Former RNC chairman to Jim Jordan on Jan. 6: ‘You know, b****, what time you called the president’  —  Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan a “son of a b****” for his recent remarks that he wasn't certain whether he spoke to former President Donald Trump on Jan. 6.

The rent is now due, America  —  (CNN)It's like Democrats in the White House and Congress forgot the date.  —  Now it's the first of the month and rent — and back rent — is suddenly due for millions of Americans who have been shielded from eviction during the pandemic.

Florida breaks record with more than 21,000 new COVID cases  —  ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to federal health data released Saturday, as its theme park resorts again started asking visitors to wear masks indoors.

Less than 0.001% of fully vaccinated Americans died after a Covid-19 breakthrough case, CDC data shows  —  Nurse: Some Covid-19 patients think I'm lying about diagnosis  —  (CNN)Less than .004% of people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 experienced a breakthrough case resulting in hospitalization …

'It's Nowhere Near Over': A Beach Town's Gust of Freedom, Then a U-turn  —  Provincetown, Mass., the quirky community at the tip of Cape Cod, thought it was safe to return to prepandemic partying.  It wasn't.  —  PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — By the Fourth of July, Provincetown's tourist season had built to a prepandemic thrum.

EXCLUSIVE Belarusian sprinter says she won't return home  —  A Belarusian sprinter said she was taken to the airport against her wishes on Sunday to board a flight back home after she complained about national coaches at the Tokyo Olympics.  —  Krystsina Tsimanouskaya …

‘I will not be silenced’: Women targeted in hack-and-leak attacks speak out about spyware  —  Ghada Oueiss, a Lebanese broadcast journalist at Al-Jazeera, was eating dinner at home with her husband last June when she received a message from a colleague telling her to check Twitter.

The war against cities  —  The Republican Party is waging a war against cities, especially those in the Northeast and on the West Coast that vote for Democrats and have large minority populations.  The GOP gleefully rammed through provisions in its 2017 tax bill that limited federal deductions …

Why Trust Is in Short Supply on Capitol Hill  —  Suspicion and skepticism among lawmakers complicates deal-making.  —  WASHINGTON — Congress is running a serious trust deficit.  —  While a bipartisan group of centrist senators was able to strike a rare accord on infrastructure …

Tunisia's President Holds Forth on Freedoms After Seizing Power  —  “'Why do you think that, at 67, I would start a career as a dictator?'”  President Kais Saied said in a meeting with The New York Times, quoting Charles de Gaulle.  He vowed to preserve hard-fought rights.

Attendee at St. Louis County Council vote to overturn mask mandate tests positive for Covid-19  —  Health official describes racist attack after council meeting on masks  —  (CNN)A person who attended a St. Louis County Council meeting last week where officials voted to overturn a mask mandate …

How Strong Is Trump's Grip on the G.O.P.?  —  This was a week of setbacks for Donald Trump in his attempt to maintain a firm hold on the Republican Party till 2024 and beyond.  —  In Texas, one of his endorsed candidates lost a special election runoff to a rival Republican.

Bacon may disappear in California as pig rules take effect  —  DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Thanks to a reworked menu and long hours, Jeannie Kim managed to keep her San Francisco restaurant alive during the coronavirus pandemic.  —  That makes it all the more frustrating that she fears …

Vaccinated people are ready for normalcy — and angry at the unvaccinated getting in their way  —  A return to their carefree, pre-pandemic visits appeared within reach, tantalizing Stacey Graves and her boyfriend with promises of coffee in the cafe and sunshine on the patio.

Biden hits resistance from unions on vaccine requirement  —  Influential public sector unions are pushing back on a new vaccination requirement for federal workers in a rare split with the Biden administration.  —  President Biden's latest vaccine push, announced Thursday …

When will the summer coronavirus surge peak?  It will get worse before it gets better, experts predict.  —  The newly resurgent coronavirus could spark 140,000 to 300,000 cases a day in the United States come August, fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant and the widespread resumption …

An Uncertain New Phase of the Pandemic, in Which Cases Surge But Deaths Do Not  —  With the Delta variant, people now have to make different calculations about personal risk.  The problem is that the parameters are not yet fully known.  —  So many things have gone wrong in the American response …