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Tuesday's Mini-Report, 2.23.21

Today's edition of quick hits.

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Today's edition of quick hits:

* Texas: "Four members of the board at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, intend to resign following last week's blackouts that left millions in the state without power amid brutal winter weather."

* Suffering isn't limited to Texas: "Roughly a quarter of Louisiana's population was still without access to clean drinking water as of Monday, a week after a winter storm tore through the state, exposing fragile infrastructure in several of the state's largest cities."

* An important hearing: "Officials in charge of security for the Capitol on Jan. 6 on Tuesday blamed poor intelligence and a sluggish response from the federal government for the deadly riot that threatened the peaceful transfer of power."

* An often-overlooked detail: "President Joe Biden wants to vaccinate teachers to speed school reopenings, but more than half the states aren't listening and haven't made educators a priority — highlighting the limited powers of the federal government, even during a devastating pandemic."

* Cabinet news, Part I: "The Senate confirmed President Joe Biden's choice to lead U.S. diplomacy at the United Nations on Tuesday. The vote for Linda Thomas-Greenfield reflected a divide between the Biden administration's determination to re-engage with the world body and former President Donald Trump's diplomacy that often left the U.S. isolated internationally. Senators voted 78-20 to confirm Thomas-Greenfield to the post, which will be a Cabinet-level position."

* Cabinet news, Part II: "The Senate on Tuesday voted 92-7 to confirm former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as secretary of the Department of Agriculture."

* Paxton's latest controversy: "At the height of last week's winter storm that left millions of Texans without access to heat and clean water, Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, were out of state on a 'previously planned' business trip to Utah, a spokesman confirmed."

* An update on a story I mentioned last week: "Facebook said late Monday it will restore the ability of Australian users to share links to news articles following a new deal with the local government."

* Noted without comment: "Al Jazeera is launching Rightly, a new digital platform aiming to serve conservative audiences — reaching center-right folks who feel left out of mainstream media. Longtime Fox News veteran Scott Norvell is the editor-in-chief."

See you tomorrow.