Alan Greenblatt, David Kidd, Carl Smith, Governing

State lawmakers face a terrible hangover of problems from 2020. First and foremost is the pandemic, which is at its worst even as vaccinations are rolled out across the country. Caseloads and death tolls are adding uncertainty to the economy, which in turn is hampering state budgets.

Patricia Murphy, Atlantic Journal-Constitution

State lawmakers were gearing up for more disruption at the Capitol from state Rep. David Clark, the Republican who vowed to return after he was ejected from the Georgia House floor Tuesday after refusing to get tested for COVID-19, despite a chamber-wide requirement to get screened for the disease twice a week.

Nicholas Fandos and Katie Benner, The New York Times

The Justice Department informed Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina, on Tuesday that it would not pursue insider trading charges against him, quietly ending a monthslong investigation into his dumping of hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock in the turbulent early days of the coronavirus pandemic.