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The U.S. Department of Transportation is pushing airlines to allow parents to sit with young children on flights without having to pay extra fees and says some carriers have committed to doing so.  Allowing families to sit together without paying extra fees has been a focus of the Biden administration for months. “I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it,” Biden said. He pledged to “prohibit airlines from charging up to $50 round trip for families just to sit together.” While some carriers have committed to allowing families to sit together without paying extra fees, Delta and Southwest are not among them. The DOT website shows that American, Alaska, and Frontier airlines guarantee adjacent seats for children 13 or under and an accompanying adult at no additional cost for all fare types, subject to limited conditions.“Parents traveling with young kids should be able to sit together without an airline forcing them to pay junk fees,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “All airlines should do this promptly, even as we move forward to develop a rule establishing this as a requirement across the board.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell suffered a concussion after a fall at a Washington hotel and remains hospitalized for a few days of observation and treatment. The Kentucky senator, 81, was at a Wednesday evening dinner for the Senate Leadership Fund, a campaign committee aligned with him, when he tripped and fell. 

As they prepare to battle over the Republican nomination in next year’s election, former Vice President Mike Pence harshly criticized former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, widening the rift between the two men. “President Trump was wrong,” Pence said during remarks at the annual white-tie Gridiron Dinner attended by politicians and journalists. “I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.” Trump has already declared his candidacy. Pence has not, but he’s been laying the groundwork to run.

Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who represented President Donald Trump after his loss in the 2020 election, admitted in a sworn statement that she knowingly misrepresented facts in several of her public claims that widespread voting fraud led to Trump’s defeat. The admissions were part of an agreement to accept public censure and settle disciplinary measures brought against her by state bar officials in Colorado, her home state.

A letter claiming to be from a Mexican drug cartel blamed for abducting four Americans and killing two of them condemned the violence and said the gang turned over to authorities its own members who were responsible. In a letter, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to residents of Matamoros where the Americans were kidnapped, the Mexican woman who died in the cartel shootout, and the four Americans and their families. “We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” the letter reads. A photograph of five men face down on the pavement and bound accompanied the letter. State officials did not immediately publicly confirm having new suspects in custody. A separate state security official said five men had been found tied up inside a vehicle that authorities had been searching for, along with the letter.

The three White men who killed Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black jogger, are appealing their federal hate crime convictions, with two of the three arguing the government did not prove they chased the young man because of his race. Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan was found guilty of murder in a Georgia court in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison. The men’s attorneys, who filed the appeals earlier this month, all asked for an opportunity to present their case in court.

A former Herschel Walker aide who accused the leader of the Conservative Political Action Conference of “aggressively fondling” him on the campaign trail in Georgia disclosed his identity after a judge required him to drop his anonymity to go forward with a lawsuit. The staffer is Carlton Huffman, a North Carolina resident, and longtime Republican operative who worked as a staffer last year for Walker’s failed U.S. Senate bid. Huffman cited privacy concerns and fear of retaliation when he shielded his identity in a January civil lawsuit filed in January against Matt Schlapp, who leads one of the nation’s most influential conservative groups.

A federal judge has ordered Cobb County State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart to stop blocking and deleting comments from those with opposing views on her official Facebook page. U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee found that the Powder Springs Republican’s blocks and deletions infringed upon the First Amendment rights of retired communications software executive Thomas Biedermann who had filed suit in March 2020 after Ehrhart deleted his disapproving comments to her post about her legislation to criminalize transgender surgeries performed on children. Boulee’s ruling noted that Ehrhart has blocked more than 60 people from the Facebook page and that they have joined together on social media calling themselves #blockedbyginny. 

State senators did not vote on bills to reinstate Cobb County’s electoral map and prevent counties from amending their own district maps in the future, leaving the redistricting dispute to the courts to settle after a key legislative deadline elapsed. The bills were an attempt by state Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, to reaffirm the General Assembly’s redistricting power after the Cobb Commission’s unprecedented move last year to overrule the state and amend its own election lines. County officials have said a judge will need to interpret whether the constitution allows home rule powers to be used for drawing district lines.

Five of the seven members of South Fulton’s City Council are suing to throw Mayor Khalid Kamau out of office — in part, for allegedly recording closed-door executive sessions for his “personal benefit.” The suit, filed Tuesday, comes less than a week after City Manager Tammi Saddler Jones resigned. The five council members filed a civil rights case in Fulton County Superior Court, alleging Kamau violated the city charter. 

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, announced their daughter had been christened in a private ceremony in California, publicly calling her a princess and revealing for the first time that they will use royal titles for their children. Princess Lilibet Diana, who turns 2 in June, was baptized Friday, Harry, and Meghan said in a statement. Lilibet’s title and that of her brother, Archie, who will be 4 in May, will be updated on the Buckingham Palace website later. 

Chris Rock has a new special where he punches back a year after Will Smith smacked him on the Academy Awards stage. He gives his rebuttal in a forceful standup special, streamed live on Netflix, in which the comedian bragged that he “took that hit like Pacquiao.”

Georgia Tech dismissed coach Josh Pastner after two seasons in which the Jackets ranked among the least successful teams among the power conferences. Athletic Director J Batt announced his departure after reports from the media started to surface. Batt further announced that associate head coach Anthony Wilkins, who has been on the staff since 2018, will be the interim head coach during the search process. 

Georgetown has fired coach Patrick Ewing after six seasons and a demoralizing era for the Hoyas. Ewing amassed a 75-109 overall record with only one winning season (2018-19) during his coaching tenure. Ewing’s final game with Georgetown resulted in an 80-48 loss to Villanova in the opening round of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden, where he rose to NBA stardom with the Knicks.

Tiger Woods’ former girlfriend Erica Herman wants to nullify a nondisclosure agreement following a six-year relationship with the golfer. Attorneys for Herman filed a complaint seeking declaratory judgment Monday in Martin County, Florida. According to the complaint, a trust controlled by Woods is attempting to silence Herman with a nondisclosure agreement she signed while involved in a personal and professional relationship with Woods. The complaint argues the NDA should be nullified under a federal law that prohibits an NDA from being enforced when sexual assault or sexual harassment is involved.

Its spring and pollen have made their appearance. Allergy sufferers are feeling the full effects of its power with sniffles, itchy throats, and irritated eyes. During this time, no one is able to escape cars looking like powder donuts. An allergy office reported 14 days of pollen counts in the high range for February. This set a new record for the month, beating the previous one of 10 days in February 2017.

Health officials are alerting consumers about two more recalls of eyedrops due to contamination risks that could lead to vision problems and serious injury. The announcements follow a recall last month of eyedrops made in India that were linked to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections. One person died and at least five others had permanent vision loss. The Food and Drug Administration posted separate recall notices for certain eye drops distributed by Pharmedica and Apotex after the companies said they were voluntarily pulling several lots of their products from the market. Pharmedica on Friday said it was recalling two lots of Purely Soothing 15% MSM Drops due to problems “that could result in blindness.” The over-the-counter drops are designed to treat eye irritation. The Phoenix-based company said consumers should immediately stop using the drops and return them to the place they were purchased. The recall affects nearly 2,900 bottles, according to the company. 

YETI is recalling 1.9 million soft coolers and gear cases due to magnet ingestion hazard. The magnet-lined closures can fail and result in detached magnets, posing a risk of serious injury or death if ingested. When two or more high-powered magnets are swallowed, the ingested magnets can attract to each other, or to another metal object, and become lodged in the digestive system. This can result in perforations, twisting and/or blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning, and death.

Ford issued a recall notice for 18 F-150 Lightning pickup trucks with defective battery cells, which caused at least one truck to catch fire. The automaker will restart production of the electric truck on Monday, March 13th, with a “clean stock” of battery packs, after a four-week pause of production and shipment to investigate the cause of the defect.

Have a wonderful week…