Daily Briefing: Who's the best in the league?

Americans are gearing up for Super Bowl 59 on Sunday. The variant of bird flu that killed a Louisiana resident has now been found in dairy cows. The NCAA announced a participation policy for transgender athletes.

🙋🏼‍♀️ Happy Friday! I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. I'll be making these Super Bowl appetizers.

'Twas the Friday before the Super Bowl

The players are in top shape. Multi-million dollar commercials are ready to air. The buffalo chicken dip is prepped: It's the Friday before a favorite weekend for many Americans.

Super Bowl 59 promises to be history-making: The Kansas City Chiefs are attempting to be first NFL team ever to achieve three consecutive Super Bowl victories. They face the Philadelphia Eagles, who are doing everything possible to stop that — and win two Super Bowls in one decade.

Wanna sound in-the-know at your tailgate? Paste BN has you covered:

• Don't be scrambling to find the channel Sunday night. Here's how to watch the game.
• New Orleans is gearing up to host thousands of fans just weeks after a deadly attack on Bourbon Street.
• The average ticket price is down 16% from last year. But they're still going for $3,491.
• More woman will be tuning in. It's called the Taylor Swift effect.
• Fresh off his Grammy win, Kendrick Lamar is set to become the first solo rap artist to headline halftime.
• The Puppy Bowl starting line-up is ready for ruff competition.

Trump's buyout offer for federal workers paused

Federal workers are waking up Friday and processing a whiplash of information about their employment. A federal judge the day before paused the Trump administration’s deadline for more than two million federal employees to decide by the end of the day whether to resign or stay in their jobs. The judge's move was intended to allow time for labor unions representing many of the nation's federal workers to challenge the plan's legality. Federal workers across the country were given barely more than a week to accept the administration’s blanket buyout, which union officials say did not appear to have followed federal procedures for reducing the size of the workforce. Read more

More news to know now

• An Alaska rescue crew is searching for a missing airplane with 10 people onboard.
• The Senate confirmed the Project 2025 architect to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
• Government workers sued to stop Trump from dismantling USAID.
• Trump signed an executive order targeting "anti-Christian bias".
• A Black church vandalized by the Proud Boys hopes to use attention for social justice.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

New bird flu variant found in dairy cattle

Until now, the human cases of bird flu traced to cattle have been mild, mostly eye infections. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that a strain previously found only in wild birds has turned up in dairy herds in Nevada ‒ raising concerns that future human infections could be more serious. The USDA said it is working with the state department of agriculture to investigate the Nevada outbreak and limit its spread. Read more

Helicopter in DC plane crash had safety feature off

The U.S. Army helicopter that collided with an American Airlines plane killing 67 people last week had turned off an advanced surveillance system, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said on Thursday. Cruz, who was among a group of lawmakers briefed on the collision by federal authorities, said the Black Hawk helicopter had switched off its automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast sometime before the Jan. 29 crash. The system is hailed by the federal government for making airspace safer.

Today's talkers

• Shohei Ohtani's ex-interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been sentenced after defrauding the baseball star.
• NBA trade grades: The good, bad and ugly from this week's most surprising moves.
• We wish we were vogue-ing at Christian Siriano's New York Fashion show.
• Cuddle up to "Heart Eyes," a genre-mashing Valentine's Day massacre.

NCAA updates transgender athlete participation policy

Competition in collegiate women’s sports will be limited only to student-athletes assigned female at birth, according to the NCAA's updated policy on transgender athletes. The move comes one day after the Trump administration issued an executive order barring transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports and directing agencies to withdraw federal funding from any academic institution that refuses to comply. The new policy does not prohibit participation based on birth or gender identity in men’s sports.

Photo of the day: MVP of fashion (and football)

Josh Allen was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player for the 2024 season on Thursday at the NFL Honors in New Orleans. The Buffalo Bills quarterback won the award for the first time in his career, smiling on the red carpet with fiancé, actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld. They looked great.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.