The deadline for obtaining the Real ID needed to board a domestic flight has been pushed back again, with the Department of Homeland Security citing the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the slower-than-expected rollout. The deadline to have a Real ID had been May 3, 2023, but DHS announced Monday that it was pushed back to May 7, 2025. People are getting compliant IDs as they renew driver’s licenses, but DHS said the pandemic resulted in backlogs at state driver’s license offices. Because of the backlogs, many state agencies that issue driver’s licenses automatically extended expiration dates on licenses and ID cards, rather than issuing compliant licenses and cards.

Georgia voters are deciding the final Senate contest in the country. They're choosing whether to reelect Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock or opt for Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Tuesday's contest concludes a four-week runoff blitz that's drawn a flood of outside spending to an increasingly personal fight. The outcome will determine whether Democrats have a 51-49 Senate majority or control a 50-50 chamber based on Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote. In last month's general election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast but fell shy of a majority, triggering the runoff. As polls opened Tuesday morning, a 40-degree wind chill and steady rain greeted voters in the Atlanta area.

Wisconsin’s Republican representatives in Congress are calling on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to delete the video platform TikTok from all state government devices. The lawmakers told Evers in a letter Tuesday that the popular video sharing app should be removed because it can be used by the Chinese government to spy on users and promote Chinese Communist Party propaganda. The request comes a week after South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, banned state employees and contractors from accessing TikTok on state-owned devices, citing its ties to China. TikTok has been targeted by Republicans who say the Chinese government could access its user data like browsing history and location.

The suspect accused of entering a Colorado Springs gay nightclub and killing five people and wounding 17 others was formally charged with 305 criminal counts including hate crimes and murder. The charges came as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich appeared in court on Tuesday. Investigators say Aldrich entered Club Q, a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community in largely conservative Colorado Springs, just before midnight on Nov. 19 and began shooting during a drag queen’s birthday celebration. The attack came on on the eve of an annual day of remembrance for transgender people lost to violence. According to defense lawyers, Aldrich is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.

Drones struck inside Russia’s border with Ukraine Tuesday in the second day of attacks exposing the vulnerability of some of Moscow’s important military sites, observers said. Ukrainian officials did not formally confirm carrying out drone strikes inside Russia, and they have maintained ambiguity over previous high-profile attacks. But Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak taunted Moscow in comments on Twitter. Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia was likely to consider the attacks on Russian bases more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border with Ukraine as “some of the most strategically significant failures of force protection since its invasion of Ukraine.”

Get out the Kleenex, because there's no denying that you'll be crying for Jim Parsons' Michael and his boyfriend Kit (played by Ben Aldridge) in the tearjerking — and often moving — relationship drama “Spoiler Alert.” Based on the book by Michael Ausiello and directed by Michael Showalter, the movie earns our tears, writes Associated Press critic Jocelyn Noveck, but seems at times unable to decide what kind of film it is, resulting in jarring tonal shifts, especially one at the end. Aldridge is particularly charming, and Sally Field is heartbreaking as Kit's mother, coping with his devastating illness. The film opens in wide release Friday.

Brendan Fraser's performance in “The Whale” has been widely celebrated as a likely Oscar nominee and a comeback for the 54-year-old actor. The word “comeback,” Fraser says in an interview, doesn't hurt his feelings. But he considers it more of a “reintroduction.” He plays a 600-lb. reclusive English teacher in the film. It's Fraser’s most empathetic performance, one that has returned him to the spotlight after years away from it, making quickly forgotten films like “Hair Brained” and the straight-to-DVD “Breakout." Now standing ovations are trailing Fraser everywhere he goes, on stages from London to Toronto. A leading man has been reborn. “The Whale” opens in theaters Friday.