Despite fiery CPAC speech, is Ted Cruz changing course?

Despite fiery CPAC speech, is Ted Cruz changing course?
7 fatally shot, gunman dead in southeastern Missouri
Ukraine conflict at 'crossroads' as troop deaths shake truce
Senate passes Homeland Security funds through Sept. 30
Attackers in Bangladesh hack to death American blogger
Congress aims for short-term Homeland Security bill
For Jeb Bush, the Q&A is the message
German Parliament approves Greece's bailout extension
Holder says U.S. malls should 'step up' security: CNN
Eight people found dead in murder-suicide in rural Missouri
Seattle-area high schools hit with threats, high school cancels classes
Indiana may allow 'baby boxes' for surrendering newborns
Congress edges toward domestic security funding patch
CPAC: Convention with history of controversy is underway
CPAC shows how GOP media strategy could backfire
Rand Paul calls out Jeb Bush on marijuana
Chris Christie turns to media-bashing at CPAC
Bill O’Reilly clarifies claim he saw nuns executed
Graffiti artist Banksy highlights condition of people living in Gaza

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 07:19 AM PST

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas used a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday to rail against the party establishment, calling himself a "disruptive app" such as Uber that would upend the political system. Delighting the assembled conservative shock troops, Cruz castigated the Republican leadership for selling out their principles by separating a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security from a measure that would roll back President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration

7 fatally shot, gunman dead in southeastern Missouri

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 11:03 AM PST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri State Highway Patrol says seven people have been killed in overnight shootings in southeastern Missouri and that the gunman is also dead.

Ukraine conflict at 'crossroads' as troop deaths shake truce

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 10:04 AM PST

International monitors said Friday the conflict in Ukraine was at a "crossroads" as further losses among government forces rattled a two-week-old truce just as it seemed to be gaining traction. The envoy to Ukraine for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the peace deal, told the UN Security Council that while there were encouraging signs, the country still risked all-out war. Russia formally annexed the territory in March 2014, triggering an international furore. The uprising in Ukraine's east, which has claimed at least 5,800 lives, began the following month.

Senate passes Homeland Security funds through Sept. 30

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 08:39 AM PST

The DHS has three weeks of funding hours before it would have run out.

Attackers in Bangladesh hack to death American blogger

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 07:55 AM PST

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger known for speaking out against religious extremism was hacked to death as he walked through Bangladesh's capital with his wife, police said Friday.

Congress aims for short-term Homeland Security bill

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 10:16 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans aimed Friday to approve a short-term spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security that would avert a partial agency shutdown hours before it was to begin.

For Jeb Bush, the Q&A is the message

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 02:17 AM PST

The former Florida governor's openness sets him apart from his likely 2016 opponents.

German Parliament approves Greece's bailout extension

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 06:07 AM PST

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Parliament overwhelmingly approved the four-month extension of Greece's financial bailout on Friday, despite unease over the new government in Athens.

Holder says U.S. malls should 'step up' security: CNN

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 05:05 AM PST

Shopping mall operators need to increase security through more staff, cameras and other techniques in light of threats made against the Mall of America in Minnesota and other shopping centers by Somali-based Islamist militants this week, outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said. "I certainly think we have to step up our sensitivities to what goes on in these commercial enterprises," Holder said in an interview with CNN that aired on Friday. "It would be the responsible thing for operators of these malls to increase their capabilities when it comes to keeping people safe who are just going about their everyday lives." In a separate interview with Politico, also published on Friday, Holder said he would push in his final weeks in office to lower the standard of proof for civil-rights offenses that would make it easier for the federal government to bring charges in future cases. The Justice Department recently closed its investigation into the shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, without filing charges against gunman George Zimmerman because of "insufficient evidence." "I think that if we adjust those standards, we can make the federal government a better backstop - make us more a part of the process in an appropriate way to reassure the American people that decisions are made by people who are really disinterested," he told Politico.

Eight people found dead in murder-suicide in rural Missouri

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 11:28 AM PST

A man shot and killed seven people in a house-to-house shooting spree in a sparsely populated area in rural Missouri before shooting himself, the state Highway Patrol said on Friday. Texas County Coroner Tom Whittaker told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that the victims of the rampage on Thursday night included three women and four men. Authorities also found an elderly woman dead of what appeared to be natural causes as they searched homes. "Anytime you see families that go to this level of violence, it's a shame." The events unfolded around 10 p.m. Thursday night when the Texas County Sheriff's Department responded to a call of a disturbance involving a weapon at a residence in the unincorporated community of Tyrone in the south-central part of the state.

Seattle-area high schools hit with threats, high school cancels classes

Posted: 27 Feb 2015 10:59 AM PST

Two Seattle-area high schools were evacuated on Friday after receiving security threats, and another high school in Washington state heightened its security after a threatening message was scrawled on a bathroom wall. Interlake High School in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue was put on lockdown and classroom doors were locked with students inside, the Bellevue School District said in a statement on its website. "At this time the District and the Bellevue Police Department have made the decision to close Interlake High for the remainder of the school day and to release students," the district said. Bellevue Police said on Twitter they were investigating "Facebook rumors of a shooting" at the school but said the department had received no emergency calls of shots fired.

Indiana may allow 'baby boxes' for surrendering newborns

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 10:46 PM PST

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — On the outside, the metal box looks like an oversized bread container. But what's inside could save an abandoned newborn's life.

Congress edges toward domestic security funding patch

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 06:06 PM PST

By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives were planning to pursue on Friday a temporary funding bill to keep the lights on at the U.S. domestic security agency for three weeks, postponing the threat of a partial agency shutdown. As the clock ticked toward a midnight Friday deadline for funding the Department of Homeland Security, lawmakers said a stop-gap extension would buy time to try to work out differences between the Republican-controlled House and the Senate. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who has insisted on a full Homeland Security funding bill free of immigration reform restrictions that have caused weeks of delay, said on Thursday he would refuse to allow such negotiations with the House.

CPAC: Convention with history of controversy is underway

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 05:32 PM PST

Since the nonprofit American Conservative Union hosted its first Conservative Political Action Conference in 1973, CPAC has morphed into a massive annual event, with everyone from bloggers to national networks enticed by the opportunity to observe conservatives in their natural habitat in hopes of witnessing something controversial. And CPAC, for its part, rarely disappoints.

CPAC shows how GOP media strategy could backfire

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 05:54 PM PST

The RNC made avoiding the mainstream media a top priority for the 2016 cycle.

Rand Paul calls out Jeb Bush on marijuana

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 01:37 PM PST

In interview with Yahoo News' Katie Couric, the GOP senator slams the ex-Florida governor.

Chris Christie turns to media-bashing at CPAC

Posted: 26 Feb 2015 04:07 PM PST

As the governor of New Jersey, Christie told her he has reporters from The New York Times covering him every day and accused journalists of taking sides on issues he has stood up against. "When you do things like I've done in New Jersey, take on a lot of these special interests that they support they just want to kill you and that's what they tried to do to me every day and here's the bad news for them, here I am and I'm still standing," Christie, 52, said.