Edward Koch, Former Mayor of New York, Dies at 88  —  Edward I. Koch, the master showman of City Hall, who parlayed shrewd political instincts and plenty of chutzpah into three tumultuous terms as mayor of New York with all the tenacity, zest and combativeness that personified his city of golden dreams, died Friday morning at age 88.

Hagel delivers shaky performance  —  Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) delivered a shaky performance at his confirmation hearing to lead the Pentagon while enduring a difficult day of grilling by his former Republican colleagues.  —  Hagel stumbled over some answers — describing Iran as having a …

POLICE: SUICIDE BOMBING AT US EMBASSY, 2 DEAD … ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance of the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital on Friday, killing himself and one other person, officials said.  —  U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardione …

Economy Adds 157,000 Jobs  —  WASHINGTON—The job market plodded along in January, signaling slow economic growth to start the year.  —  Employers added 157,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday.  The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households …

IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family  —  (CNSNews.com) - In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.

Paranoid NRA Releases Enemy List - Are YOU On It?  —  Enemy lists...They go back as far as politics have been a part of our culture.  Nixon, Joseph McCarthy, Pol Pot, Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who is, we believe, still dead.

AP Interview: Clinton raps Benghazi critics  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is leaving office with a slap at critics of the Obama administration's handling of the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya.  She told The Associated Press that critics …

Ted Cruz's Bogus Attack on Hagel  —  Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (L) talks with committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) (R) as they and former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) arrive for Hagel's confirmation hearing to become the next secretary of defense on Capitol Hill January 31, 2013 in Washington, DC.

Yahoo News interview: Mitch McConnell on immigration, guns, bourbon and Sen. Ashley Judd  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week expressed firm support for a guest worker program to help bring in more low-skilled workers for farm labor and other industries.

“Gun Violence” And Still More Violence To The Truth At The Times  —  The NY Times is now fretting that focusing on the link between mental health and gun violence may not be “fair”.  What is striking is that when the Times opines on “gun violence” and the need for policies including …

Pastor Apologizes For Snide Remark On Meal Receipt  —  St. Louis woman says she got waitress fired for online leak  —  The St. Louis pastor responsible for the credit card receipt heard 'round the Internet termed her snide scribblings a “lapse in my character and judgment,” …

Obama Campaign, DNC End Year in Debt  —  President Barack Obama's re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee ended 2012 with large debts.  —  Campaign finance reports filed Thursday show Obama's campaign ended the year with $5.8 million in debt while his party's political arm, the DNC, owed $21.4 million.

‘Steven Tyler Act’ proposed in Hawaii  —  HONOLULU (AP) - More than two-thirds of Hawaii's state senators have signed onto a bill to protect celebrities from paparazzi, giving famous faces power to sue over unwanted beach photos and other snapshots on the islands.

Alabama, North Dakota, Wyoming Most Conservative States  —  Americans slightly less conservative, slightly more liberal  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Alabama, North Dakota, and Wyoming were the most conservative states in the union in 2012, with between 49% and 50% of residents in each identifying their ideology as conservative.

Senator Has Long Ties to Donor Under Scrutiny  —  Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, a wealthy Florida eye surgeon, has always been happy to help out his friend, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.  —  He rushed to the senator's side when Mr. Menendez's mother died, flew him around on his private jet …