#10 Fast-Food Operator Kills Vacations, Hikes Prices As Calif. Wage Law Kicks In - Nancy Luna for Business Insider
In April, California fast-food workers are set to get paid $20 an hour under a new state law. Two California Pizza Hut franchisees laid off 1,200 delivery drivers ahead of the pay increase. A Fatburger operator told Business Insider how the pay hike was impacting his family-owned stores. The main reason: California fast-food workers are getting a big bump in pay to $20 an hour under a new state law that goes into effect in April. That new wage is nearly 30% more than most employers pay fast-food workers. The law affects 557,000 fast-food workers at 30,000 restaurants in California.
#9 Even Minorities Reject DEI Special Treatment: Poll Shows All Americans Support the Death of Affirmative Action - James Reinl for The Daily Mail
Americans of all ethnic backgrounds want to see the back of affirmative action, a survey shows. Fully 68 percent of US adults say the Supreme Court's decision to ban race as a factor in college admissions was 'mostly a good thing,' according to a Gallup poll. That goes for all types of voters — big majorities of white, Asian, and Hispanic Americans voiced support for the end of race-based admissions.
#8 NC Republicans Move to Punish Protesters Who Block Interstates - Lucille Sherman for Axios
Four North Carolina congressional Republicans have moved to prevent protesters from blocking roads during protests. Driving the news: Under the Safe and Open Streets Act, which U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis filed in the Senate and U.S. Reps. Chuck Edwards, Richard Hudson, and David Rouzer filed in the House in recent weeks it would be a federal crime to block public roads or highways. If the measure becomes law — and it has a long way to go before doing so — violators would be subject to fines and up to five years in prison. The bill's filing comes on the heels of a high-profile protest in Durham in November, in which demonstrators blocked the Durham Freeway during rush hour for two-and-a-half hours, demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. The incident sparked rage among Republicans, including Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who accused law enforcement of "coddling lawlessness." "Protestors do not own the roads, and their tactics are endangering the safety and livelihoods of our citizens," Edwards said in a release Thursday.
#7 Federal Judge Rules Ban on Firearms in Post Offices Unconstitutional - Filip Timotija for The Hill
A federal judge in Florida ruled a U.S. law that prohibits people from having firearms in post offices to be unconstitutional, the latest court decision declaring gun restrictions violate the Constitution. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump appointee, cited the 2022 Supreme Court ruling “New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen” that expanded gun rights. The 2022 ruling recognized the individual’s right to bear a handgun in public for self-defense.
#6 After LGBT Activists Utterly Failed to Cancel 'Harry Potter' Game, Publisher Triples Down - Brian Chai for The Western Journal
Despite the loud and blustery condemnation from LGBT activists, Hogwarts Legacy, a video game set in the popular fictional universe of Harry Potter, looks poised to be one of the best-selling games of 2023. In an exclusive interview with Variety, David Haddad, president of Hogwarts Legacy publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, revealed that the Harry Potter spinoff (the game takes place years before the events of the books) surpassed 22 total million units sold in 2023 and didn’t even have the full calendar year to do it.#5 E. Jean Carroll to Testify at DamagesTrial with Donald Trump Expected to be in Attendance - By Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian for NBC News
Testimony will begin Wednesday in E. Jean Carroll's damages trial against Donald Trump, with the writer on the witness stand and the former president, who was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming her, expected to be in the courtroom. Carroll, 80, will tell the New York federal court jury in the defamation case how her life turned upside down after Trump, then the president, repeatedly slammed her publicly after she first came forward in 2019 with allegations that he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room in a Manhattan department store in 1996. “Ms. Carroll will tell you that there has not been a day that’s gone by since Donald Trump first defamed her that she has not been afraid. She’ll tell you how, in some ways, it’s actually changed the way she has lived her life," her attorney Shawn Crowley told jurors in her opening statement Tuesday.
#4 ABC News Cancels its Republican Primary Debate Due to Not Having Enough Participants - Ayana Archie for NPR
ABC News has canceled its Republican primary debate that was scheduled for Thursday. The news organization said it does not have enough candidates who are participating. "Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race," ABC News reported Tuesday. "As a result, while our robust election coverage will continue, ABC News and [local news station] WMUR-TV will not be moving forward with Thursday's Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire." The outlet said candidates Nikki Haley and Donald Trump did not confirm their participation by the deadline that ABC News set in place.
#3 Lawmakers Questioned Fauci About "Lab Leak" COVID Theory in Marathon Closed-Door Congressional Interview - Scott McFarlane for CBS News
Members of Congress, their staffers, and one of the world's most famous doctors, Dr. Anthony Fauci, sat for 14 hours over two days last week around a long conference table in a private office in the basement of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. They took breaks to munch on sandwiches, salads, cookies, and chips. And the two main players shook hands at the very end. The marathon closed-door interview sessions with Fauci, who helped spearhead the federal government's response to the COVID pandemic, are setting the stage for a higher-profile public hearing and interrogation in late spring or early summer, according to multiple sources who spoke with CBS News. And the questioning will happen in the middle of a heated election year, as some Republicans continue to blister Fauci with criticism over his role in the government's response to the pandemic.
#2 Supreme Court Weighs Conservative Plea to Weaken Federal Agencies - Lawrence Hurley for NBC News
A 40-year-old Supreme Court precedent that over the years has become a bugbear on the right because it is viewed as bolstering the power of federal agencies could be on the chopping block as the current justices on Wednesday consider whether to overturn it. The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority skeptical of broad assertions of federal agency authority, is hearing oral arguments in two related cases involving a fisheries regulation that calls into question whether the 1984 ruling in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council should be consigned to history.
#1 Putin Says Past U.S. Elections Were Rigged - Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin, running for a new six-year term in an election that his opponents say is a parody of democracy, said on Tuesday that past U.S. elections had been rigged by postal voting. "In the United States, previous elections were falsified through postal voting ... they bought ballots for $10, filled them out, and threw them into mailboxes without any supervision from observers, and that's it," Putin said, without providing evidence.And Now for Something Special 
Mailman Discovers Stray Cats at a Trailer Park When Delivering Mail, He Begins Feeding Them, and a Wholesome Friendship Ensues
One mailman made the cutest discovery when he was en route, delivering mail to a trailer park. It turned out that the trailer park had a lot of stray cats! They captured his heart immediately, and he began photographing them, documenting the time they spent together. Soon enough, a lot of the cats began recognizing his truck and came to greet him and demand food, which he thought was absolutely adorable. The mailman shared a post and a variety of pictures to r/notmycat, which was met with thousands of upvotes and hundreds of comments from fellow Redditors who were inspired by his story.but there has been an update!!!
