The New York Daily News reports: A YouTube prankster staged a medical emergency in Times Square, then filmed first responders breaking into his car to try and save him, police said — just to rack up thousands of views. Zeeshan Saroya, known on YouTube as Prince Zee, is now facing charges of obstructing government administration, making a false report, disorderly …

NBC New York reports: New York City restaurants can reopen indoor dining at 25 percent capacity on Valentine’s Day, one of the busiest dining days of the year, provided current downward trends in positivity and hospitalization rates continue, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday. He also announced that wedding receptions of up to 50 percent or 150 people will be permitted …

The Washington Post reports: The two pipe bombs that were discovered on Jan. 6 near the U.S. Capitol shortly before a mob stormed the building are believed to have been planted the night before, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation and video footage obtained by The Washington Post. The explosive devices, which were placed blocks from …

From the editorial board of the Charlotte Observer: Can someone please keep Madison Cawthorn away from the cameras? And the microphones? And really, most situations in which he publicly tries to turn words into meaningful thoughts? The first-term, District 11 U.S. House member has been an embarrassment to the institution, to his party, and to his state. In the last …

AccuWeather reports: AccuWeather meteorologists expect New York City and Boston to get a major snowfall from the storm, in the range of 6-12 inches, even if there is some mixing for a time. If the mixing does not occur and the storm tracks slightly offshore, even bigger accumulations could pile up. “As we see it at this early stage, the …

The Washington Post reports: White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that a briefing Biden is receiving later from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would highlight “the cost of inaction” on the president’s coronavirus relief legislation — a move designed to increase pressure on Congress to move forward. The briefing, Psaki said, would demonstrate “the impact of a delay in …

Changing America reports: Emerging data from Israel indicates that the vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as Moderna, may be even more effective than previous results from clinical trials suggested. Israel’s Ministry of Health studied more than 700,000 fully inoculated people—meaning those who received two doses of either vaccine—in the country and saw only 0.04 percent contract a …

CNN Business reports: PSA Airlines, one of American Airlines’ largest operators of regional flights, has been “temporarily grounded” by the Federal Aviation Administration for an inspection issue on nearly all of its planes, according to an internal email obtained by CNN. American Airlines tells CNN that 230 of its flights operated by PSA Airlines have been canceled so far, leaving …

Mediaite reports: MSNBC’s Brian Williams cuttingly lampooned House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy by presenting what Williams said was footage of McCarthy’s meeting with ex-President Donald Trump at Trump’s West Palm Beach resort. McCarthy traveled to Mar-a-Lago Thursday for a meeting with Trump less than two weeks after announcing on the floor of the House that Trump “bears some responsibility” for …

Reuters reports: The head of the U.S. Capitol Police on Thursday urged U.S. lawmakers to add permanent fencing and back-up security staff at the Capitol building after a deadly Jan. 6 attack. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers would also probably need more funding for security as the “the enemy is within” the House, following a warning …

The New York Times reports: The Pentagon is considering sending active-duty troops to large, federally run coronavirus vaccine centers, a major departure for the department and the first significant sign that the Biden administration is moving to take more control of a program that states are struggling to manage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is hoping to set up roughly …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Johnson & Johnson said its experimental Covid-19 vaccine was 66% effective at protecting people from moderate to severe disease in a large clinical trial, positive results that could pave the way for its deployment across the U.S. within weeks. The J&J vaccine also appeared to be generally safe and well tolerated among the 44,325 adults …

The Washington Post reports: The Biden administration has halted an effort to install several Trump loyalists on Defense Department advisory boards, Pentagon officials said, as the new administration considers a series of unusual appointments that were made in the waning days of the Trump administration. At least temporarily, the decision affects appointees who include Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, both …

CNN reports: Former President Donald Trump is focusing his political energy on targeting Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, who voted for Trump’s impeachment earlier this month. According to one source, Trump has repeatedly questioned his Republican allies about efforts to remove Cheney from her leadership position and run a primary candidate against her. He has also been showing …

Law & Crime reports: Al Watkins, a lawyer for accused Capitol rioter Jacob Chansley, is offering his client as a witness in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. Chansley is better known in popular culture as the “QAnon Shaman” or, as Watkins called him, the “guy with the horns and the fur” who was photographed raiding …

New York City’s ABC News affiliate reports: New York City’s outdoor dining set ups, like those in the West Village, are not going to get much use today, with wind chills expected to be in the single digits. Today would be a great day to eat indoors, as the city’s decimated restaurant industry anxiously awaits Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement on …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Among the many posts being unearthed amid renewed scrutiny of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s social media history is one in which the new congresswoman implicated “Rothschild Inc” in connection with a deadly forest fire that, she wrote, was started using secret laser beams from space. In her post, Greene noted that Roger Kimmel, a board member at …

NBC News reports: The Republican chair of Arizona’s state House Ways and Means Committee introduced a bill Wednesday that would give the Legislature authority to override the secretary of state’s certification of its electoral votes. GOP Rep. Shawnna Bolick introduced the bill, which rewrites parts of the state’s election law, such as sections on election observers and securing and auditing …

Variety reports: Armie Hammer will no longer star in the upcoming Paramount Plus series “The Offer,” which tells the behind the scenes story of the making of “The Godfather,” Variety has learned from sources. It was announced in early December that Hammer was attached to lead the show in the role of Al Ruddy, who produced “The Godfather” back in …

Yahoo News reports: Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper’s wife in “Sounder,” a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewers’ hearts in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” died Thursday at age 96. Tyson’s death was announced by her family, via her manager Larry Thompson, …