In South Florida, Valentine’s Day tugs at the heart.

At his post-acquittal address at the White House last Thursday, President Donald Trump told congressional impeachment allies that, “You develop friendships and relationships when you’re in battle and war.”

With last week’s narrow New Hampshire victory, Bernie Sanders has pulled off the rare feat of notching popular vote wins in the first two nominating contests — a one-two punch that would traditionally make him the clear front-runner. Such a prospect rightly has significant parts of the Democratic Party worried that a self-avowed socialist atop the ticket spells doom in November.

It isn’t yet clear whether improper political influence led the Justice Department to ask for a more lenient sentence for Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Trump, than the one originally proposed by federal prosecutors. But Trump’s outrageous comments about the original sentence recommendation — and his history of interfering in the administration of justice — require that the decision be investigated.

The Congressional Budget Office’s recent projection that soaring federal red ink will hit $31.4 trillion by 2030 is an issue deserving attention this election year. That figure will be 98% of the national economy, the largest percentage of the U.S. gross national product since just after World War II.

Throughout the impeachment inquiry and trial of President Donald Trump, Republicans argued that the proceedings were interrupting legislative work. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, who represents a southwestern part of Pennsylvania, said in December that instead of holding impeachment hearings, Congress should work to lower prescription drug prices. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), admonished Democrats for wasting an “entire calendar year.”

Picture a cool running stream — a ribbon of life in southern Arizona’s rocky deserts. Now envision bulldozers stripping the surrounding land and erecting steel slats right across it.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, criticized for a lack of diversity in Oscar nominations, helped change that narrative Sunday by celebrating the South Korean comedy-thriller “Parasite.” The film took home four awards, including best picture — a first for a non-English-language film.

President Trump is still on his victory lap after Republican members of the U.S. Senate decided to overlook his egregious abuse of power and let him remain as president, but other scandals in the most scandalous of administrations continue on.

Americans witnessed a historic moment in national politics last Wednesday in the closing minutes of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. His acquittal was a foregone conclusion, not because Trump deserved it but because Senate Republicans refused to hear testimony and many had already made clear that no amount of proof of Trump’s abuses would convince them to exercise independent thought.

It’s a panic button the nation had pushed just twice before in the Constitution’s 230-year history (three times, if you count Richard Nixon’s resignation to preempt his certain removal in 1974).

President Donald Trump’s attempt at a State of the Union victory lap last Tuesday night deserved the silent reception it received from congressional Democrats along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s brash closing gesture of disapproval. No amount of excessively enthusiastic cheering from Republicans can hide the fact that Trump will forever stand impeached for his blatant abuse of office. Wednesday’s Senate vote to let him stay in office neither erases his crimes nor repairs the damage he inflicted.