Politics

The Daily Beast reports: This week’s cold open began with a Britney Spears-hosted talk show called Oops, You Did It Again—and the guests joining Chloe Fineman’s Britney were none other than Aidy Bryant’s Ted Cruz, fresh off his embarrassing trip to Cancun during an energy crisis in his home state of Texas. Bryant’s Cruz emerged to roars from the crowd …

The New York Post reports: Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce from Kanye West after seven years of marriage, Page Six can confirm. Kardashian’s well-known divorce lawyer Laura Wasser filed the papers on Friday. The couple had already been in the process of dealing with property settlements, and while West was photographed this week still wearing his wedding band, separate …

Nashville’s NBC News affiliate reports: Dolly Parton is grateful for the Tennessee legislature’s consideration of a bill to install a statue of her on the Capitol grounds but doesn’t think this is an appropriate time to do so. Dolly Parton went on to Twitter to express her gratitude and her opinion on the bill, indicating that she had asked the …

Axios reports: Former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole, 97, announced Thursday that he has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. The big picture: Dole served in the U.S. Senate for 27 years, including 11 years as as GOP leader, before retiring in 1996. He unsuccessfully ran for vice president on President Gerald Ford’s ticket in 1976, and for president …

The Oregonian reports: Roughly a dozen Portland police officers faced off with a small group at a Northeast Portland Fred Meyer on Tuesday after people tried to take food that had been thrown away. Workers at the Hollywood West Fred Meyer threw away thousands of perishable items because the store had lost power in an outage brought on by the …

The New York Daily News reports: New Yorkers could soon get legal weed delivered to their door. The Empire State is one step closer to approving adult use marijuana after Gov. Cuomo released an amended version of his pot proposal Tuesday that outlines how some of the tax revenue would be spent and allows for the delivery of cannabis products. …

Axios reports: Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi told “Axios on HBO” that “Congress is morally obligated to respond” to the island’s recent vote in support of statehood, and said he expects a bill to be introduced in the House by mid-March. Although statehood has been discussed for years, advocates say it is more likely now because Democrats control the House, …

The Washington Post reports: Once again, an ABC reality competition series will have ties to the Trump White House — 18 months after former press secretary Sean Spicer made his debut on “Dancing With the Stars,” Kellyanne Conway’s daughter, Claudia, auditioned on the season premiere of “American Idol,” where she successfully made it through to the next round. ABC was …

The New York Times reports: The crisis engulfing the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project deepened on Friday when Steve Schmidt, a co-founder, resigned abruptly from the board and former employees renewed demands to be released from nondisclosure agreements in order to provide more information about the organization’s handling of harassment allegations against another co-founder, John Weaver. He stepped down from …

Politico reports: Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of 10 House Republicans to support Donald Trump’s impeachment for inciting the Capitol insurrection, pleaded with those close to the former president — and former vice president Mike Pence — to come forward and reveal what they know about Trump’s conduct. “To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as …

The Washington Post reports: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is preparing to put all first-class mail onto a single delivery track, according to two people briefed on his strategic plan for the U.S. Postal Service, a move that would mean slower and more costly delivery for both consumers and commercial mailers. DeJoy, with the backing of the agency’s bipartisan but Trump-appointed …

CNN reports: According to multiple people who spoke to CNN about Trump’s life in the weeks since she departed the nation’s capital, her daily schedule has nothing to do with politics, Congress, trials or stymied social media accounts. “She goes to the spa, has lunch, goes to the spa (again) and has dinner with Donald on the patio,” said one …

Reuters reports: Tokyo 2020 Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori resigned on Friday and apologised again for sexist remarks that sparked a global outcry, leaving the troubled Olympics searching for a chief five months from the opening ceremony. The resignation of former prime minister Mori, 83, will further erode confidence in the organisers’ ability to pull off the postponed Summer Games during …

Fox News reports: Police in Irving, Texas, have identified the man who shot and killed himself outside of GOP Rep. Beth Van Duyne’s home as former campaign staffer Chris Dillard, according to a report Thursday. Dillard, 55, served as Van Duyne’s communications director from November 2019 to April 2020 and was a prominent local GOP activist. The Irving Police Department …

From the Daily Mail: Controversial conspiracy congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene cheated on her husband with a polyamorous tantric sex guru, DailyMail.com has learned. Then after ending her affair with him, the mom-of-three moved on to a gym manager behind her husband’s back. But despite the tawdry flings, Taylor Greene stuck with her husband Perry as she made her unlikely rise …

Dallas’s NBC News affiliate reports: An unidentified man took his life in front of the home of Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne Wednesday afternoon. Irving police say the incident happened around 3:45 p.m. Officers responded to a call of a shooting on Shumard Oak Lane. When officers arrived, they found an unidentified man on the sidewalk in front of Van Duyne’s …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Gina Carano will not be returning to The Mandalorian or the Star Wars galaxy after sharing a post on social media implying that being a Republican today is like being Jewish during the Holocaust. “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future,” a Lucasfilm …

The New York Post reports: Larry Flynt — the controversial porn peddler who built an empire that included “Hustler” magazine — reportedly died on Wednesday. He was 78. Flynt, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 1978 murder attempt, succumbed to heart failure in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, TMZ reported. The mogul was known for his myriad …

NPR reports: The NBA says every team – including the Dallas Mavericks – must play the national anthem in their arenas, after news emerged that team owner Mark Cuban had ordered the Mavericks to discontinue the long-held practice. “With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in …

Reason reports: A Reason investigation in 2014 and subsequent documentary reported that, as a prosecutor, Rod Ponton leveraged the gears of the federal government in a yearslong effort to level bogus drug charges against a woman in Alpine, Texas, ultimately succeeding at destroying her business. The target, Ilana Lipsen, was his alleged former lover; she says she had one sexual …