Christie reveals secret stomach surgery to lose weight  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie secretly underwent lap-band stomach surgery to aggressively slim down for the sake of his wife and kids, he revealed to The Post last night.  —  The Garden State governor agreed to the operation …

Berry, DeJesus, Knight found alive, police source confirms  —  Cheers as Amanda Berry, Gina Dejesus, MIchelle Knight found alive  —  CLEVELAND, Ohio — Long-missing Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive.  —  Berry called police Monday afternoon and frantically told …

A Benghazi bombshell  —  The Obama administration wants to consign the Benghazi terrorist attack to the history books, but this week three State Department officials will tell Congress that the Obama administration's version of history is false — and that the falsehoods it told the American people were willful and deliberate.

Brady resigns as Illinois GOP chairman amid gay marriage controversy  —  Pat Brady, the chairman of the Illinois GOP announced his resignation amid controversy over his support for gay marriage legislation.  (WGN-TV)  —  Pat Brady, the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party …

Flake willing to support background checks, with changes to internet sales  —  Washington (CNN) - Republican Sen. Jeff Flake told CNN he is willing to reverse his opposition to expanding background checks for guns if the Senate bill's sponsors change a provision dealing with internet sales.

G.O.P. Is Readying a New Offensive Over Health Care Law  —  WASHINGTON — As the administration struggles to put in place the final, complex piece of President Obama's signature health care law, an endeavor on a scale not seen since Medicare's creation nearly a half-century ago …

Lauryn Hill Blames Slavery as She's Jailed for $500,000 Unpaid Tax Bill  —  By Dominic Gover: Subscribe to Dominic's RSS feed  —  Lauryn Hill outside Newark court in New Jersey  —  Reclusive soul superstar Lauryn Hill has been jailed over an enormous unpaid tax bill.

Linguists identify 15,000-year-old ‘ultraconserved words’  —  You, hear me!  Give this fire to that old man.  Pull the black worm off the bark and give it to the mother.  And no spitting in the ashes!  —  It's an odd little speech.  But if you went back 15,000 years and spoke these words …

Boy who held pencil like gun suspended  —  School has “zero tolerance” weapons policy  —  SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - A Suffolk school suspended a second grader for pointing a pencil at another student and making gun noises.  —  Seven-year-old Christopher Marshall says he was playing …

Air Force Brochure Tells Sexual Assault Victims to ‘Submit’  —  An Air Force brochure on sexual assault advises potential victims not to fight off their attackers.  —  “It may be advisable to submit [rather] than resist,” reads the brochure (.pdf), issued to airmen at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina …

GOP Benghazi hearings a partisan disgrace  —  Then House Republicans can testify en masse and offer a group apology for mocking and ignoring Clinton's warning.  —  The latest Issa public relations event, under the guise of a congressional hearing about the assault on the U.S Consulate in Benghazi …

In Virginia, Terry McAuliffe's Memoir Comes Back to Haunt Him  —  The Virginia gubernatorial candidate almost missed the birth of one daughter to attend a bold-faced D.C. party—according to his own memoir.  David Freedlander reports on his self-Borking book.

Gun control ads have Democrats worrying  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's aides met recently with staffers of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to warn them: Targeting vulnerable Democrats like Arkansas's Mark Pryor on gun control could backfire on the party, several sources told POLITICO.

STUDY: Media Ignore Climate Context Of Midwest Floods … By Jill Fitzsimmons & Shauna Theel, via Media Matters  —  Less Than 3 Percent Of Midwest Flood Stories Mention Climate Change  —  ABC, NBC And CNN Entirely Ignore Climate Connection.  ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN devoted 74 full segments …

Man who roughed up Obama finally speaks  —  WASHINGTON — It took 849 days for the man who threw the elbow heard 'round the world to finally talk about it.  —  “I didn't want that to define my life,” said Reynaldo Decerega, 40.  “I had no desire to bring attention to myself in an accident that caused somebody pain.

Bill Clinton: Stop obsessing over Hillary  —  Bill Clinton's getting tired of all the speculation over whether his wife, Hillary, will run for president in 2016.  —  The former president hasn't shied away from encouraging his wife to seek the White House but in an appearance at a fiscal policy summit today …

Boehner on Sanford: House members 'don't get to choose' their colleagues  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday offered lukewarm support for Mark Sanford on the day of South Carolina's House special election, saying the former governor's political future was now up to the voters.

Rand Paul, Marco Rubio face 2016 bind  —  Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio are facing a big obstacle if they seek the White House in 2016 — and it's not each other.  —  State laws could force the two GOP senators into a difficult choice: run for president or run for reelection to the Senate that same year.

Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware  —  Pace of Decline Slows in Past Decade  —  CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW  —  National rates of gun homicide and other violent gun crimes are strikingly lower now than during their peak in the mid-1990s, paralleling a general decline in violent crime …

Chapin teacher got $85,000 in flag stomping deal  —  CHAPIN, SC — Lexington-Richland 5 paid former Chapin High teacher Scott Compton √ $85,000 to avoid a legal challenge, part of a settlement that led to his resignation after he stomped on an American flag during a class lesson.

New York City gun giveaway planned by Armed Citizen Project  —  The nonprofit's founder, Kyle Coplen, wants to give New Yorkers in high-crime areas a $200 shotgun and free weapons training, provided that they pass background checks.  —  Kyle Coplen, who founded the Armed Citizen Project in January …