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By Dan Donahue, NBC Nightly News

Good Monday afternoon. Elon Musk has reached a deal to buy Twitter, Russia launched new attacks on Ukraine rail stations after a secret visit by top U.S. officials, and Donald Trump has been held in civil contempt by a New York judge.

Here is what’s in our Nightly Rundown.

Elon Musk reaches deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion

Twitter's board of directors has unanimously agreed to allow Elon Musk to acquire the social media platform in a deal worth approximately $44 billion, the company announced this afternoon.

Despite initial misgivings, the company cut a deal with the Telsa CEO after he said in a filing last week he had secured the financing to take Twitter private.

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said in a statement.

Musk said he wants to add new features, make the company’s algorithms open source, crack down on spam bots, and make the platform better at “authenticating all humans.”

“Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” Musk said.

Elon Musk buys Twitter for about $44 billion

Russian forces struck at least five railway stations in central and western Ukraine, the state railway company said, while Moscow’s offensive grinds on in the eastern part of the country.

The new attacks came hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made a secret trip to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday.

During the visit, Blinken pledged to Zelenskyy that U.S. diplomats would begin returning to Ukraine this week.

Speaking to reporters in Poland afterward, Blinken said, “We’re seeing that when it comes to Russian war aims, Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding.”

Austin stated explicitly that the U.S. wants to see “Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

A New York state judge has found Donald Trump in civil contempt of court for failing to turn over documents subpoenaed by the state attorney general's office.

The former president will be fined $10,000 per day until he complies with the subpoena, under the judge’s ruling.

The office of Attorney General Letitia James is seeking the documents as part of a civil probe into whether the Trump Organization manipulated financial statements.

James hailed the judge’s ruling as a “major victory.”

“Our investigation into Donald Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings will continue undeterred because no one is above the law,” James tweeted.

Trump plans to appeal the decision, according to his attorney Alina Habba. "We respectfully disagree with the court's decision today,” Habba said.

The Supreme Court heard arguments today in the case of a former Washington state high school football coach who lost his job after praying on the 50-yard line following games.

For years, Joseph Kennedy held prayer at the center of the field while coaching for Bremerton High School.

When the school asked him to find a more private place to pray, Kennedy declined. The district eventually gave Kennedy a poor performance evaluation, and he did not apply to renew his annual contract after the 2015 season.

Kennedy sued, claiming his rights to free expression and religious freedom had been violated.

The school district argued that students could have felt pressured to join Kennedy in prayer, opening the district up to lawsuits.

A Texas court has halted the execution of Melissa Lucio, who was convicted for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah. Lucio’s lawyers say the case was built on false medical evidence and a coerced confession.
Two wildfires in New Mexico have combined to burn more than 56,000 acres, as fires also burn in Arizona and Nebraska.
Beijing will begin mass testing most of its 21 million residents, Chinese authorities said, as Covid cases there rise.
The FAA said it will investigate a failed plane swap stunt that resulted in a crash landing in Arizona on Sunday. No one was injured.
Tonight’s Powerball jackpot has grown to an estimated $421 million.

Watch us this evening at 6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT on NBC, or check your local NBC station listing. After the broadcast, access Nightly News video on NBCNightlyNews.com or the NBC News app.

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