Law & Crime reports: Mark Ponder, 56, admitted Friday to striking three police officers with a pole during the melee outside the Capitol building on Jan. 6, hitting one of them so hard that the impact shattered the officer’s riot shield. Ponder emerged seconds later, having “re-armed himself with a new, thicker pole that was colored with red, white, and …

Florida Politics reports: Sen. Rick Scott said Monday that he has no plans to go back to Disney World and that he’s canceled his subscription to the Disney+ streaming service in the wake of the company’s opposition to the state’s Parental Rights in Education law. The Senator, during an appearance on the Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” contended that …

From Franklin Graham’s Facebook page: LGBTQ activists are using corporations to force their agenda on the public, and companies may want to take another look at what they are allowing to happen. Disney has gone too far. The people of Florida have revolted, and it’s going to cost Disney big time. Disney had a special tax status in the state …

Orlando’s ABC News affiliate reports: The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office has released body cam video showing the questioning of two newlyweds after their wedding guests fell ill from cannabis-laced food last February. The sheriff’s office said that it was called to the The Springs Clubhouse in Longwood on Feb. 19 after several guests fell ill from the food. In total, …

NBC News reports: For the second year in a row, Covid was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday. In both 2020 and 2021, the only conditions that killed more people than Covid were heart disease, which caused 693,000 deaths last year, and cancer, at 605,000 deaths …

The New York Times reports: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia congratulated Emmanuel Macron on Monday for his re-election as France’s president after defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right candidate many in Russia favored as a potential game-changing option for the Kremlin amid the threat of new sanctions and in the midst of the war in Ukraine. “I sincerely wish …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: As House Democrats shouted them down and held an unprecedented hourlong sit-in in protest of the congressional redistricting map Thursday in the Florida Capitol, House Republicans turned to social media to express their displeasure. “House Democrats are staging an insurrection on the House floor to obstruct the democratic process. Shameful,” said Rep. Spencer Roach, a …

The Huffington Post reports: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed a bill into law this week making Maryland the second U.S. state to ban the declawing of cats. Declawing a cat is a major surgery that involves amputating the last bone of each toe, similar to amputating each first knuckle on a person’s hand. The first U.S. state to ban …

Bloomberg News reports: Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to prohibit the LGBTQ-rights flag from being flown on the corporate flagpole outside its offices during Pride month in June, prompting a furious backlash from Houston-based employees. Exxon updated company guidance on what flags can be displayed outside its offices, banning “external position flags” such as PRIDE and Black Lives Matter, according to …

The New York Times reports: Twitter is nearing a deal to sell itself to Elon Musk, two people with knowledge of the situation said, a move that would unite the world’s richest man with the influential social networking service. Twitter’s board was negotiating with Mr. Musk into the early hours of Monday over his unsolicited bid to buy the company, …

The New York Post reports: New footage of Vladimir Putin appearing unsteady, fidgeting and biting his lips during an Orthodox Easter service in Moscow on Sunday has added to suspicions that the Russian leader is seriously ill. The warmongering president shifts uncomfortably, sticks out his tongue and bites his lips as Patriarch Kirill announces that “Christ has risen” – joining …

Axios reports: President Biden announced on Monday that he intends to nominate Bridget Brink as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The U.S. has not had an ambassador to Ukraine since former President Trump removed Marie Yovanovitch from the position in 2019. The White House’s announcement follows Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr …

Reuters reports: The United States promised on Monday to reopen its embassy in Kyiv soon, as Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine’s capital and hailed its success so far against Russia’s invasion. Both men said the fact they were able to come to Kyiv was proof of Ukraine’s tenacity in forcing Moscow to abandon …

Politico reports: David Perdue made his intentions clear right out of the gate: In his opening statement in the Georgia GOP gubernatorial primary debate, he fixated on alleged election fraud. Perdue, the former senator who is Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate, sparred with Gov. Brian Kemp on the issue for almost half of the one-hour GOP debate Sunday night, accusing the …

The Associated Press reports: Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., the key player in a North Carolina absentee ballot fraud probe that led to a do-over congressional election, has died. His daughter, Andrea Dowless Heverly, wrote that her father “passed away peacefully” Sunday morning, according to a social media post. The political operative was set to go on trial this summer on …

Variety reports: Ahead of her Hollywood Walk of Fame honor, icon Jean Smart looked back at some of her incredible roles — including the one that put her on the map globally. In 1985, she joined CBS’ “Designing Women” as Charlene Frazier Stillfield, a role she held for five seasons. The sitcom earned 18 Emmy nominations and catapulted Smart’s career …

The New York Times reports: Ms. Le Pen conceded defeat in her third attempt to become president, but bitterly criticized the “brutal and violent methods” of Mr. Macron. She vowed to fight on to secure a large number of representatives in legislative elections in June, declaring that “French people have this evening shown their desire for a strong counter power …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Friday to halt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from lifting Title 42, a pandemic-era health order used by federal immigration officials to expel migrants, including asylum-seekers, at the U.S.-Mexico border. Title 42, which was enacted in March 2020 by the Trump …

CNBC reports: Twitter could be becoming more receptive to a takeover bid from Elon Musk after the billionaire disclosed he has secured $46.5 billion in financing, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The social media company had been expected to shoot down the offer and had adopted a so-called poison pill to fend off a potential hostile takeover. But executives …

Politico reports: U.S. and Ukrainian officials on Sunday discussed the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin expanding his invasion from the Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine into the neighboring nation of Moldova — another former Soviet state and non-NATO member in Eastern Europe. Transdniestria, or Transnistria, is a pro-Russia breakaway region of Moldova, which borders Ukraine to the southwest. Moldova, …