For Republicans, Mounting Fears of Lasting Split  —  The Republican Party is facing a historic split over its fundamental principles and identity, as its once powerful establishment grapples with an eruption of class tensions, ethnic resentments and mistrust among working-class conservatives …

Heavily armed ‘security detail’ shows up at Oregon standoff encampment  —  Update at 2 p.m.: Armed members of the Pacific Patriot Network are leaving the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.  —  Joseph Rice, a spokesman for the network, told reporters that his group presented occupation …

How New Year's Eve in Cologne Has Changed Germany  —  New Year's Eve in Cologne rapidly descended into a chaotic free-for-all involving sexual assault and theft, most of it apparently committed by foreigners.  It has launched a bitter debate over immigration and refugees in Germany — one that could change the country.

Notes on a Phenomenon  —  On Tuesday night, my daughter and her friends went down to Claremont, New Hampshire to see Donald Trump in action.  She and her chums range from the not terribly political to those with the usual enthusiasms of youth, so they went mainly because Trump's a hot ticket …

Roger Goodell calls NFL stadium proposals in Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego ‘unsatisfactory’  —  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, addressing the media on Dec. 2, has cleared the way for a vote on possible relocation to Los Angeles.  —  The proposed stadium solutions in Oakland …

To the man I sat next to on the train: I am the gun owner you hate  —  TO THE man I sat next to on my way in to Boston:  —  When I boarded the commuter rail, you were already in the midst of a spirited phone conversation and didn't seem to care about how loud you were talking.

TSA to stop accepting some states' drivers licenses in 2018  —  Airline passengers in five states and a U.S. territory will be unable to present their current driver's licenses at airport checkpoints after Jan. 22, 2018, under new rules announced on Friday by the Department of Homeland Security.

5 men rape 18-year-old girl at gunpoint in Brownsville playground: NYPD  —  BROWNSVILLE, Brooklyn — An 18-year-old was out for an evening walk with a friend when she was held at gunpoint and brutally raped by five men inside a playground Thursday, police said.

HESPERIA: Man caught with garageful of stolen candy, deputies say  —  City News Politics Topics Environment Education Announcements Traffic Photos Blogs … Candy bars led to jail bars for a 35-year-old desert man caught with a garageful of stolen sweets, say San Bernardino County sheriff's officials.

Longest armed stand-off in American history ends: Grandfather who bit a cop then threatened to kill any officer who came to arrest him has charges dropped after 16 years meaning he is free to leave his home for first time since 1999  — John Joe Gray was arrested in December 1999 for biting …

Trump: Kim Jong Un deserves ‘credit’ for taking out rivals  —  Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump says North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-un deserves “credit” for the cutthroat efficiency with which he disposes of his political foes.  —  “If you look at North Korea, this guy, he's like a maniac, OK?”