 | | Budget deal
Congress reached a bipartisan, two-year deal on spending, meaning we may not have to worry about government shutdowns for a couple of years. Here's what's in the agreement (and it's a lot): - It funds the government through March 23 (so, no shutdown tonight).
- It would bust the budget caps and significantly hike spending -- by $300 billion -- on both defense and domestic items over the next two years.
- It provides disaster relief funding for Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico.
- It raises the debt ceiling (remember that?) through at least next year.
- It funds community health centers for two years.
Congress still has to vote on this, which it will do today, but the feeling is that this will get done. Not everybody's happy with it, though. House conservatives are furious about all this spending ( so much for reining it in) and may withhold their votes. Now, you may notice there's nothing in this deal about immigration. Nancy Pelosi noticed that, too, and took to the House floor -- for a record-breaking EIGHT hours! -- to complain about it. She wants a commitment from House Speaker Paul Ryan that there will be a vote on DACA. | |  | | White House | |
Top White House staffer Rob Porter resigned after abuse allegations from his two ex-wives went public. But here's the real shocker: Sources tell CNN that senior aides to President Trump knew about the claims for months and scrambled to protect Porter. Trump didn't know until this week. Porter denies the allegations but quit anyway after photos of the alleged abuse got out.
Meantime, President Trump's approval rating is on the rise, hitting 40% in a new Quinnipiac poll. He can thank growing approval of the GOP tax cuts and the fact that for the first time more people give him credit for the good economy, rather than Barack Obama.
| |  | | Syria
More than 100 fighters linked to the Syrian regime were killed in air and artillery strikes conducted by the US-led coalition that's fighting ISIS in the country. The coalition said it carried out the strikes after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched an attack against the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mix of Kurdish and Arab fighters that has been an important US ally in the fight against ISIS. At the time of the attack, coalition advisers were training US-backed Syrian fighters. No coalition or US personnel were killed. | |  | | The Philippines | |  | | San Francisco and opioids
San Francisco may soon open the nation's first legal safe injection sites in a move aimed at curbing the opioid epidemic. The city's health department OK'd the proposal, which would provide people a safe space to consume drugs under the supervision of trained staff who can respond if there's an overdose. There are more than 120 of the controversial facilities around the world. Philadelphia also has welcomed private organizations to set up injection sites, and Seattle and Baltimore are talking about it, too. | | 10%
The increase in US suicides in the months after the death of Robin Williams, according to a new study | | | 
ACTION UNDERWAY!: The Games don't officially start until tomorrow, but curling and ski jumping kick these Olympics off today. NORTH KOREA: As North Korea puts on a huge military parade in Pyongyang, the country's 22 Olympic athletes raised their flag at an official "welcome" in the Olympic Village. RUSSIAN ATHLETES' FATE: The Court of Arbitration for Sport is due to rule soon on 32 Russian athletes' appeals. COLDEST OLYMPICS IN DECADES: Plunging to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) at night and rarely breaking above freezing in the day, the temperatures have put PyeongChang on track to be the coldest Olympics ever. The 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, holds the record. | | |  |  People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. Picture perfect Meet Lucas, the first child with Down syndrome to be the Gerber baby. We'll always have ... China? Can't make it to Paris? That's OK, you can soak up all the Parisian vibes you want in the replica city of Tianducheng, China, which even has its own Eiffel Tower. From TV attorney to real-life candidate Seems like everybody's running for public office these days. Now, a star from "Law & Order: SVU" is throwing her hat in the ring. Bioluminescent show There's one heck of a light show going on along the shores of California's Big Sur. You can thank Mother Nature for this one. | | 'I can only say that in the slow waning of my physical forces, inwardly I am on a pilgrimage toward Home.'
Former Pope Benedict, responding to an inquiry from an Italian newspaper's readers on how he's doing | | |  | Seeing is believing
It's every Oscar-winning visual effects winner ever -- in less than 12 minutes. (Click to view.) | | CNN Five Things shows up in your inbox every weekday at 6 a.m. ET. Like what you see? Don't like what you see? Let us know. We're all about self improvement. Did a friend forward you this newsletter? Sign yourself up! | | | | |
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