Boehner warns House GOP will be weaker without immigration reform  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) urged their House Republican colleagues to pass immigration reform legislation in a closed-door meeting Wednesday, with the Speaker arguing that the party would be …

Americans More Pro-Immigration Than in Past  —  Record-low 35% want flow decreased; support for increasing it now 23%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — As House Republicans and Democrats each met separately this week to consider how to handle immigration reform, Americans remain more accepting of immigration than they were even a few years ago.

Ex-Sanford police chief: Zimmerman probe ‘taken away from us’  —  (CNN) — The George Zimmerman investigation was hijacked “in a number of ways” by outside forces, said the former police chief of Sanford, Florida.  —  Bill Lee, who testified Monday in Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial …

Billionaire Koch Brother Says Eliminating The Minimum Wage Will Help The Poor  —  A conservative mogul worth $43 billion says he knows the secret to helping poor people.  According to Charles Koch, the U.S. needs to get rid of the minimum wage, which he counts as a major obstacle to economic growth.

House blocks enforcement of light bulb standards  —  The House on Wednesday voted to block the enforcement of light bulb standards that many say would effectively force people to buy more expensive compact fluorescent bulbs.  —  Just like last year, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) …

‘Free Jahar’ Chant As Boston Bombing Suspect Heads To Court  —  BOSTON (CBS/AP) - A small group of demonstrators showed up at Moakley Federal Courthouse in South Boston on Wednesday to show support for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.  —  Tsarnaev appeared in court for his first public hearing.

Spitzer Leads Stringer in Comptroller Race: Poll  —  Former Governor Who Resigned After Scandal Is Frontrunner  —  Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer leads Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer by nine percentage points in the race for New York City comptroller, according to a Wall Street Journal-NBC 4 New York-Marist poll.

Carry Forward  —  Illinois joins the rest of the states in permitting concealed guns.  —  “This is a historic, significant day for law-abiding gun owners,” the Associated Press quotes Rep. Brandon Phelps as saying.  “They finally get to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

Booker raises $4.6M in 2nd quarter  —  Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) raised a staggering $4.6 million in the second quarter of the cycle and now has $4.5 million cash on hand for his Senate campaign in New Jersey.  —  The haul may be enough to vault him ahead of his opponents in fundraising.

GOP bill would defund schools with rules against playing with imaginary guns  —  Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) introduced legislation this week to block federal funding for schools that enforce rules which punish students for playing with imaginary weapons.  —  The Student Protection Act …

US-Egypt fighter jet deal ‘on track’  —  The US is going ahead with plans to deliver four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt despite the political unrest in the country, senior American officials say.  —  This comes as Washington is continuing to evaluate last week's overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi by the army.

The Decline of Black Power in the South  —  To understand the depth of the damage that the Supreme Court's June 25 decision, Shelby County v. Holder, has inflicted on the voting rights of African-Americans, you have to measure it against the backdrop of the takeover of state legislatures, primarily in the South, by the Republican Party.

Exclusive: Yahoo seeks to reveal its fight against NSA Prism requests  —  SUNNYVALE — In a rare legal move, Yahoo (YHOO) is asking a secretive U.S. surveillance court to let the public see its arguments in a 2008 case that played an important role in persuading tech companies to cooperate …

Filner Asked To Resign Over Sexual-Harassment Claims  —  At least three staunch supporters of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner are asking him to resign over allegations of sexual harassment, KPBS has learned.  —  Former Councilwoman Donna Frye, who was a member of Filner's staff until she resigned in April …

The NSA slide you haven't seen  —  Recent debate over U.S. government surveillance has focused on the information that American technology companies secretly provide to the National Security Agency.  But that is only one of the ways the NSA eavesdrops on international communications.