Trooper prays with driver upset over his daughter's cancer diagnosis  —  BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It can be stressful enough to see a police car behind you, but imagine getting pulled over after learning your child is dying from cancer.  —  Rodney Gibson was driving on SR 37 in Monroe County Monday …

LePage makes racially charged comment at Bridgton meeting  —  A Republican critic of the governor calls the remark during a town hall meeting with residents Wednesday ‘one of the most offensive statements yet from this Governor.’  —  Gov. Paul LePage made a racially charged comment in Bridgton …

Ted Cruz Is Nixon, Not Goldwater  —  The lazy conventional wisdom is that Ted Cruz is the new Barry Goldwater doomed to suffer an electoral landslide defeat should he win the Republican nomination.  —  Not only is this wrong about Cruz's general-election chances, it may compare Cruz to the wrong 20th-century Republican forebear.

It's a Bad Day for the Clintons When Vox Fairly Explains the Rape Allegation Against Bill  —  I must admit, when I clicked this morning on Vox's “explainer” of Juanita Broaddrick's rape allegation against Bill Clinton, I expected a whitewash.  I was wrong.  Not only did Dylan Matthews …

Donald Trump On Rubio's Boots: “Those Heels Were Really Up There”  —  “It helps to be tall.”  —  Donald Trump said Thursday that Marco Rubio might have been better off not rocking the shiny black boots with a heel that has had his opponents cracking jokes all week.

Huckabee: Evangelical Leaders Won't Endorse Me Because I'll “Slay The Dragon”  —  Mike Huckabee said in an interview on Wednesday that evangelical groups won't support his presidential campaign out of fear they would no longer be able to fundraise if Christian policies were to actually be put in place.

Police Report Outlines ‘Chaotic and Shameful’ New Year's Eve  —  An internal police protocol has revealed the full extent of the violence in Cologne on New Year's Eve.  According to the report, which SPIEGEL has seen, officials were overwhelmed and powerless to help some people calling for help.

Planned Parenthood to give Clinton its first-ever primary endorsement  —  Planned Parenthood is throwing its support behind Hillary Clinton, delivering what will be the organization's first-ever endorsement in a presidential primary.  —  “Let's be clear — reproductive rights and health …

Exclusive: House Republicans recruited Carson for Speaker  —  House Republicans reached out to GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson in 2014 about replacing John Boehner as Speaker of the House, Carson told The Hill on Thursday.  —  “They were looking for an alternative …

Guns Are Our Shared Responsibility  —  THE epidemic of gun violence in our country is a crisis.  Gun deaths and injuries constitute one of the greatest threats to public health and to the safety of the American people.  Every year, more than 30,000 Americans have their lives cut short by guns.

Missouri bill defines sex between lobbyists, lawmakers as a gift  —  Lobbyists would have to disclose sexual relations with a lawmaker or their staff to the Ethics Commission  —  The 2016 Legislative session began Wednesday … JEFFERSON CITY  —  Lobbyists who have sex with a Missouri lawmaker …

The Pugnacious, Relentless Progressive Party That Wants to Remake America … At a recent private dinner in Manhattan, a small group of leftists plotted to take over America.  —  The group, a dozen community organizers and activists from all over the country, had convened at a sushi restaurant …

U.S. Marshals Raid Hoverboard Booth at CES  —  The maker of the Onewheel electric skateboard called in federal marshals to shut down the booth of a company making a similar product.  —  On Thursday afternoon, two U.S. federal marshals showed up at the Consumer Electronics Show to conduct a raid.

After Horrific Rape Charges, Tennessee High School Cancels Basketball Season  —  Three basketball players at Ooltewah High School in Tennessee have been charged with the aggravated rape and assault of a 15-year-old freshman teammate on December 21.  —  Now, as the investigation …

52 Places to Go in 2016  —  A metropolis that has it all.  —  An ancient wine region gets a stunning update.  —  The Mediterranean on a dime.  —  Visit the U.S. Virgin Island's quiet corner before big development.  —  A century of protecting America's magnificence.

Couple gets engaged at Walmart, steals sex toys at mall, police say  —  BAY CITY, MI — Shortly after a Bay City man proposed to his girlfriend at Walmart, the pair shoplifted jewelry and sex toys, police say, leading the newly engaged couple to spend their New Year's Eve in jail.

New Dietary Guidelines Urge Less Sugar for All and Less Protein for Boys and Men  —  New federal dietary guidelines announced on Thursday urge Americans to drastically cut back on sugar, and for the first time have singled out teenage boys and men for eating too much meat.

Iraqi immigrant arrested in Sacramento, suspected of lying about ties to ISIS  —  Criminal complaint against the suspect, 23, accuses him of lying to immigration authorities about activities overseas  —  Unusual closed court hearing in Sacramento conducted Thursday

Watch: Donald Trump supporters tear up 'America's Already Great' sign at Lowell rally  —  An identifying theme of Donald Trump's campaign rallies has been protesters disrupting the event and subsquently being removed from the venue by security.  —  Trump's rally Monday in Lowell was no exception.

Supreme Court already ruled that feds rightly own occupied refuge  —  After a night of paranoia over rumors that warrants were out for the arrest of militants who have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Ammon Bundy and his group backed off the warrant claims and said they have evidence …