Feinstein Snaps At Cruz: 'I'm Not A Sixth Grader' (VIDEO)  —  Republican Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, rankled the nerves of Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday during a contentious hearing on legislation, introduced by the California Democrat, that would reinstate a federal ban on assault weapons.

In meeting with Senate GOP, president says he's not setting a trap on deficit  —  President Obama pledged in a private meeting with Senate Republicans on Thursday to challenge his own party on entitlement reform.  —  He also asked Republicans not to believe conspiracy theories that he is pushing …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Cuts to court system ‘simply unsustainable,’ Justice Kennedy warns  —  The cuts to the court system from sequestration are “simply unsustainable,” Justice Anthony Kennedy warned Thursday.  —  The judicial branch is subject to a 5 percent cut under sequestration.

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 …

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 …

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.

Religion Among Americans Hits Low Point, As More People Say They Have No Religious Affiliation: Report  —  The number of Americans who claim to have no religious affiliation is the highest it has ever been since data on the subject started being collected in the 1930s, new research has found.

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 …

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 …

Senate report rips JPMorgan for skirting rules, disguising losses  —  JPMorgan skirted regulators, ignored mounting risk and misled investors on the way to losing billions of dollars on complex derivatives trades, according to a Senate investigation.  —  The report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee …

Rubio at CPAC: Liberals are “freeloaders”  —  In a rousing CPAC speech, Rubio mocks climate change, says life begins at conception, and declares he's not a bigot  —  Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., offered up a serving of red meat to the audience at CPAC, reiterating his support for “traditional marriage …