Panel approves assault weapons ban; Cruz, Feinstein get heated  —  The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a ban on the sale and manufacture of more than 150 types of semi-automatic weapons with military-style features Thursday in a party-line vote.  —  The 10-8 vote came after a heated exchange between …

Obama's outreach is nice, but where's the leadership?  —  So it was a good meeting.  House Republicans welcomed the chance for a frank exchange of ideas with President Obama on Wednesday.  Outreach is always positive, and more Republicans in this town need the opportunity to have an open dialogue with our president.

Dick Morris Delivers Bad News To Republicans: Give Up On Roe V. Wade  —  “Well, we lost,” said Republican strategist Dick Morris as he took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of suburban Washington, D.C., on Thursday.  And in order to win the next election …

Man in the News |  Jorge Mario Bergoglio: New Pope Theologically Conservative, but With a Common Touch  —  Like most of those in Argentina, he is a soccer fan, his favorite team being the underdog San Lorenzo squad.  Known for his outreach to the country's poor, he gave up a palace for a small apartment …

Chris Hayes to Take Over 8 P.M. Slot on MSNBC  —  Chris Hayes will take over the 8 p.m. time slot on MSNBC in the next month, the channel is expected to announce on Thursday morning, the day after the current host of that hour, Ed Schultz, said he was moving from the weekdays to the weekends.

Former Web Producer Indicted in California for Conspiring with “Anonymous” Members to Attack Internet News Site  —  A former web producer for a Tribune Company-owned television station in Sacramento, Calif., was charged today in an indictment for allegedly conspiring with members of the hacker group …

President Obama: I'm no Dick Cheney on drones  —  President Barack Obama's defense to Democratic senators complaining about how little his administration has told Congress about the legal justifications for his drone policy: Dick Cheney was worse.  —  That's part of what two senators …

Right-Wing Group Spent At Least $300,000 To Keep Scott Walker Ally on Wisconsin Supreme Court … The Club for Growth, a right-wing group that supports tax cuts for the rich, privatizing Social Security and writing Tea Party ideology into the Constitution, spent $300,000 to keep a key ally …

Paul chastises ‘stale and moss-covered’ GOP establishment  —  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday told conservative activists the Republican Party had grown “stale and moss covered” and said the GOP needs a more libertarian approach that makes freedom the movement's defining principle.

Why Gun Makers Fear the NRA  —  In the days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre on Dec. 14, executives with a half-dozen major U.S. gun manufacturers contacted the National Rifle Association.  The firearm industry representatives didn't call the NRA, which they support with millions …

Physicists say they have found long-sought Higgs boson  —  GENEVA - The search is all but over for a subatomic particle that is a crucial building block of the universe.  —  Physicists announced Thursday they believe they have discovered the subatomic particle predicted nearly a half-century ago …

Exclusive: Court Docs Reveal Blackwater's Secret CIA Past  —  It was the U.S. military's most notorious security contractor—but it may also have been a virtual extension of the CIA.  Eli Lake reports.  —  Last month a three-year-long federal prosecution of Blackwater collapsed.

U.S. Tax Cheats Nailed After Swiss Adviser Mails It In  —  Everybody knows the danger of sending things inadvertently in an e-mail.  Beda Singenberger's case shows you also have to be pretty careful when you mail things the old-fashioned way.  —  Over an 11-year period, federal prosecutors charge …