The Bay State’s deep-blue reputation obscures a cynical political establishment that’s more interested in accruing power than in advancing progressive policies.

Appointees from the hawkish think-tank world indicate the potential for renewed tensions with North Korea as well as a Cold War with China.

Rush Limbaugh, the legendary broadcaster whose popular and long-running radio talk show helped define American conservatism, passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 70. His body of work and his influence are large and complex, so Defector presents two perspectives on his life and legacy.

Texans running low on food are finding empty grocery store shelves. Food pantries are running out of supplies. And the freeze has wiped out substantial portions of the state's citrus and vegetable crops.

His office remains deafeningly silent on the senator's whereabouts.

Smoke billowing from atop a North Carolina pizza shop prompted a response from firefighters, however, instead of flames they found restaurant staff preparing 10,000 chicken wings.

St. David's South Austin Medical Center is suffering from a loss of water pressure and heat and is taking several steps to get water to the hospital, officials said Wednesday evening. n an email, David Huffstutler, CEO of St. David's HealthCare, said the facility's boiler depends on water, contributing to falling temperatures inside. The water issue is also impacting "a number of other hospitals in the area," he said. "Because this is a state-wide emergency situation that is also impacting other hospitals within the Austin area, no one hospital currently has the capacity to accept transport of a large number of patients," the statement said.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, has been admitted to hospital as a "precautionary measure", Buckingham Palace has announced. The 99-year-old was taken to King Edward VII hospital in London on Tuesday night. A statement from Buckingham Palace said he was admitted on the advice of his doctor after feeling unwell. He is expected to remain there "for a few days of observation and rest". It is understood the duke was taken to hospital by car and walked into the hospital unaided, and his illness is not related to COVID-19.

The California Labor Commissioner has fined a McDonald’s franchisee for firing four employees who participated in strikes to protest coronavirus safety conditions in their Los Angeles workplace. R&B Sanchez, which operates a McDonald’s on 1716 Marengo St. in Boyle Heights, was fined Friday more than $125,900 in lost wages and retaliation penalties and ordered to offer the workers their jobs back. The franchisee may appeal. “Too many workers fear retaliation if they report a problem or stand up for their rights,” said Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower in a statement Wednesday. “California law has anti-retaliation protections in place that make it illegal for employers to punish workers for exercising their labor rights, such as reporting a workplace safety hazard” It was not immediately clear whether this is the first citation the state has issued for retaliation related to coronavirus safety.

Gov. Cuomo is threatening retribution against Dems demanding answers about underreported COVID deaths and his effort to help an industry group shield nursing home execs.

Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his decision Wednesday to steer COVID-19 vaccine to a planned community with family ties to a Republican power couple, threatening to pull doses if local officials criticize his distribution methods. DeSantis is facing questions over his decision to provide seniors living in two of Manatee County’s wealthiest ZIP codes with special access to the vaccine. The pop-up vaccination site is serving residents of Lakewood Ranch, a planned community in Southwest Florida with family ties to Liz and Dick Uihlein. The New York Times dubbed the pair “the most powerful conservative couple you’ve never heard of.” The couple’s list of political contributions includes $900,000 Dick Uihlein gave to DeSantis’ political committee in 2018 and 2019. DeSantis brushed aside concerns of political favoritism during a news conference Wednesday and then issued a warning to local officials complaining about his plan.

After enduring multiple days of freezing temperatures and Texans dripping faucets to prevent frozen pipes from bursting, cities across the state warned Wednesday that water levels are dangerously low, and it may be unsafe to drink.

During a broadcast about two weeks ago, Fox News personality Sean Hannity seized on a favorite trope, saying that former Secretary of State John Kerry, recently appointed to a post as climate envoy by President Biden, "frequently enjoys the comfort, the convenience of his very own private jet" while advocating for policies to combat climate change. Publicly available records, however, raise abundant questions about Hannity's own use of his private jet in support of his son's tennis career at Wake Forest University, and his relationship with the team's star coach, Tony Bresky. According to NCAA and sports law experts, the timeline of those events exhibits an unusual and at times suspicious level of engagement between Hannity and Bresky, including but not limited to the school's frequent use of Hannity's plane. Facts of that relationship also appear to have triggered a previously unreported federal grand jury investigation — which has been closed without indictments, to be clear — into events surrounding the recruitment of Hannity's son, specifically the striking fact that Bresky purchased a luxury home next door to one bought by Hannity, according to documents obtained by Salon and a person familiar with the case.

A UCLA student who posted white supremacist views online and founded an ultra-right campus organization has been charged with federal crimes for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection. The student, Christian Secor, was captured on video sitting in the chair that Vice President Mike Pence had hastily vacated after a pro-Trump mob broke into the Capitol, according to the FBI... A tipster told the FBI that after the insurrection, Secor moved back in with his mother, got rid of his cellphone and bragged that he “would not be caught for his involvement at the US Capitol.”

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/cec5d055-c2d1-4d5f-a392-a6343beb0b01 Facebook has defied Australia’s push to make Big Tech pay for news by banning the sharing of content on its platform in the country, the most far-reaching restrictions it has ever placed on publishers in any part of the world. The extreme step to remove Australian news came as Google separately struck a global deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, defusing a long-running dispute between the two companies. The dramatically different approaches mark a watershed moment for the media industry, which had hoped Australia’s tough regulatory approach would help reset its terms of trade with Google and Facebook worldwide. The moves by Google and Facebook came on the day Australia, the cradle of the Murdoch media empire, began debating laws that would force big online platforms to license news.

Cook Children’s Medical Center is seeing an increase in patients with carbon monoxide poisoning as historic frigid temperatures continue across the state. Sam Selby, D.O., emergency medicine physician at Cook Children’s, treated at least 13 patients overnight as families attempted to heat their homes. Millions of Texans have been without power since the early morning hours on Monday, leaving them to find alternative ways to keep their families warm.

The men threatened to arrest any hotel employees who told them to wear a mask, prosecutors say.

Rush Limbaugh has died.

If you yearn for the motivation and hope you had in sixth-grade science class, you’re in the right place

In 2018 the Ashmolean was given an ordinary object with a dramatic and significant social context. The tiny rubber stamp, with a wooden handle, and the inscription ‘Queer Cash’, was used by the queer community to overprint banknotes. The Coin Room at the Ashmolean already had in its collection a USA $50 bill which has the ink inscription ‘Lesbian Money’ stamped on it. The note has achieved a position of pride in the University’s collection of objects relating to the Queer Movement, and it featured prominently in the LGBTQ+ Trail of the University of Oxford's museum and library collections, Out In Oxford. The ‘Queer Cash’ stamp makes a fitting British accompaniment to the banknote. Together they mark an important point in the Queer Movement – that of financial ‘self-identification’, through which LGBTQ+ individuals aspired to form a community that values and respects them. The Queer movement in the Western world is widely recognised to have passed through three phases in its modern history. The first is often recognised as a clandestine or underground phase, in which gay sex was outlawed and consequences often included a criminal conviction and possible incarceration.