Jessica Chasmar

Harry Reid: Koch brothers ‘one of the main causes’ of climate change

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continued his campaign against Charles and David Koch on the Senate floor Wednesday, accusing the billionaire financiers of being one of the main causes of climate change.

May 7, 2014

New York Senate prioritizes, passes bill making yogurt official state snack

The New York State Senate spent a considerate amount of time Tuesday debating, and eventually passing, a proposed bill that would make yogurt the official state snack.

May 7, 2014

John Kerry offers aid to Nigeria in search for missing girls

The U.S. is preparing to send a team to help the Nigerian government track down more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted three weeks ago by Islamic gunmen, the White House said Tuesday.

May 6, 2014

Concerned parent arrested for speaking out of turn at N.H. school board meeting

A concerned parent in New Hampshire was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct Monday after he voiced his concerns at a school board meeting and went over the two-minute mark.

May 6, 2014

3 people shot near D.C. high school

Three people, including two teens, were shot near a high school in southeast D.C. Tuesday morning, police said.

May 6, 2014

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber performs CPR on unconscious woman

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber may have helped save a woman's life after he jumped into action and began performing CPR on her Monday, his spokeswoman confirmed to the Oregonian.

May 6, 2014

Terrorists abduct eight more girls in northeast Nigeria: police

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have struck again in northeast Nigeria, kidnapping eight girls in the middle of the night just three weeks after the Islamist terrorists abducted some 220 schoolgirls, police said Tuesday.

May 6, 2014

8th-grade assignment asks students to argue if Holocaust is fact or fiction

A Southern California school district is standing by an eighth-grade writing assignment that asked students to argue whether they believed the Holocaust was fact or fiction.

May 5, 2014

Teacher banned fifth-grader’s Bible during ‘free reading’ time, legal group says

A South Florida elementary school teacher banned "religious books" in her classroom and told a fifth-grade student that he couldn't read his Bible during "free reading" time, according to a release by conservative legal group Liberty Institute.

May 5, 2014

Las Vegas police sponsor ‘purity’ event to scare young girls out of having premarital sex

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sponsored a "Choose Purity" event on Saturday to teach young girls about drug addiction, sex trafficking and prostitution in an effort to scare them out of having premarital sex.

May 5, 2014

Texas judge sentences confessed rapist to probation, alleges teen victim was promiscuous

A confessed rapist has received just five years' probation after a Texas judge alleged that his 14-year-old victim was promiscuous and "wasn't the victim she claimed to be."

May 5, 2014

Embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling goes lawyer shopping: report

Embattled owner of the Los Angeles Clippers Donald Sterling has contacted at least two major law firms since the NBA suspended him last week over racist comments he made during a recorded conversation, according to a report by TMZ.

May 5, 2014

President Obama’s brother-in-law Craig Robinson fired by Oregon State: report

Oregon State University fired men's basketball coach Craig Robinson, the brother-in-law of President Obama, on Sunday night, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.

May 5, 2014

Boko Haram claims abduction of 220 schoolgirls: ‘I will sell them in the market, by Allah’

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility Monday for kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls during a raid in northeast Nigeria three weeks ago, according to a video obtained by Agence France-Presse.

May 5, 2014

Pelosi says she ‘couldn’t care less’ about Benghazi criticism

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said in an interview broadcast Sunday that criticism by conservative lawmakers against herself and the Obama administration only demonstrates that they are suffering from a "poverty of ideas."

May 4, 2014

Russian bombers, fighter jets spotted over Crimea: report concludes

Several dozen of what appeared to be Russian fighter jets have been spotted above the Moscow-controlled peninsula of Crimea, according to a report by the Agence France-Presse.

May 4, 2014

Gun shop nixes plans to sell smart gun after death threats

The owner of a Maryland firearms shop has canceled plans to sell a smart gun following backlash from people who think the technology will infringe on their rights as gun owners.

May 4, 2014

Rare goblin shark caught off Key West, report shows

Shrimp fishermen caught a 18-foot-long goblin shark just south of Key West last month, making it the second only of the species to be caught in the Gulf of Mexico.

May 4, 2014

Sen. Al Franken: ‘I’ve just been impeccable’

Sen. Al Franken said on ABC's "This Week" that his job as a lawmaker has been so "impeccable" that he wouldn't have anything to make fun of himself if he were still a comedian on "Saturday Night Live."

May 4, 2014