
Lawmakers are urging Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel not to slash funding for a new Army network designed to bring the flexibility of the smartphone and mobile tablet computing to soldiers in combat.

A House lawmaker Friday introduced a bill to end the conflict between the federal government and the states over legalized pot, five months after Colorado and Washington voters approved the first statewide ballot measures decriminalizing marijuana use for adults.

"The American people continue to demand truth and accountability for this tragedy. To date, sadly, they have received neither," says a group of 24 conservative heavyweights in an open letter to Congress, urging members to support House Resolution 36, which would create a select committee to investigate the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

In 2008, Sergei Magnitsky, a young Russian lawyer, uncovered $230 billion in tax fraud. In a parody of justice, the Russian government arrested him for tax fraud. In November 2009, after being abused and neglected, Magnitsky died in prison.

Voters trying to predict how candidates will vote on the economy may want to look beyond party ID or interest-group scorecards. The real tell may be their investment portfolios, according to a just-released analysis of one of the key votes of President Obama's first term.

The Republican Party "needs to take a step back and a deep breath," says J.C. Watts, a former House leader. "Doing this for 20 years, sometimes, honestly, I sometimes felt like a voice in the wilderness when trying to get more ethnic minorities and other people of color."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has taken the gun fight to Chicago and is poised to spend $2 million in an attempt to defeat former Rep. Debbie Halvorson in her bid for the U.S. House seat vacated by disgraced Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr.

Former Sen. Scott P. Brown's decision not to seek the Senate seat vacated by Democrat John F. Kerry has sent the Massachusetts GOP back to its wish list of candidates — a list that, for some, includes Ann Romney and Taggart "Tagg" Romney, the wife and oldest son of Mitt Romney, last year's GOP presidential nominee.

Former Sen. Scott Brown announced Friday that he is passing on the chance to run for in the special election to fill Democrat John Kerry's seat.