A Republican state lawmaker from Vermont has apologized for repeatedly pouring water into a Democratic colleague’s bag, after he caught her doing it on video.

Outraged Democrats warned that time is wasting on GOP infighting as the virus worsens, jobless aid expires and the death toll rises. Plans shifted after Trump was forced to abandon his push for a payroll tax break, which his party opposed, and the White House turned to the new priorities. One sticking point for Republicans trying to resolve their differences with the White House is how to cut the $600 weekly jobless benefit boost that is expiring. An administration official granted anonymity to discuss the private talks said the White House viewed the Senate GOP's proposal as too cumbersome and the $200 boost as too high. Next steps are uncertain after days of closed-door GOP negotiations at the Capitol with top White House officials, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff.

Author and poet Jim Carroll was just 12 years old when he started writing "The Basketball Diaries." Carroll, who died 10 years ago Wednesday, was a star high school athlete who was also drawn to writing, particularly poetry. Cassie Carter, a Carroll scholar, explained that he got his start at the Poetry Project, a nonprofit foundation where Carroll met a number of big poets who helped him develop his diction. When it was published in 1978, "The Basketball Diaries" was an immediate literary sensation. Carroll died of a heart attack at the age of 60.