FLORIDA RETIREE: Low on money and votes, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the second nastiest person in the Republican run for the presidency, quit his campaign yesterday and endorsed Donald Trump.

  This makes the Republican primaries a two-person race between Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who had optimistically declared that to be the case while DeSantis was still in it. Haley said at a rally, “May the best woman win.”

  Even before DeSantis dropped out, Haley was sharpening her attack on Trump, denouncing his dishonesty, his fondness for “dictators,” and questioning his mental acuity. Trump in a Friday night appearance confused Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

  DeSantis was polling at 5.2 percent of the vote in tomorrow’s New Hampshire primary. Haley was at 34.2 percent and Trump, 48.9 percent.

  We might see DeSantis again in four years. He’s got ambition. DeSantis had once been the Republican predicated to be the most likely to be able to knock off Trump, who mocked his opponent as “Ron DeSanctimonious.” Despite that, DeSantis said in his withdrawal announcement that, “Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear.”

  The Trump campaign issued a statement saying they are “honored” by DeSantis’s endorsement.” 

THE WAR ROOM: The Israeli military took reporters on a tour of an underground cell complex where they believe some of the roughly 130 hostages had been held by Hamas beneath the town of Khan Younis.

  The tiled complex appears to confirm the detailed planning that went into the October 7^th massacre and hostage taking.  It includes a kitchenette decorated with a tiled design of teapots and teacups. Left behind were blankets, dirty dishes, and various trash. Also found were drawings done by a child.

  As the war grinds on, the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry says 25,000 Palestinians have been killed.

 And The Washington Post reports that there’s a growing “truther movement,” people claiming that the October 7^th massacre was a so-called “false flag” incident engineered by Israel itself with help from America to create an excuse for demolishing Gaza.

  This sort of thing is increasingly common. Conspiracy monger Alex Jones claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook School massacre in Connecticut was a hoax carried out by crisis actors and, of course, there are people who claim the Holocaust never happened. 

FATAL WEATHER:  At least 72 Americans have died over the past week of causes associated with severe winter weather. The deaths include falling while clearing a roof of snow, electrocution by downed power line, and vehicle accidents. Tennessee alone has had 25 weather-related deaths. 

ENGAGED: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a former presidential candidate and possible vice presidential pick for Donald Trump, is engaged to be married only weeks after bringing his girlfriend out of the closet. Scott popped the question to Mindy Noce Saturday evening at the beach in Kiawah Island. 

  Noce is a previously married mother of three. Scott told an interviewer that “It’s the most exciting thing I’ll do with my life besides making Jesus my Lord.”

GRIDIRON: The Detroit lions beat Tampa Bay 31-23, to reach their first NFC championship game since 1992. They face San Francisco next weekend for a slot in the Super Bowl. Kansas City squeezed past Buffalo, 27-24 and plays Baltimore to determine the Super Bowl matchup.  Buffalo fans booed Taylor Swift when she arrived at the stadium to watch her boyfriend, Kansas City’s Travis Kelce.

SLAM DUNK: Who’s the winningest coach in the history of college basketball? Bobby Knight? Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski?

  None of the above. It’s Tara VanDerveer, the women’s coach at Stanford. At age 70, VanDerveer got her 1,203rd win yesterday — the record — at home against Oregon State. She said, “To experience this is more than I ever could have dreamed of.”

THE SPIN RACK: At least 27 people were killed and 25 wounded yesterday in an attack on a market on the outskirts of Russian-occupied Donetsk. The Russians blame Ukrainian shelling. — Two Navy SEALS missing for 10 days since they fell into the Arabian Sea during an operation to seize a dhow loaded with weaponry have been declared dead although their bodies have not been found. — Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and the former wife of Britain’s wayward Prince Andrew, has been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. — The FAA has advised airlines to check the door plugs on a second model of the 737 jet since finding loose panels on 737 Max 9s. 

BELOW THE FOLD: Here’s the buzz. Noisy cicadas emerge from the ground every 13 to 17 years. Entomologists say that two broods of cicadas are expected to hatch this spring, bringing billions of buzzing bugs to life from Virginia to Illinois.

-30-