Last Slide  —  Once again the world is laughing at Iowa.  Late-night comedians and social media mavens are having a field day with jokes about missing caucusgoers and coin flips.  —  That's fine.  We can take ribbing over our quirky process.  But what we can't stomach is even the whiff of impropriety or error.

Donald Trump's poll numbers took a nosedive in the first national survey after Iowa  —  Real-estate mogul Donald Trump's standing in the Republican presidential race deflated in the first national survey released after his loss to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the Monday-night Iowa caucuses.

Ben Carson slashes staff as funds dry up  —  CONCORD, N.H. — Ben Carson, the famed neurosurgeon whose bid for the Republican presidential nomination has struggled to keep pace with rivals, will cut more than 50 staff positions on Thursday as part of an overhaul and downsizing of his entire campaign.

Smirking drug CEO antagonizes lawmakers after pleading the Fifth  —  Embattled drug executive Martin Shkreli antagonized lawmakers on Thursday by smirking and posing for pictures during his first appearance on Capitol Hill even as he refused to answer questions about drug prices.

Family finds spider crawling inside bag of salad  —  (Feb. 4, 2016) - You definitely don't want to see something crawling inside your bag of lettuce, but that's exactly what happened to an Australian family.  —  Zoe Perry posted a video of the creepy encounter to Woolworths' Facebook page with the following message:

Clinton's Security Clearance Is Under Scrutiny  —  Now that several e-mails on Hillary Clinton's private server have been classified, there is a more immediate question than the outcome of the investigation: Should the former secretary of state retain her security clearance during the inquiry?

Branstad says Cruz employed ‘unethical and unfair’ tactics Monday night (AUDIO)  —  Governor Terry Branstad is crediting Ted Cruz for running an “old-fashioned”, 99-county campaign that yielded victory in Monday night's Iowa Caucuses, but Branstad is joining the chorus criticizing Cruz for “questionable” campaign tactics.

Ryan backs voting rights bill — but tells black caucus it's out of his hands  —  Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told black lawmakers Wednesday that he supports new voting rights protections they've championed, but said he won't bypass a committee chairman to move legislation, according to a Democrat who attended the gathering.

The Great GOP Realignment  —  Ted Cruz and Donald Trump may herald an historic working-class Republican revolt against the party establishment.  —  JoshuaGreen  —  A few days before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses, Brad Martsching was barreling down a Pennsylvania highway, hoping to unload …

Hair tourniquet?  Dad shares photo of baby's swollen toe to warn parents of common hazard … WICHITA, Kansas — A Kansas father has a warning for all parents after finding something strange on his infant daughter's foot.  —  He shared a photo on Facebook to warn other parents.

Clinton blasts Wall Street, but still draws millions in contributions  —  Even as Hillary Clinton has stepped up her rhetorical assault on Wall Street, her campaign and allied super PACs have continued to rake in millions from the financial sector, a sign of her deep and lasting relationships with banking and investment titans.

Border agent: ‘We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether’  —  In a shocking reversal of policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are being told to release illegal immigrants and no longer order them to appear at deportation hearings, essentially a license to stay in the United States …

Christie: Obama ‘Hug’ Never Happened  —  ‘When he got off Air Force One, I did shake his hand’  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie talks often of his response to Hurricane Sandy, which devastated his state days before the 2012 Election.  But on Wednesday, he told a less-frequently discussed story …