GOP preparing for contested convention  —  Republican officials and leading figures in the party's establishment are now preparing for the possibility of a brokered convention as Donald Trump continues sit atop the polls and the presidential race.  —  More than 20 of them convened Monday …

Fear of Terrorism Lifts Donald Trump in New York Times/CBS Poll  —  Americans are more fearful about the likelihood of another terrorist attack than at any other time since the weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, a gnawing sense of dread that has helped lift Donald J. Trump to a new high among …

San Bernardino shooters planned bigger attack, investigators believe  —  An FBI dive team on Thursday searches for electronic devices or other evidence possibly left in Seccombe Lake, about two miles north of the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.  —  An examination of digital equipment recovered …

Democrats demand end to ban on gun violence research  —  House Democrats are adding a controversial new demand to the government funding talks: ending a 19-year old ban on gun violence research by the federal government.  —  Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday …

Trump: I will mandate death penalty for killing police officers  —  Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to issue an executive order to mandate the death penalty for anyone who kills a police officer.  —  “One of the first things I'd do in terms of executive order …

Colorado ACLU Board Member: Shoot Trump Voters ‘Before Election Day’  —  Loring Wirbel, board member of the American Civil Liberties Union's Colorado chapter and co-chair of the ACLU's Colorado Springs chapter, called for supporters of GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump to be shot before they vote for the billionaire businessman.

Jury: Former Oklahoma City police officer found guilty on 18 counts  —  OKLAHOMA CITY - After listening to several weeks of testimony and four days of deliberating, a jury has found a former Oklahoma City police officer accused of sex crimes guilty on 18 counts.

Putin's Quagmire in Syria Proves Obama Prescient  —  Officials in Moscow no longer talking about war lasting months  —  Russia's mid-November surge doubled cost of military campaign  —  U.S. President Barack Obama, facing criticism at home over his Islamic State strategy …

Democratic Congresswoman: “Between 5 And 20%” Of Muslims Willing To Use Terrorism To Institute Caliphate  —  “We know that there is a small group, and we don't know how big that is — it can be anywhere between 5 and 20%, from the people that I speak to — that Islam is their religion …

Thematic Convergence, or Real Old Testament Stuff...  Rare is the day when we find a smidgen of insight at Vox.  Rarer still is the day that the Voxsplainers and Glenn Reynolds are aligned in agreement.  —  This is that day.  Glenn, picking up a theme noted by Sen. Ben Sasse in San Bernardino …

Is Affirmative Action Finished?  —  “If this Court rules that the University of Texas can't consider race, or if it rules that universities that consider race have to die a death of a thousand cuts for doing so, we know exactly what's going to happen,” Gregory Garre, the lawyer for the University of Texas …

Empowering People to Help People: Why I am Joining GoFundMe  —  In late 2006, I found myself unexpectedly unemployed and looking for a job.  That's when I met Barack Obama who was starting to put together a team to launch an improbable run for the White House.

Register's Peterson to have surgery on broken leg Thursday  —  Randy Peterson, The Des Moines Register's columnist covering Iowa State sports, suffered a compound leg fracture during the Hilton Coliseum court-storming after Iowa State's 83-82 victory over Iowa on Thursday night.

State pension contribution next year up by $291 million  —  State pension contributions will increase by $291 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, a much smaller increase than the state faced in its current fiscal year.  —  The figure was reported Thursday by the General Assembly's Commission …

See How NPR Hacks Up Testy Interview with Ted Cruz  —  Share it Tweet it  —  NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is a big fan of President Obama, and when he interviews him, he helpfully sets him up.  In a recent interview on race relations, Inskeep added little prompts instead of questions.

Camille Paglia Takes on Taylor Swift, Hollywood's #GirlSquad Culture  —  Can group selfies advance women's goals?  In an essay for The Hollywood Reporter, the famed feminist urges social media packs to skip the “tittering, tongues-out mugging of Taylor Swift” — whose “twinkly persona …

While media rages, Trump sees path to victory  —  Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More  —  As the Acela Corridor fixates on Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslim immigration, the Republican front-runner's supporters in Iowa believe he is building a movement there that will blow away doubts …

Best 10 colleges for the money  —  Higher education has become more and more critical to getting a well-paying job.  But at the same time, the costs of getting that education increase every year, far surpassing the college savings of many families.  According to research done …

Are Democrats Trying to Establish a Right To Immigrate to US?  —  Foreigners have no right to emigrate to the United States.  How many immigrants we want to take in, and who those immigrants should be, are issues decided by us in our sole discretion, through our political process.

Russell Taylor gets 27 years in child porn case  —  INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A judge sentenced the former head of Jared Fogle's charity to 27 years in prison Thursday afternoon.  —  Russell Taylor pleaded guilty to 13 federal crimes during his sentencing hearing — 12 counts of child exploitation …