U.S. CONGRESS

From the commentary: The effect of these guilty verdicts, in a trial conducted with thoroughness and care, will be to marginalize the apologists for Jan. 6. They can’t help but look more and more like wingnuts or monsters now, inveighing against what a critical mass of society has accepted and denying a jury’s account that squares with what the whole country saw in real time.

Cartoonist Jeff Koterba comments on the lame-duck Congress.

The vote by Jeffries' fellow Democrats also marked the rise of a younger generation of leaders in the 435-member House and the end of the Nancy Pelosi era. In 2007 she became the first woman to be elected House speaker.

From the commentary: We have become hyphenated Americans with too many clinging to their native land in language and culture. No nation can be sustained in its character without controlling who is allowed to enter. Other nations have far more restrictive immigration laws and paths to citizenship than ours.

From the editorial: Pelosi’s designated heir-apparent, New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, 52, appropriately highlighted both those issues in a letter to colleagues last week. Jeffries, who would be the first Black caucus leader, is conversant with the left of the party but not in thrall to it. That initially feels like the right mix for Democrats to continue navigating their own internal conflicts while unifying to confront what are sure to be the excesses of the Republican right in the next two years.

From the editorial: The lame ducks of Congress in Washington must finish their work.

In a mark of how far the country has moved on the issue, the Mormon church — once a virulent opponent of legalizing same-sex marriage — came out in support of the bill.

Republicans had secured at least 211 of the 218 House seats they need for a majority, Edison Research projected late on Thursday, while Democrats had won 199.

A collection of key election results for the Willmar Lakes Area.