Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina Cut From Next Republican Mainstage Debate  —  Republican presidential candidates Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina have been cut from the next mainstage debate on Thursday.  —  According to a newly-announced lineup by debate host Fox Business Network …

Dem ‘nail-biter’ in early states  —  The Democratic presidential race is tightening just weeks before the Iowa caucuses, renewing the sense among some Democrats that Bernie Sanders could sweep the first two voting states and challenge Hillary Clinton over the long haul.

Is This The End of ‘The New Republic’?  —  After spending ‘over $20 million’ on the political and cultural journal, Chris Hughes' decision to sell ‘TNR’ could mark its death knell.  —  In what some knowledgeable observers characterized as the death knell for a nearly 102-year-old American institution …

Journalists: Stop Complaining About Sean Penn  —  Awakened from its holiday hibernation, the journalistic orthodoxy massed yesterday to attack Sean Penn and Rolling Stone for their 11,000-word story/interview with Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera—aka El Chapo.

Supreme Court conservatives appear ready to overturn mandatory union fees  —  People participate in a Jan. 11 rally at the Supreme Court in Washington as the justices heard arguments in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Assn.  —  Reporting from Washington

Father of Koch Brothers Helped Build Nazi Oil Refinery, Book Says  —  The father of the billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch helped construct a major oil refinery in Nazi Germany that was personally approved by Adolf Hitler, according to a new history of the Kochs and other wealthy families.

Was David Bowie saying goodbye on Blackstar?  —  From Lazarus to Dollar Days, the songs on Bowie's inspired new album speak of illness, death and heaven - and offer intriguing insights about the man who sang, 'I'm not a pop star, I'm a blackstar'  —  One thing that struck reviewers …

Clinton Considered Secret Plan to Spark Palestinian Protests  —  Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton considered a secret plan created by her then-advisers to foment unrest among Palestinian citizens and spark protests in order to push the Israeli government back to the negotiating table …

Cologne aftermath: Pakistanis, Syrian attacked in wake of New Year's assaults  —  Backlash in Germany after gang sex assaults  —  (CNN)Gangs of men have attacked and injured two Pakistanis and a Syrian man in Cologne, Germany, in the aftermath of an unprecedented wave of mob sex assaults on women in the city on New Year's Eve.

Another View — John H. Sununu: Don't drink the Trump Kool-Aid  —  Most of us know “Drinking the Kool-Aid” refers to a commitment to an idea without comprehending the implications of that commitment.  We remember that this phrase derives from the horrible tragedy of 1978 where 900 followers …

Teen behind deadly crash didn't have legal license  —  PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) — A 17-year-old accused of causing a deadly crash while trying to outrun officers didn't have a legal license, records show.  —  David Michael Mills will be charged with driving while his license was suspended, revoked or denied, causing death.

Michelle King is new superintendent for Los Angeles Unified School District  —  Michelle King served as L.A. Unified's No. 2 administrator under the two previous superintendents before applying for the top job herself.  —  The Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday named Deputy Supt.

Obama, with an eye toward history, will give a different kind of State of the Union  —  The White House is billing President Obama's seventh and final State of the Union address as “untraditional,” an opportunity to move beyond the usual laundry list of policy proposals and ambitions toward …

Google Chairman Thinks AI Can Help Solve World's ‘Hard Problems’  —  AI could help with population growth, education, Schmidt says  —  Field getting crowded with Facebook, Microsoft also investing  —  Google's chairman thinks artificial intelligence will let scientists solve some of the world's …