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Ahead of 2022 election, GOP lawsuit looks to throw out absentee voting in Arizona

By Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press

The GOP's request would upend the election procedures used by 90 percent of voters in a battleground state that will be crucial to determining which party controls the U.S. Senate after the 2022 election.

WATCH: President Joe Biden’s 2022 State of the Union address – A PBS NewsHour Special

By Zeke Miller, Colleen Long, Associated Press

Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden vowed in his first State of the Union address Tuesday night to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus.

Last day for labor negotiations to salvage start of regular baseball season, says MLB

By Ronald Blum, Associated Press

Max Scherzer and Andrew Miller are leading the players' bargaining team for the final day of negotiations to end the lockout before Major League Baseball's deadline to salvage a March 31 start to the regular season and a 162-game schedule…

Senators to watch as Supreme Court fight unfolds

By Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press

President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats say they are hoping for a bipartisan vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. That won’t be easy, but some Republicans have expressed an openness to voting for Biden’s nominee.

News Wrap: Johnson & Johnson, drug distributors to pay $26 billion in opioid settlement

In our news wrap Friday, Johnson & Johnson and three major U.S. drug distributors say they will pay $26 billion to settle opioid addiction claims stemming from some 3,000 lawsuits involving nearly every state and city, longtime Republican Oklahoma Sen.

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CDC changes recommendations on when to wear masks in public

By William Brangham, Claire Mufson

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday loosened its COVID-19 guidance on wearing masks in indoor public settings. The new standard says people don't have to mask-up if case counts and hospitalizations aren’t especially high where they live.

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‘It is very difficult to reach anyone.’ Ukrainians in the U.S. despair watching Russian invasion from afar

By Roby Chavez

Many Americans, who have ties to Ukraine, watch and worry about friends and family while wondering if a peaceful solution is now far from reach. In New Orleans adopted sisters wait for word from their sisters and a worker from…

Biden administration joins E.U. and U.K. sanctions against Putin for Ukraine invasion

By Raf Casert, Associated Press

With a military intervention in Ukraine off the table, countries around the world are looking to heap more financial punishment on Moscow.

Stand your ground laws proliferate after Trayvon spotlight

By Curt Anderson, Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press

Now, upwards of 30 states have some form of the law and recent research indicates they're associated with more deaths - as many as 700 additional gun killings each year, according to a study published this week in the Journal…

Texas AG Ken Paxton once joined this family of a trans kid for dinner. They now feel under attack

By Kate Sosin, The 19th

On Feb. 18, Paxton, who this year faces a tough reelection, issued a legal interpretation that labels certain types of gender-affirming care for trans kids child abuse.