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The Rapid City Journal reports: South Dakota legislators decided Thursday to investigate allegations that Senate Majority Leader Kris Langer was drunk during a meeting earlier this week that involved legislation related to the coronavirus outbreak. Both Langer, a Dell Rapids Republican, and Senate Pro Tempore Brock Greenfield, a Clark Republican, will be under investigation for their conduct during a marathon …

Roll Call reports: Vice President Pence and health officials are set to hold a press briefing Wednesday afternoon to address the Trump administration’s work to combat the coronavirus outbreak. The briefing comes as 11 people have died of coronavirus in the U.S. Officials in California confirmed the state’s first fatality and the country’s first outside Washington state on Wednesday. The …

Politico reports: “In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital,” Chief Justice John Roberts declared in his annual New Year’s Eve message summing up the work of the federal judiciary. Roberts was not explicit about …

The Guardian reports: The pound fell below $1.21 for the first time since January 2017 as concerns mounted that the UK is heading for a no-deal Brexit. Sterling fell to $1.2085 before edging up to $1.2104, down 0.45% against a stronger US dollar. Against the euro the pound fell 0.01% to €1.0978. Sterling’s fall will be felt immediately by holidaymakers …

Politico reports: Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway called the spat between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and four female freshman Democrats a “major meow moment,” mocking the “huge catfight” over border aid spending between the House leader and some of her highest-profile caucus members. Conway, in an interview with Fox News, said Pelosi had brushed back Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New …

CNN reports: A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake swayed buildings and cracked foundations in Southern California on Friday night, sending terrified residents onto the streets a day after another temblor hit. The latest earthquake Friday struck 11 miles northeast of Ridgecrest, according to the US Geological Survey. It was five times bigger than Thursday’s 6.4 -magnitude earthquake, also centered near Ridgecrest, CNN …

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: “He comin.'” Those are the only words tweeted to describe a video of a Florida man riding a bicycle backward on a Miami interstate. He’s wearing hot pink socks and sneakers, a headband and pink underwear – and nothing else. Possibly not surprising is this isn’t the first time the man has been spotted nearly nude …

ABC New York reports: A transformer exploded at a power plant in Queens Thursday night, lighting up the sky over New York City while causing some flight delays and scattered power outages. The power outages affected operations at LaGuardia Airport. There was a total ground stop at the airport for about a half hour before power was restored and flights …

Politico reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron’s perceived swipe at President Donald Trump is because the leader of America’s oldest ally is facing his own internal problems. “I think he’s got a political problem at home, and I think he’s picking a fight with President Trump to play good politics,” the South Carolina Republican told …

Bloomberg reports: The U.S. saw a record number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases in 2017, marking the fourth straight year of sharp increases in gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The trend is exacerbated by the fact that gonorrhea could soon become resistant to antibiotic treatment, the CDC said …

The Guardian reports: Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League, is to be freed from prison after the court of appeal ordered that he should be retried on a contempt of court charge. He has been held at Onley jail near Rugby after receiving a 13-month sentence for breaches of reporting restrictions at Leeds and Canterbury crown courts. …

“When we’re dealing with this challenge, we should not be quarantining our children from parents. The inhumanity of what we see is reminiscent of detention centers of Nazi Germany, of the slave trade. We can do better when we try to figure out this problem. Let’s not forget, this problem needs to be fixed because the greatest risk-takers and greatest …

The Wichita Eagle reports: A bill that ensures faith-based adoption agencies can turn away gay and lesbian couples based on religious beliefs will be signed into law by Gov. Jeff Colyer. Kansas lawmakers passed the legislation after an intense debate early Friday. One suggested the need for the legislation proves the existence of the “homosexual agenda” while another said the …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. President Donald Trump’s company appealed directly to Panama’s president to intervene in its fight over control of a luxury hotel, even invoking a treaty between the two countries, in what ethics experts say was a blatant mingling of Trump’s business and government interests. That appeal in a letter last month from lawyers for the Trump …

The Iowa Gazette reports: Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, an 18-year veteran of the Iowa Legislature, abruptly resigned his leadership and District 25 position Monday in the wake of a video posted online that appeared to show the Shell Rock Republican kissing a female lobbyist at a Des Moines bar. In a short statement, Dix announced his resignation as majority …

The BBC reports: The author of a controversial book on Donald Trump’s White House says the US president has “less credibility than perhaps anybody who has ever walked on Earth at this point”. Michael Wolff, who spent months in Mr Trump’s White House while researching the book, was responding to Mr Trump’s claims that it was “full of lies”. Mr …

The Associated Press reports: Bill O’Reilly says he’s being attacked for political purposes and that it’s been a “horror show” for him and his family. The former Fox News Channel host was interviewed by one-time colleague Glenn Beck on this weekend’s story in The New York Times that Fox paid a $32 million settlement to a former legal analyst who …

Fox News reports: Christian numerologists claim that the world will end on Sept. 23, 2017 as they believe a planet will collide with Earth. According to Christian numerologist David Meade, verses in Luke 21: 25 to 26 is the sign that recent events, such as the recent solar eclipse and Hurricane Harvey, are signs of the apocalypse. Meade has built …

CNN reports: Joni Sledge, a founding member of the R&B vocal group Sister Sledge, was found dead Friday in her home in Phoenix, publicist Biff Warren told CNN on Saturday. She was 60 years old. The Sledge family was shocked by her death as she had not been ill, Warren said. The cause of death was unknown. The group of …

The Daily Beast reports: While speaking with his employees on Monday, Ben Carson made a baffling claim that seemingly likened slaves to immigrants. Calling the United States a “land of dreams and opportunity,” the newly confirmed housing and urban development secretary said, “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder …