People Tied to Project Veritas Scrutinized in Theft of Diary From Biden's Daughter  —  The F.B.I. carried out search warrants in New York as part of a Justice Department investigation into how pages from Ashley Biden's journal came to be published by a right wing website.

Virginia Gov.-elect Youngkin's underaged son tried to vote in Tuesday's election, elections officials said  —  The 17-year-old son of Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) tried to cast a ballot in Tuesday's gubernatorial election twice despite being too young to vote, Fairfax County officials said in a statement released Friday.

House passes $1.2T bipartisan infrastructure bill, sending it to Biden's desk  —  The House on Friday passed, 228-206, a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, handing President Biden a major victory after months of party infighting and negotiations.  —  Why it matters …

Rachel Maddow's Shocking New Low  —  With last night's loony response to the indictment of Igor Danchenko, the MSNBC anchor takes a bold leap off the credibility cliff  —  Yesterday, Special Counsel John Durham indicted Brookings Institute analyst Igor Danchenko, better known as the primary source …

Retiring GOP lawmaker warns Trump will try to steal the next election  —  Programming note: A new CNN documentary, “Trumping Democracy: An American Coup,” reported by Jake Tapper about former President Donald Trump's attempts to subvert the 2020 election, premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, November 5.

Trump DOJ official who aided effort to overturn election declines to answer Jan. 6 questions  —  A top Trump Justice Department official who aided the former president's quest to overturn the 2020 election refused to answer substantive questions in a meeting with congressional investigators on Friday.

Pfizer antiviral pill reduced risk of covid hospitalization and death by 89 percent in high-risk people, company study shows  —  An experimental coronavirus pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent in high-risk people infected with the virus, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced Friday.

Republicans make Florida history, pass Democrats in voter registration  —  Gov. DeSantis said on Friday morning that the GOP had struck the milestone they'd been approaching since 2012.  —  Published Earlier today  —  Florida Republicans have officially reached a milestone they've …

Cuomo Sex-Crime Charge May Be ‘Defective,’ D.A. Says  —  A judge granted the Albany County district attorney's request for an adjournment, after prosecutors cited potentially “exculpatory” mistakes in the investigation.  —  The sex-crime case against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was thrown …

Texas attorney general sues Biden administration, slams ‘flatly unconstitutional’ federal vaccine mandate  —  Paxton says the mandate represents ‘federal overreach’  —  Dana White explains why he opposes vaccine mandates  —  Texas' Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit …

Trump left a $7 million mess after delaying census workers' payroll taxes  —  The U.S. Census Bureau has been stuck with a $7 million accounting mess after former President Donald Trump's administration ordered the federal agency to pause payroll taxes last year for certain employees …

Dana White says he won't mandate vaccines for fighters: ‘This is a free country, do what you want’  —  White spoke with Brian Kilmeade ahead of UFC 268 at Madison Square Garden.  —  Dana White explains why he opposes vaccine mandates  —  UFC president Dana White said his business saw …

Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Know What Happened to Pols Who Did What They're Doing  —  It's a core principle of economics that people do what they are incentivized to do.  That may be why Senators Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., haven't hesitated to oppose popular progressive policies …

They Just Keep Closing Schools and Mandating Masks  —  Given this week's surprise drubbing at the polls—not just in Virginia, New Jersey, and Long Island, but also in many of the estimated 117 school districts where board seats were contested on the issues of COVID-19 response, race-based policies …

They executed people for the state of South Carolina.  For some, it nearly destroyed them.  —  From hanging pirates to firing squads, pictures reveal 303-year history of SC executions  —  The first time Craig Baxley executed a man for the state of South Carolina, he wasn't sure it was the right thing to do.

John Eastman Is Not Good With Computers  —  The legal scholar who advised Trump on his Jan. 6 strategy is making a lot of mistakes.  —  John Eastman is having a rough go of it.  The 61-year-old attorney, founding director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence …

University of Florida Reverses Course to Allow Professors to Testify Against State  —  Facing a storm of protest, the university said three professors could testify as expert witnesses in a voting-rights lawsuit against the state.  —  Acceding to a storm of protest, the University …

CIA director dispatched to Moscow to warn Russia over troop buildup near Ukraine  —  (CNN)President Joe Biden dispatched CIA Director Bill Burns to Moscow earlier this week to warn the Kremlin that the US is watching its buildup of troops near Ukraine's border closely, and to attempt to determine what is motivating Russia's actions.

A Very Exciting Introduction  —  TGIF.  A weekly report from Nellie Bowles.  —  Hello and welcome to the Common Sense weekly news roundup.  I'm Nellie Bowles.  Until a couple weeks ago, I was a reporter at the New York Times.  Funky local paper.  —  During my four years at the Times …