On April 18, a federal court judge ended the federal transportation face mask mandate, deeming it an overstep of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority. Almost immediately, airlines responded by making face masks on flights optional. The White House continues to urge travelers on all modes of transportation (air, rail and public transit) to continue to wear face masks to reduce virus transmission, particularly for those most vulnerable to developing a serious case of COVID-19.

Life is the single most precious gift given to us by our Creator. It was no accident that Thomas Jefferson listed it ahead of “liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. It’s so foundational that it precedes all other rights. And for that very reason, every institution of government has a sacred duty to protect it.

For about 20 minutes on the floor of the House of Representatives late Tuesday afternoon, the usual partisan jockeying was dispensed as a handful of members on both sides of the aisle extolled an only-in-America original: Ben Ferencz, a Jewish immigrant brought here by his family as baby fleeing Eastern European anti-Semitism to grow up in the tenements and streets of New York, taking advantage of an excellent free public education all the way though City College, followed by law school.

President Joe Biden launched a new offensive of message politics this past week, but appeared to be operating without the inner circle confidant he needs now more than ever.

To say it is not to fully absorb it: Our nation of 330 million souls has lost 1 million lives in just over two years to a virus that landed here in January 2020. Nor is the deeply humbling total, which has touched almost every American family, the end. We mark the milestone when there’s a merciful lull in casualties from COVID-19 — only about 400 Americans are now dying daily, thanks to vaccinations, natural immunity and a prevalent mutation that’s less deadly — but no guarantees about the future.

It was a warm spring morning 36 years ago when millions of people swarmed the streets of Manila, demanding the ouster of a kleptocratic president from power. Subsequently, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. fled the Philippines with 24 gold bricks, luxury clothes enough to fill 67 racks and gems hidden in diaper boxes — merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of his ill-gotten wealth.

It isn’t hard to empathize with that homeless Wisconsin woman who was undergoing chemotherapy and whose beloved dog, Baby Girl, had reportedly been turned away by an animal shelter when she tried to give her up. In a moment of desperation, the woman tied her dog to a fire hydrant and called the police to come and pick her up. But even those of us whose situations aren’t quite so dire can find ourselves in a tight spot — especially during record price hikes — as we try to provide quality care. Fortunately, a wealth of resources exists to help keep Fido and Fluffy happy and healthy — and at home.

A third member of the extremist Oath Keepers group pleaded guilty Wednesday to seditious conspiracy, admitting his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The pleas provide more proof that the right-wing campaign to whitewash Jan. 6, playing down the extent to which the participants sought to stage an insurrection, is not just craven but also dangerous. The attackers did not behave like “tourists”; they were not unarmed; Jan. 6 was not a normal protest that got out of hand; the attack was not staged by far-left agitators posing as Trump supporters. Instead, it was a coordinated and concerted effort on the part of pro-Trump zealots, riled up by then-President Donald Trump himself, to reverse a presidential election by intimidation and force.

The 428,000 net new jobs last month in the Labor Department’s Friday report is mildly encouraging since every major industry added workers. But the report also contains a warning that inflationary pressure may be starting to hurt the labor market.

With the Supreme Court moving to overturn Roe v. Wade, the availability of self-administered abortion pills is about to take center stage in the debate. Congressional Democrats need to get in front of the issue and settle numerous questions raised by so-called morning after pills. If Roe does indeed fall, red states must not be allowed to take that as carte blanche to violate the First Amendment, interfere with interstate commerce or otherwise abuse standing legal structures in their zeal to deny women control over their own bodies.

A bipartisan group of senators reportedly is close to agreement on recommending reforms to a flawed, archaic law that former President Donald Trump abused in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The Electoral Count Act of 1887 gives the vice president a ceremonial role in approving state vote counts, but it is worded vaguely enough that Trump claimed, outrageously, that it provided Vice President Mike Pence authority to unilaterally throw out Joe Biden’s victory.

The Supreme Court draft ruling overturning Roe v. Wade raises just as many arguments and counterarguments as the original ruling that Justice Samuel Alito excoriated in his opinion, leaked this week to Politico. Alito’s assertion that abortion rights don’t fall under the 14th Amendment, and that the Constitution makes no mention of abortion as a right, calls into question a wide range of other supposed rights for which no mention of any kind appears in the Constitution.

Much of the world reacted in horror at Russian atrocities in the town of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, one month ago. After the Russian army retreated, Ukrainians found the bodies of hundreds of civilians, and the full extent of the terror became known.

It’s no secret that Republican state legislatures are working overtime to alter election laws in ways to twist American democracy to their favor. Having imposed rules that make it harder to vote and to discourage those who can’t vote in person, the newest point of attack is to threaten election officials with fines and jail time.

Since someone leaked a draft of the Supreme Court’s opinion in this year’s big abortion case, two questions have emerged about the scope of conservative policy goals. Will Republicans try to ban abortion by federal statute if Roe v. Wade is overruled, or leave the issue to the states? And will the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court overturn other precedents with a family resemblance to the 1973 abortion-rights ruling?

This Mother’s Day is my first as a new mom. Now, I join the choir of women who have long voiced the challenges of balancing motherhood and a career. This challenge grew considerably during the pandemic, when women took steps back from their careers because there were fewer child care options. It lingers in a post-pandemic world where the female labor force participation rate lags behind its male counterpart and is a full percentage point lower than its pre-pandemic level.

A group of senators met last week to try to prevent anyone from stealing the 2024 presidential election or from once again inciting an armed mob to attack the Capitol. The bipartisan band, led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), aims to update the 1887 Electoral Count Act, the archaic law that governs how Congress counts electoral votes that became a focus of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The fate of the nation’s democracy might rest on whether these senators strike a deal, and soon: If Republicans take the House after November’s elections, a radicalized House GOP caucus will likely refuse to do anything that could be construed as hostile to Mr. Trump.

The decision by Wimbledon officials to ban top stars from Russia and Belarus from this summer’s premier grass tennis tournament is short-sighted and unfair, even if it might satisfy those who want to bring maximum pressure to bear on Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the atrocities his forces are committing in Ukraine.

America faces a serious economic and national security risk when it comes to the development and manufacturing of semiconductor chips that are integral to daily life in the modern world.

A bipartisan group of senators reportedly is close to agreement on recommending reforms to a flawed, archaic law that former President Donald Trump abused in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. The Electoral Count Act of 1887 gives the vice president a ceremonial role in approving state vote counts, but it is worded vaguely enough that Trump claimed, outrageously, that it provided Vice President Mike Pence authority to unilaterally throw out Joe Biden’s victory.