Politics

The Hill reports: A majority of Americans say they oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, according to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey released exclusively to The Hill. Fifty-four percent of respondents polled said they opposed overturning Roe v. Wade if the court were to roll back the ruling and leave abortion laws to the states. Forty-six percent of voters said …

Roll Call reports: A North Carolina state appeals court stopped the process for candidates to file for next year’s congressional and state legislative elections using new district lines, the state board of elections said Monday. According to state law, candidate filing was to begin Monday and run through Dec. 17 in advance of the state’s March 8 primary. After Texas …

The New York Times reports: Max Rose, a moderate Democrat who lost his congressional seat last year amid a resurgence of Republican power in parts of New York, announced on Monday that he was mounting another run for Congress, setting up a national political battleground in New York City. The race for New York’s 11th Congressional District, currently held by …

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden has pledged to make it “very, very difficult” for Russia’s Vladimir Putin to take military action in Ukraine as U.S. intelligence officials determined that Russian planning is underway for a possible military offensive that could begin as soon as early 2022. The new intelligence finding estimates that the Russians are planning to deploy …

Reuters reports: Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Saturday to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to help turn the tide on a fourth wave of cases that she said had become “dramatic” in parts of the country. “We are in a very serious situation. In some parts of the country you can only describe it as dramatic: overfilled intensive care …

The Washington Post reports: Apple alerted 11 U.S. diplomats that their iPhones had been hacked in recent months by spyware from NSO Group, an Israeli-based company that helps government clients in dozens of countries secretly steal files, eavesdrop on conversations and track the movements of its targets, according to people familiar with the notifications. The news, first reported by Reuters …

Yahoo News reports: The Senate has passed a stopgap spending bill that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defused a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. “I am glad that in the end, cooler heads prevailed. The government will …

NBC News reports: The House passed a short-term government funding bill that would prevent a shutdown before the Friday night deadline, sending the legislation to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future. The House voted 221-212 to advance the continuing resolution. If it is approved by the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden, it will keep large parts …

Roll Call reports: House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter A. DeFazio, a veteran lawmaker with 36 years of congressional experience under his belt, announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection in 2022. “It’s time for me to pass the baton to the next generation so I can focus on my health and well-being,” the Oregon Democrat said. DeFazio has …

The Washington Post reports: A hacker gained access to the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Planned Parenthood patients last month, the reproductive health-care group’s Los Angeles branch said Wednesday. The breach is limited to the Los Angeles affiliate, and spokesperson John Erickson said there is no indication at this point that the information was “used for fraudulent purposes.” …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Stacey Abrams launched a campaign for Georgia governor on Wednesday with a pledge to fight for economic equality and expand healthcare access, setting up a potential rematch against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in one of the nation’s most competitive political battlegrounds. The Democrat announced her campaign with a video that highlighted her work in the state …

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court seemed poised on Wednesday to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, based on sometimes tense and heated questioning at a momentous argument in the most important abortion case in decades. Such a ruling would be flatly at odds with what the court has said was the …

The Boston Globe reports: Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, the Republican who maintained the enduring support of his blue state constituents through boom times, the Trump presidency, and in the face of mass death during the COVID-19 pandemic, is telling allies he will not seek a third term in 2022, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. A moderate who …

NPR reports: An epic argument at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday: At issue is whether to reverse the court’s nearly half-century-old Roe v. Wade decision and subsequent decisions declaring that women have a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. Until now, all the court’s abortion decisions have upheld Roe‘s central framework — that women have a constitutional right to …

Playbook reports: Conservatives on both sides of the Capitol are privately plotting to force a government shutdown Friday in an effort to defund the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate on the private sector, multiple GOP sources told Playbook. Capitalizing on a last-minute scramble to fund the government, a group of Senate conservatives is planning to object to quick consideration of a …

San Antonio’s ABC News affiliate reports: Gov. Greg Abbott is guaranteeing Texans won’t have issues keeping the power on this winter. “I can guarantee the lights will stay on,” Abbott told FOX 7 in Austin. “I signed almost a dozen laws that make the power grid more effective.” Abbott was referring to multiple bills he signed into law this year …

The Associated Press reports: Barbados stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday as it shed another vestige of its colonial past and became a republic for the first time in history. Barbados didn’t need permission from the U.K. to become a republic, although the island will remain a member of the Commonwealth Realm. It’s an event that the …

Reuters reports: Far-right French pundit Eric Zemmour announced his candidacy for president on Tuesday with a video in which, to ominous music and footage of street violence, he said he wanted to save France from decadence and minorities that “oppress the majority”. His declaration came hours before the conservative Les Républicains hold their final TV debate ahead of a congress …

Chicago’s ABC News affiliate reports: Jussie Smollett’s trial began Monday nearly three years after the former “Empire” actor reported he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack in Chicago. The actor is facing charges for what authorities say was a fake attack. Smollett told police he was walking home early in the morning back in January of 2019 when …

The New York Times reports: Representative Thomas Suozzi, a Long Island Democrat, intends to announce on Monday that he will enter the race for governor of New York, broadening the field of candidates challenging the incumbent, Kathy Hochul, according to five people who have spoken with the congressman and his team in recent days. Mr. Suozzi, who has most recently …