Axios

Florida lawmakers approved a bill Friday revoking Disney's special status over its theme parks in the state, granting more power to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

The big picture: Disney said it will not fight the bill and that it's "ready to work within this new framework," Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World, said in a statement.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) agreed Friday to pay $3.3 million in a settlement with four former employees who said they were fired after accusing him of bribery and corruption.

Driving the news: Paxton also agreed to give a statement in which he "accepts that plaintiffs acted in a manner that they thought was right and apologizes for referring to them as ‘rogue employees,'" the settlement agreement states.

The U.S. has blacklisted six entities in China that it says are linked to aerospace programs, including balloons, used by the military for intelligence.

The big picture: The move, which comes after the U.S. last week downed a Chinese balloon that's suspected of being used for surveillance, will likely only increase the tension between the two countries.

A family member of the late Emmett Till is demanding in a new federal lawsuit that Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks serve a 1995 arrest warrant on the white woman whose accusations of harassment against the 14-year-old Till led to his abduction and lynching.

Driving the news: The warrant, which charged Carolyn Bryant Donham for kidnapping in Till's case, has spurred calls for an arrest and answers since it was discovered last June in a Mississippi courthouse basement. A grand jury in Mississippi declined to indict her in August.

President Biden ordered the Department of Defense on Friday to shoot down a "high-altitude" object that violated U.S. airspace above territorial waters near Alaska, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed during a news conference.

Driving the news: Kirby said fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command shot down the object, described as being the "size of a small car," because it "posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight."

A pair of libertarian-minded Republican groups — Americans for Prosperity and the Club for Growth — are planning to pour millions into the presidential campaign to stop former President Trump from winning the GOP nomination.

Why it matters: The battle for the Republican Party's future is a clash between the interests of its big donors and grassroots voters. The donors are overwhelmingly looking for a Trump alternative in 2024, but Trump still maintains a strong hold on much of the populist base he empowered in 2016.

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) said Friday that she is recovering back home in Minnesota after she was assaulted in the elevator of her apartment building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Driving the news: The alleged assailant punched Craig in the face and grabbed her neck before the lawmaker tossed hot coffee at him, allowing her to flee.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was discharged from the George Washington University Hospital on Friday evening after being hospitalized earlier in the week, his spokesperson said.

Driving the news: Joe Calvello, Fetterman's director of communications, said CT, CTA and MRI tests ruled out a stroke, while results from an EEG test “came back normal, with no evidence of seizures.”

Migrants and asylum seekers attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border 156,000 times in January — a 40% drop from December, which administration officials are crediting to new border policies rolled out last month.

Why it matters: It's a good sign for the Biden administration on the border. The government has struggled to get a handle on record numbers of border crossings over the past two years, which have created humanitarian, logistical and political crises for President Biden.

A school district in Florida has removed a children's book on Latino baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente to see if it complies with a new state law limiting discussions about race, Axios has confirmed.

Why it matters: The pulling of "Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates" is part of a larger purge of books happening nationally amid laws forcing schools and libraries to remove literature about people of color or with LGBTQ themes.

The FBI recovered an additional classified document in a five-hour search of former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home on Friday, a Pence adviser confirmed.

Why it matters: The discovery comes after the bureau retrieved a "small number" of classified materials from the house in January, per his attorney, and as both President Biden and former President Trump are under special counsel investigations for their handling of classified documents.

People in America are more dissatisfied with the U.S.'s abortion policy than they have ever been in the 23 years, according to a new Gallup poll released Friday.

Driving the news: Democrats' dissatisfaction with laws have jumped after the fall of Roe last June and nationwide GOP-led efforts to enforce abortion restrictions. For over 20 years, Republicans were more likely than Democrats to express dissatisfaction, per Gallup.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) has hired former Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner and longtime Republican operative Rob Collins to co-chair a super PAC (Opportunity Matters Fund Action) supporting the senator's political efforts.

Why it matters: Scott's decision to tap two politically-savvy Republicans — a former senator who chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a former executive director of the NRSC — is a sign that he's moving closer to launching a 2024 presidential campaign.

Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director since President Biden's inauguration, will leave her position by the end of the month, the White House announced Friday.

Why it matters: Bedingfield is the latest member of Biden's team who plans to exit the White House ahead of the president's expected 2024 campaign launch.

President Biden plans to make deficit reduction a centerpiece of his 2024 budget and aims to pressure Republicans to focus on government revenue — not just spending, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The White House is seeking a tactical advantage in its looming showdown with congressional Republicans on the debt limit — and wants to test Republicans' commitment to lowering annual deficits over the next decade.

President Biden has spent the week contrasting Republicans and Democrats' positions on health care and entitlements, leaning into a political fight the party would love to have all the way through the 2024 elections.

The big picture: How House Republicans handle the coming debt ceiling negotiations and spending-related decisions could have far-reaching implications, potentially handing Democrats what they view as a potent line of attack.

Babysitting rates rose 9.7% nationally in 2022 — a bit less than the 11% hike seen in 2021, but still outpacing inflation for the second year in a row.

• That's according to survey results from caregiver-finding platform UrbanSitter, provided first to Axios.

Police in Ohio arrested a NewsNation journalist on Wednesday as state Gov. Mike DeWine (R) was speaking at a news conference announcing that an evacuation order over last week's train derailment in East Palestine had been lifted.

The latest: NewsNation published video Thursday of its reporter Evan Lambert being pushed to the ground before being handcuffed during his arrest.

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) is "physically okay" after she was assaulted in the elevator of her apartment building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, her staff said in a statement.

The latest: The Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday evening "an arrest has been made" in relation to the assault.

Zach Butterworth, a key player in major economic legislation passed by the Biden administration, plans to leave the White House on Friday, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: As the White House's liaison to the business community, Butterworth has helped build support for the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act to boost U.S.-based chip manufacturing, and the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill.

Chicago Democrats are pushing President Biden to choose their city for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, warning that hosting the event in a right-to-work state like Georgia would be a major insult to the labor movement.

Why it matters: President Biden's call for a “blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America” at the State of the Union acknowledged a persistent challenge for Democrats — keeping white, working-class voters in their column.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating former President Trump, Axios confirmed on Thursday.

Why it matters: The move is one of the most aggressive yet in the investigation into allegations that Trump and his allies tried to overturn the 2020 election.