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Today's edition of quick hits:
* Vaccine news: "A vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University is highly effective at stopping Covid-19 and completely prevents severe illness and hospitalization across all age groups, the company announced on Monday. AstraZeneca said it will now apply to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization and release its data for analysis by the scientific community in peer-reviewed literature."
* Surprise trip: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Sunday as the Biden administration faces a decision whether to withdraw troops by May 1 as required in a U.S. agreement with the Taliban."
* An important message: "Protests and vigils calling for an end to violence against Asian-Americans were held around the country over the weekend as lawmakers pushed for better tracking of hate crimes following the deadly shootings at Atlanta-area spas."
* Idaho: "The Idaho Legislature voted Friday to shut down for several weeks due to an outbreak of Covid-19. Lawmakers in the House and Senate made the move to recess until April 6 with significant unfinished business, including setting budgets and pushing through a huge income tax cut."
* Policing: "For many long weeks last summer, protesters in American cities faced off against their own police forces in what proved to be, for major law enforcement agencies across the country, a startling display of violence and disarray."
* On a related note: "Charges against police officers, public safety workers and military veterans in the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 reignited concerns among lawmakers and law enforcement officials about violent extremists infiltrating government agencies."
* Jan. 6 arrest: "A former Army Special Forces soldier charged with a half-dozen crimes stemming from the Capitol riot threw a flagpole at a police officer like a spear and assaulted three other officers, according to the FBI and court documents."
* Details matter: "Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's claims about a special state strike force's 'border' drug busts were crushed by a report in the Arizona Republic on Friday. The state's largest newspaper revealed that the arrests didn't happen anywhere near the border and appeared to actually have been conducted by state troopers patrolling the highways."
* Oh my: "Judge Laurence Silberman, a Reagan appointee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is very concerned that media outlets have a little too much protection from government suppression — the news organizations he considers to be liberal, that is. His proposed solution? Get the Supreme Court to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark ruling that enables the press to cover public officials critically without fear of reprisal through defamation suits."
See you tomorrow.