The Hill: “President Biden on Wednesday denounced the governors of Texas and Mississippi for lifting coronavirus restrictions, calling the moves “Neanderthal thinking.” “I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the two states lifting their mask mandates and all capacity limits on businesses on Tuesday. “I hope everybody’s…

Politico: “Joan Higginbotham, a former NASA astronaut and the third Black woman to go to space, is seriously considering running for Senate in North Carolina as a Democrat, according to multiple people familiar with her deliberations. Higginbotham, 56, has never run for political office before and would be entering what is expected to be one…

Axios Charlotte: “By the numbers: Bitzer, a Catawba professor who runs the Old North State Politics site, says that while most people are focused on the overall number of defections (20,218 Republicans have gone unaffiliated vs. 9,595 for Democrats), he’s most interested in where they’re coming from.  31% are from suburban counties like Cabarrus and Gaston and others just…

The Guardian: “The archdiocese of New Orleans, as well as Roman Catholic leaders in St Louis, Missouri, have told local Catholics to avoid the Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccine, because its early development used “morally compromised cell lines created from two abortions”. The leadership in New Orleans said two other vaccines in use in the…

Watauga Watch: “Very interesting interview appeared in the Whiteville News Reporter in which Doug Smith, president of the North Carolina Oath Keepers, disavowed what happened in Washington on January 6th and said he and his fellow NC members wanted nothing to do with those guys who sacked the Capitol. Whiteville is the county seat of Columbus County, which…

CNBC: “The governors of Texas and Mississippi both announced Tuesday that they are lifting mask mandates and allowing businesses to reopen at full capacity even as the decline in daily Covid-19 cases slows and federal officials urge states to exercise caution. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news briefing at Montelongo’s Mexican Restaurant in Lubbock…

The Progressive Pulse: “North Carolina law enforcement officers searched Black drivers and/or their vehicles almost twice as often as their white counterparts, and at a much higher rate than drivers of other races, according to a report released by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center on Monday. The Center within the Governor’s Crime Commission is charged…

MSNBC: “Texas may have warmed back up to its normal temperatures, but across the state, homes are still waterlogged, scant belongings beginning to molder. The flow of mutual aid hasn’t stopped, though; it keeps pace with need. Like the anarchist organizers who jury-rigged solar power grids for villages in Puerto Rico when the island’s electrical authority neglected them…

WaPo: “Today, less than two months after being sworn in, Cawthorn has emerged as one of the most visible figures among newly arrived publicity-hungry House Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who have promoted baseless assertions and pushed a radicalized ideology that has become a driving force in the GOP. The story of Cawthorn’s…

Off the Kuff: “President Joe Biden, in his first trip to Texas since taking office, toured Houston on Friday to size up the aftermath of the state’s recent winter weather crisis and promote the national coronavirus vaccination campaign. “We will be true partners to help you recover and rebuild from the storm and this pandemic…