Why experts like Dr. Fauci think 'there's a really good chance' the worst of the U.S. pandemic is behind us

According to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, two-thirds of Americans are either somewhat or very worried about the “newer, potentially more contagious” COVID-19 variants that have triggered huge overseas outbreaks and are now spreading in the United States. To be clear, worrying less about variants doesn't mean abandoning precautions; nothing will suppress cases and shorten the U.S. pandemic like wearing a mask, avoiding indoor gatherings, staying 6 feet apart and getting vaccinated. Asked if the worst of the pandemic was behind the U.S., Fauci told Yahoo News Tuesday that “it might be.”

• 
  15 pre-pandemic photos from a year ago that will make you cringe now

  INSIDER
• 
  Dr. Fauci Just Said He's Doing This for the First Time in a Year

  Best Life

Biden Fires a Warning Shot at Iran

After only a month in power, President Biden has used lethal military force in reaction to Iranian-sponsored attacks on Americans in Iraq. It's worth pausing to note that those Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite groups and not the government of Iraq control that part of the border. In other words, Iran and its proxies control a route from Iraq through Syria to Lebanon, where the largest Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, is situated.

• 
  On Texas visit, Biden warns Iran 'to be careful'

  Associated Press Videos
• 
  U.S. air strikes in Syria target Iranian-backed militia: Pentagon

  Reuters

They were stopped for speeding in the Keys. Then police smelled something fishy

Two commercial fisherman from the mainland were jailed Thursday after police said they were caught in the Keys with a haul of illegal seafood that started with 100 undersized wrung lobster tails. Their catch also included 17 undersized stone crab claws, four undersized whole lobsters and one undersized mutton snapper, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Osvaldo Hernandez, 65, listed as a seafood business owner in Fort Lauderdale, and Vladimir Medina Martin, 43, of Miami, were each arrested on a felony charge of taking 100 or more undersized lobsters.

More Inside A New Safari Lodge Treehouse Tucked Away in Botswana’s Okavango Delta

Only reachable by canoe, this Xigera hideaway is centered along lush riverbeds and a rich concentration of wildlife. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Husband of Hitler-quoting GOP congresswoman parked his militia-stickered truck outside Capitol Jan. 6

Illinois state Rep. Chris Miller (R), the husband of freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), acknowledged Thursday that his pickup truck was parked in a restricted area outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, but he said the "Three Percenter" militia sticker on the back window doesn't mean anything. "Army friend gave me decal," Miller told The Daily Beast in an email late Thursday. The Three Percenters, founded in 2008, are a "radical militia group" implicated in leading the Jan. 6 siege along with the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and other far-right extremist groups, the FBI said in an affidavit filed in the case against alleged rioter Robert Gieswein.

• 
  3 Percenter Sticker Found On Truck At Capitol Riot Belongs To GOP Rep's Husband

  HuffPost
• 
  Truck parked at Capitol on day of riot belongs to husband of GOP congresswoman who quoted Hitler

  The Independent

Teen in hospital for sledding injury dies after dad died visiting her, Ohio mom says

Katie Dougherty Zuercher has a vision of her husband waiting for their daughter in heaven. “She used to wait on the front porch for him to arrive home from work to greet him with the biggest hug before he could even get in the house,” the Ohio mom said in a Facebook post. Last weekend, Dougherty Zuercher's 14-year-old daughter, Eirelyn, was seriously injured in a sledding accident at a park in Hinckley, Ohio, Cleveland.com reported.

House Narrowly Passes Massive COVID-Response Bill, Including $15 Minimum Wage

The bill contains $1,400 direct payments for most Americans, $170 billion to colleges and K-12 schools to cover reopening costs, and $70 billion for coronavirus testing and vaccination programs. President Biden has pushed for the bill's passage, however Republicans opposed some of the provisions in the legislation, arguing they were clearly extraneous. House Democrats also included a provision to raise the federally mandated minimum wage to $15 an hour, despite decreasing likelihood that the provision would pass the Senate.

• 
  Progressives fume as White House backs down on minimum wage increase

  Yahoo News
• 
  Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against $15 Minimum Wage In COVID-19 Bill

  HuffPost

Asian Man in Critical Condition After Being Stabbed in the Back With a Butcher Knife in NY Chinatown

An Asian man is in critical condition after getting stabbed by a butcher knife in New York's Chinatown on Thursday evening. The 36-year-old local resident was attacked around 6:15 p.m. near the federal courthouse, near the corner of Worth Street and Baxter street next to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse, reports PIX11. Call came in at 6:20 for report of a stabbing at Baxter Street and Worth Street.

• 
  No words exchanged before man stabbed in back in Chinatown

  WABC – NY
• 
  NYPD arrests Brooklyn man after stabbing in Chinatown

  ABC News Videos

Florida mom discovers infant son missing after daycare gives him to stranger

A Florida daycare is under fire after giving a 7-month-old baby away to a stranger. When Trinity McCoggle arrived at the Orient Road Child Development Center on January 25 to pick up her 7-month-old son, Adonis, she was left distraught when told her baby had been accidentally given to someone assumed to be the child's parent, ABC2 News reports. Describing what happened, McCoggle said the daycare worker “went to the back to get him, and when she came back, she said, He's not here.”

Journalist Tim O'Brien, who's seen Trump's taxes, thinks Trump's accountant will now flip in D.A. inquiry

Bloomberg's Tim O'Brien, one of the few journalists who has seen former President Donald Trump's tax returns, told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Thursday night he will sleep better now that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance finally has eight years of Trump's financial documents, from 2011 to 2019. O'Brien went on to explain why he thinks it's likely Trump's chief accountant, Allen Weisselberg, will flip on Trump. "The thing to really focus in on here is that it's not just the tax records that Cy Vance has now," O'Brien said.

Electric firm Griddy loses access to Texas grid, customers shifted to rivals

Texas's grid operator on Friday shut Griddy Energy LLC's access to the state's power network for unpaid bills and shifted its 10,000 customers to other utilities, as new signs of a financial crisis rose after a state-wide blackout. Griddy was the power marketer that sold consumers electricity at wholesale rates, which rose to $9,000 per megawatt hour as cold weather struck the state last week. Grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) "effectively shut down Griddy," the electricity marketer said in a statement on its website.

• 
  Texas electric grid council ends operations of power company Griddy, Bloomberg reports

  Fort Worth Star-Telegram
• 
  Griddy Barred From Texas Power Market for Payment Breach

  Bloomberg

This United flight from Florida was just about to take off. Then came the pepper spray

A United Airlines flight out of Southwest Florida International Airport ran into some trouble Monday afternoon, but it had nothing to do with mechanical issues or lack of face masks. A passenger on the plane from Fort Myers to Newark International accidentally discharged a can of pepper spray from his keychain shortly before takeoff, Fox 4 Now first reported. A spokesperson for United Airlines said in a statement that the flight returned to the gate to let off anyone in distress.

9-year-old girl cries to virtual class that she's 'starving,' local food bank steps in

A 9-year-old girl living in the Jersey Shore area broke down in her virtual class and told her class she was “starving,” a local food bank said. Fulfill, a food bank based in New Jersey, told TODAY Food they got a call from the school district social worker who explained the girl had been having trouble concentrating and started to cry “uncontrollably.” "When asked what was wrong, she confessed in front of her entire class that she was starving,” Linda Kellner, the director of external affairs for Fulfill, said.

Republicans sued over proxy voting in the pandemic. Now they're using it to speak at CPAC.

House Republicans were furious over the summer when the House made unpresented changes allowing lawmakers to designate a proxy and vote on their behalf amid traveling concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Thursday, when CPAC began its annual conference, nearly two dozen House Republicans have written letters to the House clerk to notify they would be absent due to the COVID-19 pandemic and designated a proxy to vote on their behalf. Others, including several CPAC speakers, designated proxies to cast their vote before Thursday.

• 
  Republicans said they couldn’t attend key votes on Covid relief – before appearing as speakers at CPAC

  The Independent
• 
  GOP lawmakers reportedly cite 'public health emergency' in skipping votes, despite speaking at CPAC

  The Week

Beloved Key West regular falls down flight of stairs at bar and dies, police say

A 76-year-old man remembered for his smile and kindness died Saturday, Feb. 20, after police said he fell down a flight of stairs at a Key West bar and guest house. Robert Duwayne Litz was found unconscious and bleeding at the Bourbon Street Pub and New Orleans House, 724 Duval St., on the deck below a flight of outdoor stairs, according to a police incident report. Key West Fire Rescue took Litz to Lower Keys Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Donald Trump Jr. gives fiery CPAC speech full of grievances against anti-Trump Republicans, big tech, and the mainstream media

Donald Trump Jr. gave a fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Speaking at his first major event since his family left the White House last month, Donald Trump Jr. on Friday skewered President Joe Biden and recycled his grievances against anti-Trump Republicans, "big tech," the mainstream media, and the 2020 election results.

She taught piano to kids in NC for years. Then her daughter accused her of sex crimes.

Anya's memories of being a little girl in Bend, Oregon, where she lived until moving to Charlotte when she was 7, are like the memories most of us have of being that young — they're not clear. “I remember being in bed with her, all the time, being best friends, and her being naked, and things like that,” Anya says, upon being asked about her earliest recollections of the sexual abuse she says her mother subjected her to. There's one that is strikingly vivid, however: When she was perhaps 5 or 6 years old, Anya recalls, her mother sat her down to show her a pornographic film, which featured an actor tied to a chair playing a character drugged and forced to perform a sex act.

New exotic invasive snake captured in Everglades National Park. It’s likely a released pet

Park staff and biologists from the United States Geological Survey's Fort Collins Science Center captured the snake, which was identified as a non-native Central American milk snake. It appears to be a solo snake, good news for a park and Everglades ecosystem overrun by exotic invasive reptiles. This individual is thought to be a released pet because of its docile behavior and unusual coloration,” USGS said in a statement, adding this species has never been documented in the Everglades before.

Why QAnon are pinning their last desperate hopes on Trump emerging as president on March 4

QAnon followers believe that Trump will be reinstated as president on March 4, 2021. The conspiracy theory is rooted in the discredited beliefs of the sovereign citizen movement. It has gained popularity with QAnon followers after being circulated on Telegram and Gam.

More Inside an Art Adviser’s Eclectic Minneapolis Pad

The owner Kathy Ganley, who also views her home as an informal gallery, fills the 6,500-square-foot space with an array of artworks, including a still life in the laundry room to make sure no wall is left behind Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Gables football coach found, reunited with family. His disappearance baffled everyone

The Coral Gables football coach whose disappearance after midnight Tuesday baffled family and friends, was found unharmed in Fort Pierce Friday night, police said. Miami-Dade police released few details about the recovery of Roger Pollard, 39, only saying he was found by Fort Pierce police and that he was being reunited with his family. “Our investigation led us to the Fort Pierce area,” Miami-Dade Police Lt. Carlos Rosario said.

• 
  Coral Gables High football coach, teacher is missing. Cops ask for help finding him

  Miami Herald
• 
  Florida High School Football Coach Goes Missing Without a Trace, Cops Call It a 'Big Mystery'

  People

Residents of an Indian slum thought they were getting vaccinated like everyone else but were unknowingly part of a clinical trial

A white van drove through the slums of Bhopal in central India advertising a COVID-19 vaccine. The van reportedly said that anyone who got one would receive 750 rupees. It seemed like a win-win for residents in the slums of Bhopal in central India when a white van drove through the streets advertising, "Come and take the coronavirus vaccine and get 750 rupees!" from its speaker system.

Trump begins settling scores with Republican opponents by endorsing a former aide's primary challenge to an Ohio congressman who backed impeachment

Trump has endorsed Max Miller, a primary challenger running against Ohio's Rep. Anthony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last month. Donald Trump endorsed former aide Max Miller in his primary challenge against one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president last month.