GOP leaders refuse to weigh in on Grimm  —  House Republican leadership is refusing to weigh in so far on whether New York GOP Rep. Michael Grimm should remain in Congress after pleading guilty to felony federal tax fraud on Tuesday.  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has declined to comment on the case …

Sony's ‘The Interview’ Will Come to Some Theaters After All  —  LOS ANGELES — Sony Pictures said on Tuesday that it had secured a limited theatrical release for “The Interview” on Christmas Day.  —  “We have never given up,” Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Entertainment, said in a statement.

House I.R.S. Inquiry Shows No Connections to White House  —  WASHINGTON — An 18-month congressional investigation into the Internal Revenue Service's mistreatment of conservative political groups seeking tax exemptions has failed to show coordination between agency officials and political operatives …

FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg's statement on FDA's blood donor deferral policy for men who have sex with men  —  For Immediate Release  —  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is a science-based regulatory agency that works to protect and promote the public health.

Florida Passes New York to Become the Nation's Third Most Populous State, Census Bureau Reports  —  By adding an average of 803 new residents each day between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014, Florida passed New York to become the nation's third most populous state, according to U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates released today.

Economy Grows Most Since '03 on U.S. Consumer-Spending Gains  —  The U.S. economy roared into overdrive in the third quarter as consumer and business spending fueled the biggest expansion in more than a decade.  —  Gross domestic product grew at a 5 percent annual rate from July through September …

CNN/ORC Poll: Obama ends year on an upswing  —  ‘Pals’: The Obama-Biden partnership  —  Honolulu (CNN) — Improving views of the economy have helped hike President Barack Obama's approval rating to a 20-month high, a new CNN/ORC poll showed Tuesday, as markets climbed to record levels at news of an economy in overdrive.

Off duty, black cops in New York feel threat from fellow police  —  (Reuters) - From the dingy donut shops of Manhattan to the cloistered police watering holes in Brooklyn, a number of black NYPD officers say they have experienced the same racial profiling that cost Eric Garner his life.

EXCLUSIVE: 911 operators made ‘anti-police’ remarks, causing quarrel with FDNY dispatchers as 2 NYPD cops were dying, sources say  —  The war of words occurred when news broke that NYPD cops Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot Saturday.  One dispatcher allegedly said the cops ‘deserved it,’ said a law enforcement source.

The Monsters Who Screamed for Dead Cops  —  Evidence from photos, video, social-media posts and interviews suggests it was a single group, desperate to ‘turn up the anger’ at otherwise-peaceful protests.  —  A little over a week ago, a group of people marched down the streets of Manhattan and called for police to be killed.

Satanic Temple display damaged, woman in custody  —  A woman is in custody in connection with damaging the Satanic Temple holiday display at the Florida Capitol earlier today.  —  The diorama of an angel falling into a pit of fire is in the building's lobby along with five other holiday displays.

Oops!  U.S. Offers $5 Mil Reward for Al Qaeda Terrorist it Released From Gitmo  —  Years after liberating an Al Qaeda operative from the military prison at Guantanamo, the United States government has put him on a global terrorist list and offered a $5 million reward for information on his whereabouts.

Mitch McConnell: Senate 'didn't do squat for years'  —  Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says his biggest challenge will be righting the course of Congress, adding — in a swipe at outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid — that his own chamber “basically didn't do squat for years.”

Pat Robertson's Charity Tries To Make A Deal For Bob McDonnell's Freedom  —  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell should perform community service rather than serve prison time for his federal corruption convictions, an international relief organization said Tuesday.

On Police officers and the Hobbit.  —  I have been haunted by and have pondered two things today.  —  The first is the shootings of our police officers in NYC.  I have been in the mountains so you would know better than I but, where was the presidents address on this?  Has he said, they could have been my son?