Gaining Ground: Americans' Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care After the Affordable Care Act's First Open Enrollment Period  —  A new Commonwealth Fund survey finds that in the wake of the Affordable Care Act's first open enrollment period, significantly fewer working-age adults …

CNN Host Confronts Rick Perry On His Obama ‘Conspiracy’ Theory (VIDEO)  —  CNN host Kate Bolduan confronted Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) in an interview that aired Thursday about his suggestion that President Barack Obama may have engineered the current immigration crisis at the Texas border.

America's Shifting Statehouse Press  —  Can New Players Compensate for Lost Legacy Reporters?  —  Within America's 50 state capitol buildings, 1,592 journalists inform the public about the actions and issues of state government, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.

Jill Abramson Talks Obama Secrecy and Her New York Times Firing  —  Two months after her abrupt exit from the Gray Lady, the former executive editor delivered a speech about how different Obama is from Bush—and why she was dismissed from her post.  —  Aside from her unceremonious firing …

Washington man first to buy legal weed in Spokane is fired after spotted on news  —  Mike Boyer, 30, was canned Tuesday after waiting 20 hours to buy pot and immediately going home to smoke.  He was called up for urine analysis after he was spotted on TV buying the pot.  Boyer told The News he ‘regrets nothing.’

Have the Anti-Obamacare Ads Backfired?  —  According to the recent report of nonpartisan analysts Kantar Media CMAG, ACA opponents have spent 450 million dollars on anti-Obamacare ads so far.  Spending on negative ads outpaced positive ones by more than 15 to 1.  This map shows the spending on negative ads in each state.

Don't Knock the Reform Conservatives  —  Skeptics are right that the new crop of thinkers offer a bigger change in tone than substance.  That change is reason enough for optimism.  —  The conservative intellectual Reihan Salam has shrewdly observed that people trying to reform institutions …

Major Union Drops Partnership With United Negro College Fund Because Of The Kochs  —  “This was a betrayal of everything the UNCF stands for,” AFSCME president says.  —  Shannon Stapleton / Reuters / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — One of the nation's largest public-sector unions is severing …

McDaniel backers killing his political future  —  By continuing the fight over the primary, Chris McDaniel and his supporters are risking a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, not to mention McDaniel's own political future.  —  CONNECT  —  Chris McDaniel, candidate for the U.S. Senate …

Justice declines to pursue allegations that CIA monitored Senate Intel staff  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has decided not to pursue accusations that the CIA spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee and allegations that committee staff slipped classified documents from a secure agency facility, McClatchy has confirmed.

Todd Akin's only regret  —  “Doubt me?  Google 'stress and infertility,” Akin writes of his rape comments.  AP Photo  —  Close  —  Todd Akin takes it back.  —  He's not sorry.  —  Two years after the Missouri Republican's comments on rape, pregnancy and abortion doomed his campaign and fueled a …

Sportsman bill dies in Senate  —  The Senate killed a bipartisan bill Thursday designed to boost hunting and fishing protections — a victim of a long-running war over amendments that came in the shadow of gun politics.  —  The sportsmen's bill — a political boon for its chief Democratic sponsor …

Restore trust to douse the fire in Gaza  —  THE LATEST mini-war between Israel and the Hamas movement is as unwinnable for either side as previous rounds in 2009 and 2012.  Though it has stockpiled thousands of rockets and some longer-range missiles, Hamas lacks the ability to inflict serious damage …