WASHINGTON — A special counsel investigation looking into the current president. A special counsel investigation looking into a former president. Congressional inquires into Afghanistan and the southern border.

Less than three weeks into the new year, all these investigations are starting to stack up in Washington.

So which ones should you be paying attention to? And which investigations could have the support of both parties?

INVESTIGATIONS GALORE

It's becoming increasingly hard to keep track of all the investigations unfolding in Congress.

When Republicans took over the House, some inquiries, like the committee that looked into the January 6th attacks, went away. However, new committees, like the "Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government," have formed in their place.

Indeed, investigations are only just beginning in Washington.

The probes range from inquiries into President Joe Biden and his family's business dealings to Biden's use of classified documents in the years after he left the White House as vice president.

There are inquiries into the spike in migrants at the southern border, the withdrawal from Afghanistan and political bias at the Department of Justice.

Another folder on social media companies and their influence has been created too.

WHY THEY MATTER

These investigations will be some of the most newsworthy events that come out of Washington these next few years.

With Democrats controlling the Senate and Republicans over the House, issuing a subpoena and forming a select committee will be easier than passing major pieces of legislation.

So which ones should you pay attention to?

While it may be easy to dismiss many of the probes as too political, new information can emerge from them, since Congress has the power to subpoena, and lying can result in jail time. One investigation you may want to watch is the one into social media companies.

Democrats and Republicans have been trying to better understand, for years, what makes it onto someone's news feed.

Republicans have already written to former executives at Twitter looking into whether some stories involving Biden's son, Hunter, were censored. Democrats, meanwhile, are interested in why hate speech can so easily spread online.

One social media site in the U.S., TikTok, is facing even more scrutiny, with Democrats and Republicans worried it is too closely connected to the Chinese Communist Party.

Several states have already banned state employees from using TikTok on official devices and Congress is mulling over the idea of even more restrictions.

Of course, all these inquiries are merely investigations led by Congress.

The attorney general is leading other, less public, inquiries as well. Chief among them is the special counsel investigations into Biden, as well as former President Donald Trump.

Those cases could be concluded by the end of this year.

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County sheriff says the rollover that seriously injured Tiger Woods was “purely an accident” on a downhill section of road known for crashes.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva says that stretch of road "has had quite a few accidents over the years," and that "this stretch of road is challenging," he added.

During a Facebook live press briefing Wednesday afternoon, Villanueva said there will be a cause determined for the accident, but Woods will not face a reckless driving charge.

"We don't contemplate any charges whatsoever in this crash. This remains an accident, accident is not a crime," Villanueva said.

The speed limit on that section of road is posted at 45mph, and Villanueva said "that is the maximum" and that depending on the conditions, drivers may need to go slower. The sheriff says they do not know how fast Woods was going and they hope to learn that after assessing data from the vehicle.

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s chief medical officer says Woods shattered bones in his lower right leg in multiple locations, with additional injuries in the ankle and foot.

A statement on his Twitter account says he was awake and recovering.

INDIANAPOLIS —

Here are some of the top moments from the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 19 (all times Eastern):

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5:25 p.m.

Oral Roberts has pulled off the first upset of the NCAA Tournament with a 75-72 overtime win over second-seeded Ohio State in the South Region.

It’s the school’s first NCAA win since 1974.

Kevin Obanor had 30 points, one more than teammate Max Abmas for the high-scoring Golden Eagles.

EJ Liddell had 23 points and 13 rebounds and Duane Washington had 18 points and 10 boards for the Buckeyes.

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5:00 p.m.

There’s been a sister sighting for Loyola Chicago’s first-round game against Georgia Tech.

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the Ramblers’ 101-year-old team chaplain, was rolled into the fieldhouse in her wheelchair bundled up in a yellow-and-red scarf and wearing a mask that read Loyola shortly before the opening tip Friday night.

Sister Jean became an icon during Loyola's Final Four run in 2018, but she hadn’t attended a game in person since the pandemic began. She recently was vaccinated but has continued to keep her distance from the team, delivering the pregame prayer virtually all season and again prior to the Ramblers’ game against the Yellow Jackets.

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4:55 p.m.

UCLA and Michigan State was the most-watched First Four game since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 68 teams in 2011, according to CBS and Turner Sports.

The networks said the Bruins overtime victory against Michigan State averaged 3 million viewers and peaked at 3.3 million from 11 p.m.-11:15 p.m. EDT, based on data from Nielsen.

Overall, the four games played Thursday and televised on TBS and truTV drew 7.6 million viewers across all platforms, including streaming.

Viewership was up 36% from 2019′s First Four, according to the networks. The entire First Four was played on one day for the first time in this tournament. Usually, two of the games are played on Tuesday and the other two on Wednesday when the tournament is in a normal schedule.

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2:10 p.m.

Players from several NCAA Tournament teams took a knee during the playing of the national anthem before their first-round games.

Most of players on 16th-seeded Drexel knelt for the anthem before the Dragons played Illinois at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum, and several Colgate players did the same before the they played third-seeded Arkansas at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

A few players also took a knee during the anthem before Florida-Virginia Tech at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

College athletes have not been shy about showing public support for social causes and even pushing back against perceived inequities by the NCAA. Earlier this week, several prominent men’s players got the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty trending to protest NCAA rules that ban athletes from earning money off their names, images and likenesses.

At the women’s tournament in San Antonio, players have pointed out how workout facilities have been far from equal to what has been provided to the men’s players.

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1:50 p.m.

Virginia has finally arrived in Indianapolis, the 68th and final team to do so.

The Cavaliers remained in Charlottesville after a positive COVID-19 test caused them to pull out of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament before a semifinal game against Georgia Tech last Thursday.

The Cavaliers have been testing daily since and were to practice at home in the morning for the first time since they paused team activities and then travel to the site of this year’s tournament. Their arrival puts them two sets of negative tests away from facing Ohio on Saturday night.

Virginia is technically still the reigning national champion because it won the title in 2019 and last year’s tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.

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12:40 p.m.

The first game of the first round between No. 7 seed Florida and 10th-seeded Virginia Tech is underway at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse and a cloudless day outside has brought a significant amount of natural light into the arena.

Hinkle Fieldhouse has windows circling the concourse level of the arena and shades have been pulled down at the south end to try and help keep the sun out of the players' eyes. But windows at the top of the arched-roof building are still allowing in sunlight.

It's the first time Hinkle has hosted NCAA Tournament games since 1940.

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