Obama's higher ed plan — a power grab, not a shake-up  —  President Obama has announced a plan that he claims will make “college more affordable, tackle rising costs, and improve value for students and their families.”  The key elements of his plan are (1) a federal college-rating system …

WWII vet, beaten by teens outside Eagles Lodge, dies  —  Author: Ian Cull, KXLY4 Multimedia Journalist, ianc@kxly.com  —  WWII veteran Delbert Belton survived being wounded in action during the Battle of Okinawa only to be beaten and left for dead by two teens at the Eagles Lodge in Spokane on Wednesday evening.

Obama tells CNN key decisions nearing on Syria, Egypt  —  (CNN) — The time is nearing for a potentially definitive U.S. response to alleged Syrian government atrocities and an increasingly violent military crackdown in Egypt, President Barack Obama said in an exclusive interview broadcast Friday on CNN's “New Day.”

George Zimmerman Shops For Tactical Shotgun  —  SHOPS FOR TACTICAL SHOTGUN  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  George Zimmerman was on the hunt today — for a shotgun ... TMZ has learned.  —  Zimmerman went to Kel-Tec in Cocoa, Florida ... a gun manufacturing company.  We're told he was asking questions …

A New Strategy to Take on ObamaCare  —  A coalition of conservatives believes that ‘delay’ is more likely to succeed than ‘defund.’  —  The Republicans determined to defund ObamaCare are getting a little competition in the ideas department.  Maybe there's hope for progress against the president's health-care law after all.

Transcript of President Obama's interview on “New Day”  —  (CNN) — OBAMA: All right.  We're ready?  OK.  —  CUOMO: All right.  Let's begin with why you're here in Syracuse, why you're doing this particular bus tour what do you believe you can do to help lower the cost of college …

Al Gore isn't even honest about his own movie.  —  In case you've forgotten, “Al Gore was vice president of the United States from 1993-2001.”  The Washington Post's Ezra Klein delivers that news in setting up an interview with Gore, who is known these days mostly as an alarmist advocate of global warmism.

UPS to End Health Coverage for Some Spouses  —  United Parcel Service Inc. is ending health-insurance benefits for U.S. nonunion employees' spouses who can get coverage elsewhere.  It blames the change on the new health-care law.  —  UPS estimates that 15,000 of the 33,000 spouses it covers …

Newly confirmed UN ambassador absent from Syria emergency meeting  —  Samantha Power, America's new ambassador to the United Nations, skipped a major Security Council meeting Wednesday on the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, a move that drew sharp criticism considering …

Theater owner won't show ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler'  —  Boutwell has policy against showing Fonda movies  —  Last weekend's top movie for ticket sales isn't coming to Hardin County.  —  Lee Daniels' The Butler" brought in an estimated $25 million on its opening weekend with its portrayal of Cecil Gaines …

Amazon Is Said to Have Tested a Wireless Network  —  Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has tested a new wireless network that would allow customers to connect its devices to the Internet, according to people with knowledge of the matter.  —  The wireless network, which was tested in Cupertino …

Dems watch as Christie rolls  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has made little secret that he wants a resounding win in his reelection this year as a show of strength for his all-but-assumed 2016 presidential candidacy.  —  And Democrats appear perfectly willing to comply.

Tom Coburn: Obama “Getting Perilously Close” To The Standard For Impeachment  —  “If it continues, I think we're going to have another constitutional crisis in our country in terms of the presidency.”  —  View Video ›  —  Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said Wednesday …

Assad Calls Obama's Bluff  —  The timing was probably not a coincidence, falling as it did on two anniversaries.  August 18, 2011, was when President Obama first demanded Syrian president Bashar al-Assad step aside, and August 20 last year was when Obama warned that the use of chemical weapons would “change my calculus.”

Scientist: Al Gore ‘got it wrong’  —  A Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) expert says Al Gore goofed during his widely circulated Washington Post interview on global warming.  —  Gore, noting stronger storms fueled by climate change, told the paper “the hurricane scale used to be 1-5 and now they're adding a 6.”

This Age of Bubbles  —  So, another BRIC hits the wall.  Actually, I've never much liked the whole “BRIC” — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — concept: Russia, which is basically a petro-economy, doesn't belong there at all, and there are large differences among the other three.

As a Democrat, I am disgusted with President Obama  —  I voted for Obama reluctantly, but never did I imagine he would become another Richard Nixon  —  What are you thinking, Mr President?  —  Is this really the legacy you want for yourself: the chief executive who trampled rights …