Eric Holder To Step Down As Attorney General  —  Eric Holder Jr., the nation's first black U.S. attorney general, is preparing to announce his resignation Thursday after a tumultuous tenure marked by civil rights advances, national security threats, reforms to the criminal justice system …

VIDEO RELEASED: SC trooper charged with felony in shooting at traffic stop over seat belt violation  —  COLUMBIA, SC — An S.C. trooper who stopped a man for a seat belt violation outside Columbia and then shot him - apparently without provocation - was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault …

Cheney rips Obama for ‘Ferguson’  —  Dick Cheney says it's “outrageous” that President Barack Obama mentioned the summer's unrest in Ferguson, Mo., while speaking about ISIL during a speech at the United Nations.  —  “I was stunned,” the former vice president said on Wednesday during an interview on Fox News' “Hannity.”

Zoo in coverup after groundhog dropped by de Blasio dies  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio couldn't hold onto the Staten Island Zoo's squirming groundhog.  —  Mayor Bill de Blasio has groundhog blood on his hands!  —  A week after Hizzoner dropped Staten Island Chuck in front of a crowd of spectators on Feb. 2 …

Romney 2016 is for real  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL 2016 ELECTIONS MITT ROMNEY  —  Is Mitt Romney, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination and lost in 2008, ran again and won the nomination but lost the general election in 2012, really thinking about running yet again for president in 2016?

SD Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Somehow Plagiarized Biographical Sentence  —  Mary Burke had her own policies plagiarized.  —  Susan Wismer For South Dakota / Via Facebook: SusanForSD  —  Democratic gubernatorial South Dakota nominee appears to have plagiarized parts of her issues page …

Conservatives Launch ‘Unprecedented’ Campaign Against Pro-Marriage Equality Republicans  —  National Organization for Marriage, Family Research Council, and CitizenLink lash out against candidates “working to actively alienate the Republican base.”  —  Olaf Faeskorn/Tisei for Congress

Ferguson police chief apologizes to Michael Brown's parents  —  (CNN) — Ferguson, Missouri, Police Chief Thomas Jackson apologized Thursday to the parents of Michael Brown, as well as to any peaceful protesters who feel he didn't do “enough to protect their constitutional right to protest.”

New GOP ad campaign: ‘Republicans Have Feelings’  —  Vinny Minchillo, a Republican campaign strategist based in Texas, isn't the most famous GOP consultant in the country, but he did claim to have “reinvented political advertising” while working for Mitt Romney's failed presidential campaign in 2012.

Gabby Giffords's Gun-Control Ads Are Being Criticized Because They're Working  —  Strange but true: getting shot in the head will make a person want to defeat political candidates who oppose gun control laws.  Actually, getting shot in the head is usually fatal.

The Anti-Vaccination Epidemic  —  Whooping cough, mumps and measles are making an alarming comeback, thanks to seriously misguided parents.  —  Almost 8,000 cases of pertussis, better known as whooping cough, have been reported to California's Public Health Department so far this year.

Colorado's Politics Are as Divided as They Get  —  Obama no more popular in the Centennial State than elsewhere  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Of the handful of extremely close U.S. Senate races this year, the battle over the Colorado seat being defended by Democratic Sen. Mark Udall is one of the closest …

Forest Service says media needs photography permit in wilderness areas, alarming First Amendment advocates  —  The U.S. Forest Service has tightened restrictions on media coverage in vast swaths of the country's wild lands, requiring reporters to pay for a permit and get permission before shooting …

A Terror Cell That Avoided the Spotlight  —  WASHINGTON — Some time last year, a Kuwaiti man in his early 30s who had spent more than a decade hiding from the American government arrived in northwest Syria, where he met up with other members of Al Qaeda who had begun putting down roots in a country torn by two years of death and chaos.