Vox is our next  —  Early last year, Melissa Bell, Matt Yglesias and I began wrestling with a question that had bugged all of us for a long time: why hadn't the Internet made the news better at delivering crucial context alongside new information?  —  This year, we're founding a new publication …

CBS Host Laughs In Ted Cruz's Face For Repeatedly Denying He Shut Down Government  —  CBS host Bob Schieffer's was driven nearly to a fit of giggles on Sunday after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) repeatedly refused to take responsibility for last year's government shutdown.

Exclusive: Google to Buy Artificial Intelligence Startup DeepMind for $400M  —  Google is shelling out $400 million to buy a secretive artificial intelligence company called DeepMind.  —  Google confirmed the deal after Re/code inquired about it, but declined to specify a price.

Rand Paul: Clintons should be judged for Bill's ‘predatory behavior’ with Lewinsky  —  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) suggested Sunday that the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal should give Americans pause when it comes to evaluating the Clinton legacy — and, by extension, Hillary Rodham Clinton's potential presidential campaign.

Grammys to Feature On-Air Weddings of 34 Couples  —  LOS ANGELES — At the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, pop's megastars will compete for the music industry's most prestigious trophy, and put on flashy performances that are sure to ricochet through social media.

Why Is the American Dream Dead in the South?  —  Upward mobility has stayed the same the past 50 years despite skyrocketing inequality.  But it's lower in the South (and Ohio) than anywhere else in the U.S.—or the rest of the developed world.  —  The top 1 percent aren't killing the American Dream.

What Drives Success?  —  A SEEMINGLY un-American fact about America today is that for some groups, much more than others, upward mobility and the American dream are alive and well.  It may be taboo to say it, but certain ethnic, religious and national-origin groups are doing strikingly better than Americans overall.

Mitch McConnell: It's ‘Irresponsible’ Not To Try To Hold The Debt Ceiling Hostage  —  Despite agreeing to a budget this month, it seems Congressional Republicans are not yet done holding the economic fate of the country hostage in order to pass aspects of its agenda.

Double Homicide Victims' Names Released  —  BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. (WSAZ) — The Cabell County Sheriff's office has released the names of two men killed in a shooting, Saturday afternoon.  —  Sheriff Tom McComas says Garrick Hopkins, 60, from Milton and his brother Carl Hopkins Jr., 61 …

How Americans can kill Obamacare, legalize pot: Column  —  Nobody is signing up, and everybody — in Colorado,at least — is smoking.  —  In his excellent book, Two Cheers For Anarchism, Professor James Scott writes: … That seems to be happening right now, in two very different areas.

Paranoia of the Plutocrats  —  Rising inequality has obvious economic costs: stagnant wages despite rising productivity, rising debt that makes us more vulnerable to financial crisis.  It also has big social and human costs.  There is, for example, strong evidence that high inequality leads to worse health and higher mortality.

Putin a better president than Obama: Romney  —  Mitt Romney thinks Vladimir Putin is better at being president than Barack Obama.  —  Romney, who lost the presidential race to Obama, told NBC that the Russian leader “outperformed” the president “time and time again on the world stage.”