Oregon Mother: I Can't Afford Obamacare For Myself, 1-Year-Old Son  —  PORTLAND, Ore. (CBS Seattle/AP) — One Oregon mother says that she is unable to afford health insurance for her and her 18-month-old son because it's too expensive.  —  Kate Holly, 33, tells KOIN-TV that she originally …

Mayor de Blasio Looks Forward  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio took charge of New York City on Wednesday with a forceful Inaugural Address and pledged to begin the head-on attack on “the inequality crisis” as he had promised.  He repeated the bullet points from his campaign, but insisted …

Weed: Been There.  Done That.  —  For a little while in my teenage years, my friends and I smoked marijuana.  It was fun.  I have some fond memories of us all being silly together.  I think those moments of uninhibited frolic deepened our friendships.  —  But then we all sort of moved away from it.

Clay Aiken ‘actively considering’ run for Congress: sources  —  Clay Aiken is “actively considering” a run for Congress, sources say.  (Blade file photo by Michael Key)  —  Gay singer and “American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken is actively considering a bid to represent North Carolina's 2nd …

I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot  —  Hello.  My name is Chris Kluwe, and for eight years I was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings.  In May 2013, the Vikings released me from the team.  At the time, quite a few people asked me if I thought …

Climate to be 2014 battlefield  —  Climate change and energy will be a major policy battleground in the 2014 midterms, advocates on both sides of the issue promise.  —  Republicans like Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) plan to go on the attack against President Obama's climate action plan …

Ezra Klein Is Said to Plan to Leave Washington Post  —  Ezra Klein, an analyst, columnist and television commentator who runs The Washington Post's Wonkblog, is making plans to leave the newspaper after failing to win support for a new website he wanted to create within the company …

‘They had no idea if my insurance was active or not!’:  Obamacare confusion reigns as frustrated patients walk out of hospitals without treatment  — MailOnline spoke with patients who were told they would have to pay their bills in full if they couldn't prove they had insurance

Hezbollah upgrades threat to Israel with guided missile systems  —  Some components of a powerful antiship missile system have already been moved to Lebanon, according to previously undisclosed intelligence, say current and former U.S. officials.

A GOP Year  —  A White House official once noted that the problem with the national press corps is it can only keep one idea in its mind at a time.  And while that's often true, it's not at the moment in regard to Republicans.  —  Today's media line on the Republican party is it faces irreversible decline.

NSA seeks to build quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption  —  In room-size metal boxes ­secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical …

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates hurt in fall  —  (CNN) - Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was back home on Thursday after injuring his neck in a fall on New Year's Day.  —  Gates accidentally fell and fractured his first vertebrae at his home in Washington state …

Find Friends Abuse  —  When we first built Snapchat, we had a difficult time finding other friends that were using the service.  We wanted a way to find friends in our address book that were also using Snapchat - so we created Find Friends.  Find Friends is an optional service that asks Snapchatters …

Rob Ford registers to run, claims he is best Toronto mayor ‘ever’  —  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford keeps promise to run for re-election and wants to be judged on his fiscal record, but won't discuss his conduct … Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, with his brother Doug Ford, left, files his nomination papers at Toronto City Hall.

Eleven attorneys general slam Obama healthcare fixes as illegal  —  Eleven GOP attorneys general say the Obama administration is breaking the law by repeatedly making changes to ObamaCare without going through Congress.  —  The attorneys general specifically criticize President Obama's executive action …

APNewsBreak: Adding a new baby to plan not easy  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — There's another quirk in the Obama administration's new health insurance system: It lacks a way for consumers to quickly and easily update their coverage for the birth of a baby and other common life changes.

Liberals find comfort level in ‘NPR of gun clubs’  —  Marlene Hoeber is feisty, tattooed, transgender, a self-described feminist, a queer activist - and a crack shot with her favorite “toys,” guns of just about every kind.  —  One thing she's not - and proud of it - is a member of the National Rifle Association.

Democrats in 2014: The Party of John Edwards  —  In his inaugural address Wednesday, incoming New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to establish an intellectual pedigree for his focus on economic inequality.  He invoked Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt …

Right Now, It's as Cold in Canada as Where Our Rover Is on Mars  —  Canada is having a cold snap at the moment.  This week, in Southern Manitoba, the temperature reached a blisteringly frigid -31 degrees Celsius, or nearly -24 Fahrenheit.  (Wind chill values in Winnipeg …

Qaeda-Aligned Militants Threaten Key Iraqi Cities  —  BAGHDAD — Radical Sunni militants aligned with Al Qaeda threatened Thursday to seize control of Falluja and Ramadi, two of the most important cities in Iraq, setting fire to police stations, freeing prisoners from jail and occupying mosques …