Donald Trump Surges in New NBC News/WSJ Poll  —  Days before the first Republican debate, Donald Trump has surged into the national lead in the GOP primary race, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush following, a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll shows.

Joe Biden Said to Be Taking New Look at Presidential Run  —  Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his associates have begun to actively explore a possible presidential campaign, an entry that would upend the Democratic field and deliver a direct threat to Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Charles Koch: ‘Life or death struggle for our country’  —  Kicking off a donor seminar, the billionaire casts reckless foreign policy and overspending as bipartisan problems.  —  DANA POINT, Calif. - Charles Koch, in a Saturday evening speech welcoming major donors and leading Republicans …

Congress balks at lifeline for Puerto Rico  —  Puerto Rico is suffocating under a mountain of $73 billion in debt — and everyone from Jeb Bush to Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama is urging Congress to throw the U.S. territory a bankruptcy lifeline.  —  Capitol Hill's response?  A slow shrug.

Crime wave grips Central Park  —  A violent beggar choked a West Side man into unconsciousness in Central Park's Ramble in a hellish mugging that underscores the famed park's skyrocketing robbery stats.  —  “If you scream I'll kill you,” were the last words the 53-year-old victim heard Thursday night …

Assailant in Garland, Texas, attack bought gun in 2010 under Fast and Furious operation  —  Five years before he was shot to death in the failed terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, Nadir Soofi walked into a suburban Phoenix gun shop to buy a 9-millimeter pistol.

Grand Jury Indicts Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, on Felony Charges  —  HOUSTON — Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas and a former longtime lawmaker, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of securities fraud and of failing to register with the state securities board …

Brother of Zimbabwe's lion Cecil appears alive and well: researcher  —  The brother of Cecil, the lion killed in Zimbabwe by an American hunter last month, is not dead, a researcher monitoring the pride told Reuters, contradicting media reports that Jericho had been killed.

Migrants think our streets are paved with gold  —  Those fleeing Africa for financial gain in Europe have unrealistic ideas about what we can offer  —  By Theresa May and Bernard Cazeneuve, France's Minister of the Interior  —  Last week, we saw very starkly the desperate measures …

Obama to Unveil Tougher Climate Plan With His Legacy in Mind  —  WASHINGTON — In the strongest action ever taken in the United States to combat climate change, President Obama will unveil on Monday a set of environmental regulations devised to sharply cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions …

The Unbearable Nuttiness of Mike Huckabee  —  Oh go home, you old fundamentalist fool, before you embarrass the Republicans any more.  —  “Playing the Hitler card” is an infallible sign that a politician has run out of intelligent, substantive and plausible ways to criticize an opponent.

Man dies after Dallas jail scuffle  —  Witnesses of the incident say a deputy used excessive force on a man who ran into the jail.  Sebastian Robertson reports.  —  CONNECT  —  DALLAS — Dallas County officials said a man died after a Saturday morning scuffle with a deputy at the county jail.

Texas sheriff refuses to turn over jailhouse video after 32-year-old gay man dies of ‘natural causes’  —  DON'T MISS STORIES.  FOLLOW RAW STORY!  —  The family of a 32-year-old gay man who died in a Texas jail want more answers as to why he was denied his medication that led to the seizures that killed him, reports KTRK.

Texas Already Defunded Planned Parenthood — Here's What Congress Can Learn From It  —  As Congress seeks to end all taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, lawmakers and health care professionals in the state of Texas, who took similar action in recent years, have some advice on how to make that transition …