The government is close to reopening. The Senate voted Monday in favor of a temporary spending bill to fund the government until February 8th. The Daily Beast's White House Reporter Lachlan Markay explains rhetoric on Capitol Hill over this short-term resolution.
"Really all Democrats were able to get out of this deal was an agreement to vote on something that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell insisted the Senate was already going to vote on," says Markay. "So from the Democratic perspective its not clear they got anything." McConnell promised the Democrats to vote on immigration reform as part of the spending resolution.
The House still needs to approve the measure the Senate passed in order for the government to reopen. With the funding extension, it's possible the government could face another shutdown in three weeks says Markay.
Authorities on Thursday were trying to determine who sent letters filled with fentanyl or other substances to local election offices, an attack that appears to have targeted multiple states in the latest instance of threats faced by election workers around the country.
The White House said Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza starting on Thursday, as the Biden administration said it has secured a second pathway for civilians to flee fighting.
Columnist and political analyst Jonathan Harris joined Cheddar News to break down what stood out from Wednesday's third Republican presidential primary debate.
Mississippi's largest county ran out of ballots during Wednesday's governor's election as some voters say they had to wait for up to an hour for new ballots to be printed before they could cast their votes.
Republican presidential candidates used the third debate of the GOP primary campaign to show their support for Israel and display at least some willingness to criticize Donald Trump.
The National Zoo's three giant pandas, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji. on Wednesday began their long trip to China, leaving behind an empty panda exhibit with no certainty that pandas ever would again take up residence there.