Early voting in Ohio blocked (UPDATE)  —  UPDATE 6:10 p.m. Justice Elena Kagan turned down without comment a separate request by Ohio's legislature for the same kind of order postponing some of the early voting options.  The legislature has been allowed into the controversy only as a friend-of-the court, not as a full party.

Why Obama Can't Say His Spies Underestimated ISIS  —  On “60 Minutes,” the president faulted his spies for failing to predict the rise of ISIS.  There's one problem with that statement: The intelligence analysts did warn about the group.  —  Nearly eight months ago, some of President Obama's …

Zimmerman Family Values  —  Soon after George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin more than two years ago, George's loyal family learned that sharing his name meant sharing the blame.  It also meant a surreal new life filled with constant paranoia, get- rich-quick schemes, and lots and lots of guns.

Hong Kong “hands up, don't shoot” emulation of Ferguson protests is such a powerful image: pic.twitter.com/1Sk27MO1Y2  —  Hong Kong's protesters have good reason to put their hands up: police are using what many observers describe as an unprecedented level of force against the demonstrations …

White House Intruder Got Farther Than First Reported, Official Says  —  WASHINGTON — A man who jumped the White House fence this month made it far deeper into the president's home than previously disclosed, overpowering a female Secret Service agent inside the North Portico entrance …

Senate Update: When Should Democrats Panic?  —  The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll always makes news and with good reason: The pollster that conducts it, Selzer & Company, is among the best in the country, according to FiveThirtyEight's pollster ratings.  On Saturday evening …

No ruling in bid to make Dems fill Senate candidate vacancy  —  Plaintiff a no-show in election challenge suit  —  A three-judge Shawnee County panel did not decide Monday whether Kansas Democrats should be required to pick a replacement for Chad Taylor, who dropped out of the closely …

Ted Cruz Is Prepping a Foreign Policy-Focused Presidential Campaign  —  The junior senator from Texas thinks he has found a policy “sweet spot” to anchor a 2016 run.  —  LINES TO SHARE  — On 2016, one Ted Cruz aide said, 'At this point it's 90/10 he's in.'

Married female teacher, 32, is jailed for less than two years for having sex with two students and flashing a third teenager  — Lauren Harrington-Cooper pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to having sex with students in the Wyoming Valley West School District  — The married English teacher …

The Revenge of Rand Paul  —  The Senator has fought to go mainstream with the ideology that he shares with his father.  How far can that strategy take him? … “You don't need to conduct me so hard—I'm right here.”  —  BUY OR LICENSE » … “So how does that eightfold path get us back on the Garden State?”

A tense Ferguson fears the worst is yet to come  —  Beauty Town has an elaborate video surveillance system that displays 16 angles of the store, but the cameras are better at capturing crime than at preventing it.  —  The beauty shop has been looted multiple times since a white Ferguson police officer shot an unarmed black man Aug. 9.

Ferguson Demands High Fees To Turn Over City Files  —  2 photos  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials in Ferguson, Missouri, are charging nearly 10 times the cost of some of their own employees' salaries before they will agree to turn over files under public records laws about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The stars align for baby Charlotte  —  Leading astrologers say that Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky is destined for a future working on social justice and will enjoy a strong relationship with her proud grandparents, Hillary and Bill.  —  After Chelsea Clinton and Mark Mezvinsky's daughter …

Saving California One Republican At A Time  —  SHARES  —  California is morphing into a warmer Detroit with beaches and pneumatic blondes, but it doesn't have to be this way.  Only liberalism could've taken the most beautiful, most hard-working, most entrepreneurial state in the union …

Contrary to media reports this morning, Heidi and I have not made any decisions about political plans past the mid-term elections.  Clearly we have an overzealous supporter out there making freelance comments, but to be clear, no decision has been made.  Whoever this “anonymous advisor” was …