Elon Musk’s enigmatic personality and unconventional tactics are emerging as key exhibits in a trial revolving around one of his most polarizing pursuits — tweeting. The trial, centered on a pair of tweets announcing Musk had obtained the money to take Tesla private in 2018, reeled the 51-year-old billionaire into a courtroom for three days of testimony that opened a peephole into his often inscrutable mind. Evidence submitted so far in a trial scheduled to end this week has shown Musk had made a proposal to lead a buyout, but that he hadn't locked up the money to pay for it as he tweeted in 2018.

Advocates for highway construction are concerned their projects are getting shortchanged in the competition for grant money under the new infrastructure law. The Department of Transportation is expected to formally announce the law's first Mega Grants this week. The initial batch, which was shared with Congress, includes some highway projects, as well as money for bridges and mass transit. But some applicants have a beef with what they say is the Biden administration's clear preference for projects that repair roads rather than build or expand them. One of the projects that failed to make the cut seeks to widen a notoriously congested stretch of interstate highway on the route between Arizona's two largest cities.

The National Prayer Breakfast is one of the most visible and long-standing events that brings religion and politics together in Washington. But due to concerns the gathering had become too divisive, it's now splitting from the private religious group that had overseen it for decades. The organizer and host for this year’s breakfast, which is scheduled for Thursday, will be a new foundation headed by former Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Sen. Chris Coons, a regular participant and chairman of the Senate ethics committee, says the move was prompted in part by concerns in recent years that members of Congress didn't know important details about the larger multiday gathering that included the breakfast.

Competing priorities, outsized demands and the federal government's retreat from a threatened deadline all combined to thwart a voluntary deal last summer on how to drastically cut water use from the parched Colorado River. That's according to emails obtained by The Associated Press that largely cover communication among water officials in Arizona and California. The documents depict a desire to reach a consensus but persistent disagreement over how much each state could or should give. As a mid-August deadline approached and ultimately passed without a deal, one manager warned: “We're all headed to a very dark place.” The states have since regrouped and are trying to reach a grand bargain by Tuesday. The alternative is having the federal government dictate cuts.

Increasingly it feels like America is at war with itself. From a triple homicide in New Orleans just days into the new year to the shooting of a Virginia teacher by a six-year-old to a series of mass shootings in California. Simply keeping track of the shootings has become difficult, with locations and details and explanations running together into a blur of bloodshed and heartbreak. But if it might make you think America has gone numb to gun violence, Zeneta Everhart would like a word. Everhart’s then-19-year-old son survived after being shot in the neck in May when a gunman stormed into into a Buffalo supermarket.  "I don’t think that the country is becoming numb to it, but I think that the country is frustrated,” she said. “I think that people are tired.”

Self-proclaimed “forest defenders” in Atlanta are calling for a more thorough investigation into the death of a protester who was killed by authorities after officials said the activist shot a trooper. The activist's death has been met with vigils around the world. Friends say they knew 26-year-old Tortuguita, or “Little Turtle,” as funny, curious and thoughtful, not the kind of person who would fire a gun on police. But authorities say that's just what Tortuguita did as they tried to clear an 85-acre forested area that's set to be developed as a police and firefighter training facility. Protesters have dubbed the site “Cop City” and have been camping there for more than a year.