Road to Perdition: Laying groundwork for possible impeachment of President Trump, the House Judiciary Committee yesterday issued demands for documents from 81 people and entities in a sweeping new inquiry into potential corruption, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power by the President and his associates.

  They may also try to get their hands on the President’s tax returns, which he has refused to release.

  The committee wants documents and communications related to the firing of FBI Director James Comey, possible pardons offered to Trump associates accused and convicted of crimes, Trump’s finances, story-killing payments involving the National Enquirer, and various contacts with Russians, including between president Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

  The list includes close Trump associates and family members, including his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, former aides Hope Hicks and Don McGahn and longtime employees of the Trump Organization, notably chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. 

  Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he’s not willing to wait for the results of the Special Counsel investigation to get to the truth of the Trump administration. He said, “This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do.”

 Dramatic as his requests may be, the results may be less so. Nadler has asked only for documents already submitted to other congressional committees and you can bet the targets will be slow to produce. The President can claim executive privilege for White House information and employees.

  Hosting the North Dakota State University football team for a meal of fast-food burgers, Trump said, “It’s a political hoax. There’s no collusion. There’s no anything.”

The Aftermath:Recovery workers are still looking for survivors in the rubble left by a giant tornado an hour east of Montgomery, Ala. on Sunday. Twenty-three people were killed and some are still missing.

  The tornado ripped through 24 miles of Alabama, flattening forests, exploding homes, and tossing cars. The devastation is really quite stunning.

The Cure:Doctors say that an unidentified London man has become only the second ever to be cured of the AIDS virus with a stem cell transplant. The patient was diagnosed with HIV in 2003 and had developed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Doctors gave him a stem cell transplant from a donor with a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to HIV.

 Until now an American named Timothy Brown was believed to have been the only patient cured of HIV. He’s been free of the virus for 12 years.

 While the stem cell treatment offers hope, it is far too expensive to treat the millions of people infected around the world. 

The Gathering Crowd:At last, a prominent Democrat announced she is not running for president. Hillary Clinton made the official announcement that she’s out of the game. 

There Goes the Neighborhood:San Francisco is home to a large set of leather fetishists; gay men and women who dress head to toe in black leather and practice bondage and discipline. At its peak, the SoMa neighborhood had bars, sex clubs, and leather stores, publishing companies and restaurants.It was leather heaven.

  Now the city’s traditional leather neighborhood is breaking up in the face of an onslaught of apartments, homeless shelters, and even an acupuncture clinic. The Los Angeles Times reports that, sadly, the neighborhood is down to less than a dozen leather hotspots and only one commercial dungeon.

Cold Snap: Bismarck, ND, 4; Amarillo, Tex, 22; Chicago, 9; Buffalo, 9; New York, 22; Boston 20; Burlington, Vt., 12;  Camden, Maine, 17. 

The Obit Page:Actor Luke Perry, who rose to fame as the bad boy heart throb Dylan McKayin the 1990s evening soap opera “Beverly Hills 90210,” died at age 52 as the result of a devastating stroke. .

  The show was considered groundbreaking, portraying teenagers as sexually active and dealing with real problems. For a time, Perry was all over the cover of teen magazines.

  Perry was stricken last Wednesday and never regained consciousness. The actor who  was recently playing in the CW series “Riverdale,” had just signed on for a revival of “90210.”

The Numbers Game:A person who is so far remaining anonymous has stepped up with the winning ticket bought in South Carolina for the $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery drawn in October. Lottery officials were beginning to wonder whether anyone would show up with the ticket.

  The winner chose a one-time payment of $878 million, which will encourage millions of suckers to keep losing their money in state lotteries.  

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