Today's five.

Invoking the Fifth Amendment in front of the committee that subpoenaed you is a legally sound move that also happens to look exactly like what your enemies say you're guilty of. Fauci cited concerns that Republicans would use his testimony to pursue perjury charges — which he said was the whole point of the hearing. The BBC and NPR covered the mechanics of the Fifth; NBC led with the lack of new information on COVID origins. Republicans used their time anyway. Democrats used their time anyway. Fauci's actual explanation for why he stayed silent ran longer than most of his answers ever did.

Todd Blanche can't get confirmed as attorney general because two senators in his own party want paperwork first. Cornyn and Tillis — neither facing re-election — are demanding written assurances from the Justice Department about a Trump-IRS tax settlement and something called an "anti-weaponization" fund. They didn't get them. So Grassley postponed the committee vote that was supposed to happen Thursday morning. Bloomberg led with the standoff; NBC led with the paperwork. The rescheduled date hasn't been announced. Blanche is currently serving as acting AG while waiting to be confirmed as actual AG, which is its own kind of situation.

Celeste Keaton, co-owner of the Seattle Storm, allegedly approached two 16-year-olds in the stands during Tuesday's game and called them "f***ing insane" — apparently because they were holding a sign thanking Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham and wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts. One of the girls cried. The story was broken by independent journalist Brandi Kruse, who spotted the distressed teens and interviewed them on the spot. Every outlet covering this is right-of-center, which means the full picture may still be developing. Keaton has not publicly responded.

One Florida ticket just won $803 million and the lawyers are already circling

Injecting wastewater into the ground and expecting it to stay there turns out to be optimistic, even by Florida standards. Treated sewage pumped into shallow wells beneath Stock Island is resurfacing and seeping into the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary — home to the third-largest coral reef system in the world. Don DeMaria of Friends of the Lower Keys has been tracking it. The Florida DEP has been notified. The DEP has not done much about it. The sanctuary was designated to protect the reef from exactly this kind of thing, which makes the agency's response its own kind of statement.