• WARREN’S SPREAD-THE-WEALTH SCHEME: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has proposed a new tax on the most profitable companies in the U.S. as part of her presidential campaign platform. It’s the latest new tax from Warren, whose proposed levies are estimated to raise $4.1 trillion over 10 years if enacted. Warren says she would use the funds to pay for new housing and universal child care proposals. The new proposal Warren pitched Thursday would tax companies that earn over $100 million per year, which she estimates to number about 1200 currently.” (Washington Examiner)

• OBAMA COUNSEL INDICTED: “Former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig was indicted Thursday on charges that he made false statements to investigators and concealed information about his work for Ukrainian officials, the Justice Department announced. … He faces up to five years in prison for each of the two charged offenses and will be arraigned at a later date. The former White House counsel was reportedly investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller before the case was referred to the Southern District of New York and then back to prosecutors in Washington, D.C.” (The Hill)

• INTERIOR DEPARTMENT GETS A NEW CHIEF: “Congress confirmed David Bernhardt as Interior secretary on Thursday… Bernhardt was confirmed … in a 56-41 vote with three Democrats and one Independent breaking ranks to vote for him. … Bernhardt’s confirmation … means he will now oversee about 500 million acres of publicly owned land as well as the energy production on that land and offshore.” (The Hill)

• VILLAGE ACADEMIC CURRICULUM: “Georgetown University could become the first college in the nation to mandate a fee to benefit descendants of slaves sold by the university nearly 200 years ago… By almost a 2-to-1 margin, students approved the measure, which still must be approved by the university to go into effect. The school’s undergraduates voted Thursday on the referendum, which would increase tuition by $27.20 per semester to create a fund benefiting descendants of the 272 slaves sold to pay off the Georgetown Jesuits’ debt — a move that saved the university financially.” (ABC News)

• PRO-LIFE VICTORY: “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) gave a victory to the pro-life movement Thursday by signing one of the strictest pro-life bills in the nation. … The Human Rights and Heartbeat Protection Act makes it illegal for women to receive abortions after the first heartbeat is detected. … The bill was sent to the governor’s office twice before, but former Gov. John Kasich vetoed the measure both times.” (Townhall)

• MORE CHARGES FOR AVENATTI: “Federal prosecutors revealed a batch of new criminal charges against Michael Avenatti on Thursday, accusing the combative celebrity lawyer of embezzling $12 million from his clients to pay for personal expenses, a coffee business and a private jet. … The new charges are the latest blow to the brash lawyer who not long ago battled President Donald Trump over hush money the president had paid to an adult film star and now faces criminal charges in two states.” (USA Today)

• MILITARY ENACTS TRANSGENDER POLICY: “The Pentagon’s new policy that places limits on the military service of transgender individuals goes into effect on Friday, nearly two years after President Donald Trump tweeted that he wanted to ban transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military. The new policy largely requires service members and those wishing to join the military to adhere to the standards associated with their biological sex.” (ABC News)

• POPE BENEDICT’S CULTURAL DIAGNOSIS: “Former Pope Benedict has blamed the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal on the effects of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, homosexual cliques in seminaries and what he called a general collapse in morality. … The 91-year-old … argued that the sexual revolution had led some to believe pedophilia and pornography were acceptable. He also said that an openly gay culture in some Catholic seminaries meant they had failed to train priests properly.” (Reuters)

• BDS LEADER REJECTED: “On Thursday, Omar Barghouti, a Qatari-born Palestinian-Arab best known as a co-founder and international leader of the inherently anti-Semitic ‘Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions’ movement that incites economic warfare and sundry other forms of ‘lawfare’ against the world’s only Jewish state, attempted to board a flight from Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport to the United States. … But in a stunning move, U.S. immigration authorities did not allow Barghouti, described by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs as ‘a famous Hamas leader in the West Bank,’ to board the U.S.-bound flight.” (The Daily Wire)

• JUSSIE SMOLLETT’S LEGAL JEOPARDY: “Outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration says it has gone to court to try to force Jussie Smollett to pay Chicago back for an alleged hate crime hoax even though Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges against the ‘Empire’ actor. The lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Circuit Court, comes after Smollett failed to pony up $130,106 by a deadline imposed by the city to cover the cost of the police overtime hours expended in the investigation into his allegations.” (Chicago Tribune)

• HUMOR: Scientists recommend reducing the number of Democratic presidential candidates to help fight climate change (The Babylon Bee)

• POLICY: Why the West should support Iran’s labor movement (The Washington Post)

• POLICY: Are crazy state liquor laws constitutional? (National Review)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.