Murder is the Massage: Eight people were shot and killed at three Atlanta area massage parlors last night and a suspect was arrested.

  Investigators suspect the incident may be linked to the surge of hate crimes against Asian people because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hate crimes against Asians surged 150 percent last year, according to a recent report.

  Four people died at one parlor, three at the second, and the eighth at the third parlor just across the street. Seven of the eight victims were women, six were Asian, and two were white, according to the police. 

  Arrested after a quick manhunt was Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, Georgia.

Borderline Situation: In a stunning announcement indicating the enormity of the growing immigration crisis, Border officials say they’re expecting more migrants at the southwest border and entry ports this year than in the last 20 years. 

 “Poverty, high levels of violence and corruption in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries have propelled migration to our southwest border for years,” Homeland Security chief Alejandro N. Mayorkas, said yesterday.

But there also appears to be a surge of hope that America will welcome the migrants because Donald Trump is no longer president.

  Immigration authorities are straining to handle all the people they’ve detained. Now after less than two months in office President Biden is taking the heat. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy posted pictures on Facebook with the message that, “I took a dozen Republican reps to El Paso, Texas, today to see firsthand what is happening at the border. It was even worse than we could have imagined. Biden’s policies aren’t humane. They are heartwrenching, and they are illegal.”

That comes from a man who supported the president who intentionally separated children from their parents. 

  But the administration is being criticized particularly for the treatment and lack of facilities for thousands of detained Central American children and teenagers who arrived without adults. More than 9,400 minors have  arrived along the border without parents in February — three times the number from February last year. They are sleeping in tents on gym mats with foil blankets.

  It’s unknown how many others are getting past the border agents.

  The administration says it is working quickly to find better accommodations, but for now Biden’s message to immigrants is, “Don’t come.” They are not likely to listen.

Russia With Love: Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized operations to hurt the presidential candidacy of Joe Biden and influence people surrounding then President Donald Trump, according to an intelligence report declassified and released.

  “Russian state and proxy actors who all serve the Kremlin’s interests worked to affect U.S. public perceptions,” the report said. The report didn’t reveal how intelligence agencies came to their determination. 

  The intelligence assessment upholds previous conclusions that Russia also interfered in 2016 on Trump’s behalf and said that the Kremlin favored his re-election. It also cast doubt on claims that Trump and his supporters made about the Biden family work in Ukraine.

  The report flies in the face of Trump’s efforts to throw doubt on theories that Russia favored his original election and re-election. He was reported to have been outraged early last fall by a briefing on the subject to which congressional Democrats were invited.

Party Pooper: Unlike Democrats, who like to eat their own for lunch, Republicans are intolerant of dissent within the party.

  The Alaska Republican Party’s Central Committee passed a resolution censuring Sen. Lisa Murkowski for voting to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment and for speaking “critically” of Trump in general. As if there’s nothing to criticize him for. The committee also swore to bar Murkowski, who is up for reelection in 2022, from ever holding office again.

  The party’s resolution said, “The Party hereby will recruit a Republican primary challenger to oppose and prohibit Senator Murkowski from being a candidate in any Republican primary to the extent legally permissible.”

The Spin Rack: President Joe Biden entered the fray over sexual misconduct accusations telling ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that Cuomo should resign if the stories are confirmed. “I think he’ll probably end up being prosecuted, too,” Biden said. — In a big win for those who labor in the gig economy, the ride-hailing service Uber agreed to reclassify its drivers as “workers” rather than “freelancers,” now entitled to higher pay and benefits. — Sally Grossman, the mystery woman in red on the cover of Bob Dylan’s album “Bringing It All Back Home,” has died at age 81. — Golfer Tiger Woods is at home after being released from the hospital following his car crash.

The Obit Page: Actor Yaphet Kotto, originally known for playing an astronaut

technician on the crew with Sigourney Weaver in the 1979  horror movie “Alien,” died  near Manila in the Philippines. He was 81.

  He was good at playing cops, tough guys, and even a corrupt Caribbean dictator. Kotto had a long run as Lieutenant Al Giardello in the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street” from 1993 to 2000. He was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series in 1996 and every year after that until 1999.

Election Fraud: President Trump famously cried “fraud” when he lost the November election but was never able to prove it in court.

  It now turns out that there has been a serious case of election fraud in Florida leading to two arrests. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement discovered at least 117 suspicious votes, all of them cast in Cantonment, Florida, in JM Tate High School’s election for homecoming court.

 Arrested were Laura Carroll, 50, an elementary school assistant principal, and her daughter, Emily Grover, 17, on charges of  conspiracy to use Carroll’s school district login to help her daughter get elected homecoming queen. The votes were cast by computer.

  Mom was suspended from her job and her daughter expelled from school. But she can say she was once elected homecoming queen.

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