A Chinese spy balloon was seen flying over the US and Republicans removed a

Democratic Congresswoman from a committee. That's some of what we'll get to on the

seven from the Washington Post.

I'm Jeff Pierre. It's Friday, February 3rd.

Let's get you caught up today with these seven stories.

First up, confidence in police has dropped after the fatal beating of Tyree Nichols. Americans are more doubtful that police are properly and black people equally.

These are the findings from a new post-ABC poll.

This suggests that last month's beating in Memphis has impacted overall views of police.

And this decline appears to be driven by the changing views of white and Hispanic Americans. A suspected Chinese spy balloon was spotted flying over Montana this week.

That story number two. The Pentagon briefly considered shooting it down.

Before deciding it was too risky, the balloon's flight path goes over a number of

sensitive sites. A man in Billings, Montana spotted the unusual balloon in the

sky on Wednesday. He was able to zoom in and see it with his camera. And for

those of you who think this might just be the moon, it is not the moon, the moon is off to my right.

I can see it.

This is significantly smaller than the moon.

This sighting comes at a time of peak tension between the two world powers.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinking will also be traveling to Beijing next week,

and the visit is meant to help stabilize the U.S. China relationship.

A spy balloon in the U.S. China relationship.

A spy balloon in the U.S.

probably makes that a little harder.

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