Why Republicans took aim at an ethics watchdog  —  The failed attempt by Republicans to rein in an independent ethics office was the culmination of years of mounting frustration on Capitol Hill.  —  While House Republicans backed down Tuesday from their effort to tighten oversight of the Office …

Schumer regrets Dems triggering ‘nuclear option’  —  (D-N.Y.) says he regrets the decision by Democrats in 2013 to trigger the “nuclear option” for most presidential nominations.  —  The change to the Senate rules lowered the threshold for confirming Cabinet nominees to a simple majority vote …

Congressman spent campaign funds for rabbit air travel  —  Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife, Margaret, who is paid $3,000 a month in campaign funds to serve as his campaign manager.  (AP file/Alex Brandon)  —  Rep. Duncan Hunter used campaign funds to pay for $600 of airline fees to fly a family rabbit …

Megyn Kelly's Departure Is a Big Clue About the Future of Fox News  —  Megyn Kelly's decision to jump from Fox News to NBC resolves one of the last unanswered questions of the Roger Ailes scandal: Would she stay or would she go when her contract ended?  With her last show set to air on Friday …

Doctors group warns against loss of coverage from ObamaCare repeal  —  The country's leading doctors group is urging Republicans to take steps to ensure that people do not lose their health insurance once ObamaCare is repealed.  —  The American Medical Association (AMA) …

Mariah Carey breaks silence on New Year's mishap: ‘Mortified’  —  One day after Mariah Carey's management team blasted Dick Clark Productions for its response to her now-infamous performance during Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest, the singer is breaking her silence on the matter as well.

Mass murderer Charles Manson seriously ill, moved to hospital, sources say  —  Charles Manson and other members of his so-called family were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six other people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area during two August nights in 1969.

Every year I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside of my work.  In recent years, I've run 365 miles, built a simple AI for my home, read 25 books and learned Mandarin.  —  My personal challenge for 2017 is to have visited and met people in every state in the US by the end of the year.

To Julian Assange: I apologize.  —  Please watch Sean Hannity's interview with Julian Assange (Wikileaks).  —  Exposing the truth re: the Left having been oh-so-guilty of atrocious actions and attitudes of which they've falsely accused others.  The media collusion that hid what many on the Left have been supporting is shocking.

Can the Democrats Start from Scratch?  —  Before assailing Trump's Cabinet nominations, or thirsting for a Warren-Booker ticket, the left must do some serious soul-searching.  —  Last year, Americans discovered how many of us lived in houses of straw.  A few puffs from an impulsive orange …

U.S. Conservatives Outnumber Liberals by Narrowing Margin  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — Many more Americans have considered themselves politically conservative than liberal since the early 1990s.  That remained the case in 2016, when an average of 36% of U.S. adults throughout the year identified themselves as conservative and 25% as liberal.

Voters want Trump to concentrate on jobs  —  Voters want President-elect Donald Trump to focus on bringing back manufacturing jobs from overseas and preventing more jobs from leaving the country when he takes office later this month.  —  A new POLITICO/Morning Consult survey reveals less enthusiasm …

Trump inauguration gala books country band Big & Rich  —  The country music band Big & Rich will headline an inaugural gala this month for President-elect Donald Trump  —  The Republican Party of New York and Great Alliance America announced Tuesday that the country band would perform at the event.

Free marijuana on Inauguration Day  —  4,200 free joints on Inauguration Day as part of a protest … WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - You might catch a strong smell of marijuana on Inauguration Day.  That's because there will be thousands of joints handed out—for free—by the DC Cannabis Coalition.

Solar Could Beat Coal to Become the Cheapest Power on Earth  —  Global average solar cost may fall below coal within 10 years  —  Countries from Saudi Arabia to Mexico planning auctions  —  Solar power is now cheaper than coal in some parts of the world.

Trump's trade agenda takes the GOP back a century  —  A couple of years ago, free trade was seen as a key principle of the Republican Party.  Then Donald Trump became the Republican nominee for president, and things got more complicated.  —  “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster done …

GOP panel to probe Obama response to Russia hacking  —  The GOP-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee will dig into the Obama administration's response to Russian hacking.  —  The committee — overseen by Sen. Bob Corker  —  (R-Tenn.) — will hold a closed-door briefing with administration officials on Thursday.

NAACP stages sit-in at Jeff Sessions' office  —  NAACP leading sit-in to protest Sessions pick  —  (CNN)The NAACP is staging a sit-in at the Mobile, Alabama, office of US Sen. Jeff Sessions to protest Sessions' nomination as US attorney general.  —  The protesters say they will stay until Sessions …

A New Celebrity Video Urges Congress to Obstruct Donald Trump  —  In the weeks before the election, Hollywood figures unleashed a flood of videos urging voters to stop Donald Trump.  That, obviously, didn't happen.  —  But one of the groups that invested in the election has been renamed and …

Omarosa Manigault joining Trump's White House staff to focus on public engagement: AP  —  Omarosa Manigault is getting hired.  —  A memorable contestant in the first season of “The Apprentice,” Manigault is expected to join President-elect Donald Trump's White House staff, according to two people familiar with the decision.

Finale  —  Parting thoughts on journalism, authority and the Trump era.  —  By  —  By the time you read this, we will have started our new job as editorial features editor of The Wall Street Journal, in charge of the op-ed pages of the newspaper and its digital counterparts.  This is our final column.

Schumer: Trump ‘really dumb’ for attacking intelligence agencies … New Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer  —  (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump  —  is “being really dumb” by taking on the Intelligence Community and its assessments on Russia's cyber activities.