The Maine House voted 115-16 to restore Laurel Libby’s speaking privileges after a months-long censure. The US Supreme Court previously restored her right to vote. Despite the censure, Libby was allowed to read her missed votes into the record on the final legislative session day. Assistant Majority Leader Laurie Gramlich noted the resolution did not absolve Libby’s actions. Matt Gagnon criticized the Democrats for politically motivated actions, suggesting they caved due to legal and public pressure. He also discussed Janet Mills’ arrogance and reliance on “yes men,” leading to poor decision-making and public backlash.
Days of downpours have begun in Hawaii. The Southwest will soon bake with day after day of record 100-degree-plus (38 Celsius-plus) heat. Two storms will dump snow by the foot over northern Great Lakes states. And the dreaded polar vortex will again invade the Midwest and East with soul-crushing Arctic chill. This forecast of extremes comes as weather whiplash has already hit much of the East.
An inflation gauge closely monitored by the Federal Reserve moved higher in January in the latest sign that prices were persistently elevated even before the Iran war caused spikes in oil and gas costs.
A man with a rifle who crashed into a large Michigan synagogue in what federal officials are saying was an attack had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, an official said Friday.
House lawmakers were digging into Jeffrey Epstein's sprawling financial portfolio on Wednesday as a committee deposed his former accountant and tried to understand his connections to some of the world's wealthiest men.
