Republican leaders look for escape plan on immigration  —  Republican leaders in the House and Senate are boxed in on immigration and searching for a way out.  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are struggling to find a way to fund the Department …

Clinton willing to testify before Benghazi panel, Democrat says  —  Hillary Clinton is willing to testify before the House Select Committee that is investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, according to the panel's top Democrat.  —  Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) …

Obama Relents on Proposal to End ‘529’ College Savings Plans  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama, facing angry reprisals from parents and from lawmakers of both parties, will drop his proposal to effectively end the popular college savings accounts known as 529s, but will keep an expanded tuition tax credit …

Koch donors give Marco Rubio early nod  —  Straw poll at donor summit rates 5 GOP hopefuls.  —  Getty  —  The Koch brothers' conservative network is still debating whether it will spend any of its massive $889-million budget in the Republican presidential primaries, but the prospect …

Michelle Obama's uncovered head draws Saudi Twitter critique  —  First lady Michelle Obama faced backlash from Twitter users in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for not wearing a head covering during her brief visit there with the president.  —  Obama wore loose-fitting clothes including a long blue jacket …

Mike Huckabee complains of ‘trashy’ women at Fox News  —  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said in a recent radio appearance that while in New York for his Fox News show, he experienced significant culture shock from all the “trashy” women swearing in a professional setting.

Indiana Governor to Expand Medicaid Coverage  —  Move Comes After Securing a Key Concession From Obama Administration  —  Indiana on Tuesday announced plans to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act after securing concessions from the Obama administration that could pave …

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: January 2015  —  Bianca DiJulio, Jamie Firth, and Mollyann Brodie … The Public's Views Of King V. Burwell And Exchanges  —  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case, King v. Burwell, in March about whether the health care law says people in all states …

Sheldon Silver Built Power by Speaking Softly While Punishing Foes  —  The state assembly speaker practiced politics the old-fashioned way.  —  t hgoldman77  —  (Bloomberg) — New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver became the state's most powerful lawmaker by practicing politics the old-fashioned way …

The importance of being Ernst  —  The just-elected Iowa senator aims to be a player in 2016.  —  DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. Joni Ernst hasn't been in office a month, but she's already delivered the GOP response to the State of the Union.  And now the Iowa Republican is looking to parlay …

Apple's Earnings: The Staggering Numbers - The Numbers  —  Profit  —  Apple posted net of $18.0 billion for its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 27, up 38% from $13.1 billion in the same period a year earlier.  —  Earnings Per Share  —  48%  —  Earnings per share rose more sharply …

Anti-tank missile fired at Israeli military vehicle on Lebanon frontier: army  —  (Reuters) - An anti-tank missile was fired at an Israeli military vehicle near the Lebanon border on Wednesday, wounding four soldiers, a military source said.  —  The incident came several hours after Israel launched …

New All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Cast Chosen  —  The Paul Feig-directed reboot is eyeing a summer shoot in New York.  —  Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy  —  The all-new, all-female Ghostsbusters are here.  —  Melissa McCarthy, who was already in talks for one of the leads …

Rick Perry loses second request to dismiss case against him  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  Perry has long insisted he was exercising his line item veto authority.  —  Rick Perry was indicted for abusing his powers in the veto threat of the Public Integrity Unit.

NYC Mayor: ‘Reconcile Yourselves With Your God, For All Will Perish In The Tempest’  —  NEW YORK—As a major winter storm continued its advance toward New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio advised residents Monday to make peace with whatever higher power they call God, for all shall meet their death in the coming tempest.

Canada Casts Global Surveillance Dragnet Over File Downloads  —  Canada's leading surveillance agency is monitoring millions of Internet users' file downloads in a dragnet search to identify extremists, according to top-secret documents.  —  The covert operation, revealed Wednesday by CBC News …

Punch-Drunk Jonathan Chait Takes On the Entire Internet  —  So, here is sad white man Jonathan Chait's essay about the difficulty of being a white man in the second age of “political correctness.”  In a neat bit of editorial trolling, New York teased the column with following question …

Will Jeb Bush deport four million illegal immigrants?  —  There's been a theme to recent press coverage of Jeb Bush and the rest of the Republican 2016 presidential field.  The theme is contrast: While Bush was in San Francisco delivering a moderate message on immigration …