DeSantis signs bill banning local heat protections for workers (thehill.com)
Outrage after US hunter who reportedly took wolf in bar and killed it only fined (www.theguardian.com)
A Wyoming hunter who reportedly ran over a gray wolf with a snowmobile, taped the creature’s mouth shut, took a picture with it inside a local bar and then shot it to death behind the tavern has ignited calls for stiffer penalties in such an egregious case of animal abuse....
Global fertility rates to plunge in decades ahead, new report says (www.cnn.com)
Alabama governor signs law banning diversity programs in schools (www.reuters.com)
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law on Wednesday a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public schools, making the state one of a few to enact broad measures against what she and other Republicans call a leftward tilt in U.S. education....
Massachusetts town grapples with sea rise after sand barrier fails (www.theguardian.com)
A $500,000 sand dune collapsed in days after being erected, and residents are looking for help to protect their homes...
Andrew Tate and brother Tristan arrested in Romania on UK warrant (www.theguardian.com)
Andrew Tate has been detained in Romania after an arrest warrant was issued by UK authorities in relation to charges including “sexual aggression”, his representative has said....
Florida Defies CDC in Measles Outbreak, Telling Parents It's Fine to Send Unvaccinated Kids to School (kffhealthnews.org)
Researchers have developed a Very Big Disc™ that can store up to 200 terabytes of data and may represent a return to optical media for long term storage (www.pcgamer.com)
US man sues Powerball lottery after being told $340m win is an error (www.bbc.com)
Lab-Made Meat? Florida Lawmakers Don’t Like the Sound of It. (www.nytimes.com)
Legislators there and in several other states want to restrict the manufacture or sale of meat made in a laboratory, even though it barely exists. The space industry disagrees....
Utah official censured for falsely suggesting teenage girl is transgender (www.nbcnews.com)
Utah Board of Education member Natalie Cline will be stripped of her committee assignments and prohibited from attending some board meetings....
On the Border, Republicans Set a Trap, Then Fell Into It (www.nytimes.com)
The G.O.P. abandoned a bipartisan border security bill that also aided Ukraine after Democrats called their bluff on immigration, agreeing to tough measures Republicans demanded....
Here's how 2 sentences in the Constitution rose from obscurity to ensnare Donald Trump (apnews.com)
It took months before the first mention of Section 3 in a public document. Free Speech For People, a Massachusetts-based liberal nonprofit, sent letters to top election officials in all 50 states in June 2021, warning them not to place Trump on the ballot should he run again in 2024 because he had violated the provision....
Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce and a MAGA Meltdown (www.nytimes.com)
The fulminations surrounding the world’s biggest pop icon — and girlfriend of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — reached the stratosphere after Kansas City made it to the Super Bowl....
64K women and girls became pregnant due to rape in states with abortion bans, study estimates (www.nbcnews.com)
The research letter, published by JAMA Internal Medicine, estimated that nearly 520,000 rapes were associated with 64,565 pregnancies across 14 states....
FTC bans TurboTax from advertising ‘free’ services, calls it deceptive (www.cnn.com)
The Federal Trade Commission ruled in a final order and opinion Monday that TurboTax, the popular tax filing software, engaged in deceptive advertising and banned the company from advertising its services for free unless it is free for all customers....
In his closing pitch to Iowa Republicans, Trump says their votes can help him punish his enemies (apnews.com)
The former president has set sky-high expectations for his own performance in the first contest of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. He spent the day before the caucuses trying to ensure he meets them. His main GOP rivals all spent Sunday in Iowa as well, making last-minute appeals to Iowans open to hearing...
New Florida law requires city officials to disclose net worth; some are resigning instead (www.usatoday.com)
Two Daytona Beach Shores city commissioners have resigned as the latest in a wave of local elected officials leaving before Jan. 1, when they face more stringent financial disclosure requirements....
Trump is putting every racial, ethnic and religious minority at risk at a time of angry political polarization (www.cnn.com)
Donald Trump’s extreme rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi propaganda and his penchant for siding with America’s adversaries and autocrats pose a unique challenge to his Republican opponents and, ultimately, US voters....
The Clarence Thomas Scandal Is Somehow Looking Even Worse (www.vanityfair.com)
ProPublica reports that Thomas was in debt, frustrated with his salary, and implying he’d resign from the Supreme Court if his financial situation didn’t change—just before Harlan Crow and other conservatives started lavishing him with expensive gifts and luxury vacations....
Top Illinois NAACP Official Caught on Leaked Call Apparently Calling Migrants 'Savages' Who Have ‘Been Raping People’ (themessenger.com)
A civil rights leader in Illinois is facing calls to resign after referring to migrants as “savages” during a Zoom meeting....
FBI director warns senators he sees ‘blinking lights everywhere’ on threats against the US (www.cnn.com)
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday he has never seen a time during his decades-long career when so many threats against the US were all as elevated as they are now, warning senators he sees “blinking lights everywhere.”...
Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America's Ruling Class, Finally Dies (www.rollingstone.com)
In death, one cancer patient helps to erase millions in medical debt (apnews.com)
RIP, goodhearted woman....