompromat, Novichok.

Scoop: Cruz's Cancún trip included college roommate  —  In explaining his disastrous Cancún trip, Sen. Ted Cruz failed to mention his college roommate also was along for the visit.  — Axios has learned Cruz (R-Texas) invited David Panton, his longtime friend and former roommate …

AOC raises nearly $5 million in Texas relief efforts  —  (CNN)Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had amassed $4.7 million in her fundraising efforts to help Texans hard hit by last week's winter storm as of Sunday evening, her press secretary Ivet Contreras confirmed to CNN.

A Ripple Effect of Loss: U.S. Covid Deaths Approach 500,000  —  CHICAGO — A nation numbed by misery and loss is confronting a number that still has the power to shock: 500,000.  —  Roughly one year since the first known death by the coronavirus in the United States, an unfathomable toll is nearing …

Iran keeps hopes for nuclear deal alive  —  Tehran buys time by allowing continued oversight of its nuclear sites by UN's watchdog.  —  VIENNA — Iran signaled it was open to overtures from Washington to revive the landmark nuclear agreement torpedoed by the Trump administration …

Exclusive: Defeated and impeached, Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP's voters  —  If there's a civil war in the Republican Party, the voters who backed Donald Trump in November's election are ready to choose sides.  —  Behind Trump.  —  An exclusive Suffolk University/USA TODAY …

Tough Sanctions, Then a Mysterious Last-Minute Turnabout  —  The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on the Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler in 2017 for corruption in Africa.  In Donald Trump's final days in office, they were rolled back with no explanation.

How Trump offered Kim a ride on Air Force One  —  President Trump's meetings with Kim Jong-un were among the most eye-catching moments of his presidency.  —  In the third and final episode of a new BBC series Trump Takes On the World, directed by Tim Stirzaker, we discover new details …

Oregon GOP ousts chair, taps state Sen. Dallas Heard as new leader  —  A conservative state senator from Myrtle Creek is the new chair of the Oregon Republican Party, following an event Saturday in which Republicans overhauled their top party leadership.According to multiple Republican sources …

S.F. school board president: Renamings are on hold, reopening is our priority  —  As a credentialed teacher serving as a volunteer school board member, I make every effort to respond to every email.  Every single day I am talking to parents on the phone, answering their questions about distance learning …

Millions of Texans still without safe drinking water after winter storm  —  Millions of Texans remained without safe drinking water Sunday as state officials sought to ramp up bottled water distribution and calm residents who've seen spiking electricity bills in the aftermath of a severe winter storm that left the state battered.

Biden seems set to pick fight over Rahm Emanuel  —  Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel appears poised to take on a high-profile ambassadorship for President Biden, a step likely to trigger contention with progressives who've balked at him taking a Cabinet role.

Why Texas Republicans Fear the Green New Deal  —  Small government is no match for a crisis born of the state's twin addictions to market fixes and fossil fuels.  —  Ms. Klein is a senior correspondent at The Intercept and the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair at Rutgers University.

The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party.  Here's what that means for future.  —  WASHINGTON — The exit of Donald Trump has brought a more normal rhythm to back to politics in Washington, but outside the Beltway deeper forces are reshaping partisan landscape.

Pro-Trump Miami doctor charged with hate crime for attacking Hispanic man  —  Angered when he asked her to socially distance at a Publix, she followed him out, called him racial slurs, keyed his vehicle and punched him, police said.  —  HIALEAH — A Mount Sinai Medical Center anesthesiologist …

Pence declined CPAC invitation: source  —  Trump is expected to address the conference Feb. 28  —  Trump to speak at CPAC in first public appearance since leaving office  —  Former Vice President Mike Pence has declined an invitation to attend this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, Fox News has learned.

Federal judges call for increased security after threats jump 400% and one judge's son is killed  —  Judge Esther Salas was in her New Jersey home when a gunman targeting Salas opened fire on her family, killing her son and wounding her husband.  Now she's fighting for better protection of judges.

Biden's big summertime verdict  —  President Biden is promising COVID-19 vaccines will be available to all Americans by the end of July — and a Quinnipiac poll finds three-quarters of Americans expect him to pull it off.  If he fails, the coronavirus could start to haunt the new president just like it did his predecessor.

Biden to mark upcoming 500,000 US Covid-19 deaths with candle lighting ceremony  —  (CNN)With the US approaching 500,000 Covid-19 deaths, plans are underway for President Joe Biden to mark the moment this week.  —  The President is planning to deliver remarks and hold a candle lighting ceremony …

Customers, staff fired back in gun store shooting; 3 dead  —  METAIRIE, La. (AP) — A person entered a gun store and shooting range in a New Orleans suburb and fatally shot two people Saturday, prompting customers and staff to open fire on the shooter, a sheriff said.  The shooter also died.

QAnon's corrosive impact on the U.S.  —  Tens of millions of Americans believe QAnon's core — and false — theory that an evil cabal of Satan-worshipping elites commits atrocities against children and controls much of the world.  Where does this movement stand and who has it impacted?

What Drove the Historically Large Murder Spike in 2020? … Amid the pandemic, lockdown orders, and nationwide protests against police violence, a historically large increase in murders occurred in 2020.  Previously, the largest recorded one-year rise in murders in U.S. history was a 12.7 percent increase in 1968.

Blue-Collar Jobs Boom as Covid-19 Boosts Housing, E-Commerce Demand  —  Residential construction, package delivery and warehousing jobs exceed pre-pandemic levels, and some companies can't find enough workers  —  America's blue-collar workforce is filled with signs of a strengthening job market.

WHO Said What About Wuhan?  —  International investigators ignore the lab-leak theory but investigate frozen fish.  —  Chinese policy makers have been floating an implausible theory: The novel coronavirus didn't originate in China but was imported from Europe.

The challenge of a fair trial for Chauvin  —  The presumption of innocence is strained amid public passions and pronouncements.  —  TEXT SIZE  —  MORE  —  In December the Hennepin County District Court made public a questionnaire it was sending to prospective jurors in the upcoming murder trial …