QUICK HITS

1 Former speaker dies: Betty Boothroyd, the first — and so far only — female speaker of Britain’s House of Commons, has died. She was 93. Boothroyd, who presided over the Commons’ often raucous debates with no-nonsense humor between 1992 and 2000, died Sunday at a hospital in Cambridge. She dropped the tradition of wearing a shoulder-length white wig, and favored skirts over the knee-length breeches worn by her predecessors.

2 Slotkin declares for Senate: Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan says she’ll seek the state’s open Senate seat in 2024. Slotkin is the first high-profile candidate to run for the seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

3 Pending home sales up: U.S. pending home sales rose by the most since June 2020, potentially a temporary reprieve as lower mortgage rates in the month helped prop up demand. The National Association of Realtors’ index of contract signings to purchase previously owned homes increased 8.1% in January from a month earlier to 82.5, according to data released Monday. The jump beat all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists, which called for a 1% advance.

4 Williamson runs for president: Bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson, who brought quirky spiritualism to the 2020 presidential race, has announced she’s running for president again, becoming the first major Democrat to challenge President Joe Biden for his party’s nomination in 2024.

5 Cleanup pledged: Norfolk Southern’s leader said the railroad will begin tearing up tracks in East Palestine, Ohio, on March 1 and removing contaminated soil as pressure grows to stem the fallout from a derailment that spilled toxic chemicals across the rural town.