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Will Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene be ousted from committees?

Editors  |  Paste BN

Good morning, Daily Briefing readers! It’s Jane here. Welcome to Thursday’s news.

The House will vote on removing controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees. President Joe Biden – the country's second Catholic leader – is expected to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast. Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning Americans to “just lay low and cool it," instead of gathering for Super Bowl parties. February is Black History Month – read Paste BN’s special edition. And, awards season gathers pace, this time with nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Who are you rooting for? 

Here's today's news:

House to vote on removing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees

The House of Representatives will vote Thursday on removing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia from her committees because of her past controversial statements and embracing of QAnon conspiracy theories. "It is clear there is no alternative," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. The Democrat said he had conferred with his Republican counterpart Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy about freshman Republican Greene and that a compromise short of stripping her committee assignments could not be reached. The Democratic-led House can pass the vote with a simple majority. The vote will decide whether Greene can stay on her committees for the rest of her term, which expires in January 2023.

Prayer breakfast gives Biden fresh chance to call for unity

President Joe Biden on Thursday is expected to address the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that calls on political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning. The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when then-President Donald Trump used 2020's event to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Some liberals have viewed the event warily because of the conservative faith-based group that is behind it. Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, an honorary co-chair of this year's gathering, said the event will be "an inclusive and positive event." Coons also told reporters that Biden's remarks would take a different tack than those of Trump. Biden, the nation's second Catholic president, attends Mass every week and, in his only event before being sworn in as the 46th president Jan. 20, attended Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington.

Dr. Fauci warns against Super Bowl parties: 'Lay low and cool it'

Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning America to “just lay low" rather than gathering for Super Bowl parties on Sunday. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser said during TV interviews Wednesday that now isn’t the time to host watch parties because of the possibility that guests could be infected with the coronavirus and sicken others. The NFL has capped attendance for the game in Tampa at 22,000, citing the pandemic and citywide coronavirus mandates. Fauci says the best thing people can do is watch the game on TV at home with the people in your household. "You don't want parties with people that you haven't had much contact with," he told NBC's "Today" show. "You just don't know if they're infected, so as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it."

Minneapolis police can no longer deactivate body cams

A new policy that prohibits Minneapolis police officers from turning off their cameras to have private conversations while responding to an incident takes effect on Thursday. The change is intended to increase accountability and transparency, according to a statement from Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and Mayor Jacob Frey. Officers have been required to activate their cameras when they are dispatched to a call or initiate any police activity since Justine Diamond was shot and killed by Minneapolis officer Mohamed Noor in 2017. Several other police policies were changed after the death of George Floyd last May, which sparked nationwide protests.

More news you need to know:

The best in movie and TV: Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations

Awards season rolls on Thursday with nominations for the 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. The nominations will be announced at 11 a.m. ET (8 a.m. PT) on Instagram Live, featuring presenters Daveed Diggs on @sagawards and Lily Collins on @lilyjcollins. The SAG Award nominations come a day after those for the Golden Globe Awards (the "Citizen Kane" origin story "Mank" led the pack with six nods). The SAG Awards ceremony will air April 4 in a revamped one-hour special.

And finally: Snowy owl captured on camera in rare visit to NYC

One woman was treated to a rare sighting in New York City's Central Park late last month – a snowy owl. It's the first reported sighting of the bird, native to the Arctic, in Central Park in 130 years – since December 1890. Avid bird-watcher Becky DePorte, who photographed the bird on Jan. 27, said the spectacle drew a large crowd of birders, photographers and people out walking their dogs. The feathered visitor appears to be sticking around – it was again spotted at about 6 p.m. Wednesday flying east across the park's reservoir, according to ABC7NY. "It's as rare as can be. People have never seen them in Central Park in their lifetimes," David Barrett, of the Manhattan Bird Alert, told the station. "It looks like the same owl. It has a lot of barring on it, so it's indicative of perhaps a young female snowy owl."

Contributing: The Associated Press

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