VoteKansas.org

NEW YORK — The Associated Press won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting Monday for documenting the New York Police Department's widespread spying on Muslims, while The Philadelphia Inquirer was honored in the public service category for its examination of violence in the city's schools.

The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. ...

John Avlon says leaders in both parties have to condemn extremist views, including Allen West's charge about Democratic Communists

A government official at the center of lavish spending at a Las Vegas conference claimed his Fifth Amendment rights against testifying before congressional hearing Monday, while his boss said she mourned her departure from public service over the controversy.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz said the oversight committee will decide on precautions to avoid the GSA wasting more taxpayer dollars.

CNN's Dana Bash gets an exclusive look at GSA oversight committee preparations with Chairman Darrell Issa.

President Obama thas been unable to restore the top marginal tax rate on those reporting more than $250,000 a year to their pre-George Bush levels. It has gone nowhere. Neither will the Buffett Rule.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A judge entered not-guilty pleas Monday for two Oklahoma men accused of going on a racially motivated shooting spree in which three people were killed and two others wounded in a predominantly black section of Tulsa this month.

Jake England and Alvin Watts appeared in Tulsa ...

“Even if an individual is found to have validly consented, he can still challenge a search on the basis that it exceeded the scope of his consent. See United States v. Canipe, 569 F.3d 597, 604 (6th Cir. 2009).” Quoting United States v. Carter, 378 F.3d 584, 587 (6th Cir. 2004), also on consent in general: “‘Fundamentally, Carter asks us to hold as a matter of law that consent must be given verbally, perhaps by some ‘magic words’ formula. This we decline to do. Although a man’s home is his castle, trumpets need not herald an invitation. The police may be kept out or invited in as informally as any other guest. Carter invited the police in and cannot undo his act in court.’ Id. at 589.” Defendant was actually showing the police he wanted to cooperate, so the consent was voluntary. Since the object of the search was a stolen firearm, the search could be anywhere the gun might be found. United States v. Murphy, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52246 (E.D. Tenn. March 26, 2012), R&R 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52245 (E.D. Tenn. January 10, 2012).*

The officer applying for the telephonic search warrant was not the officer with the most information, but that did not make his hearsay application void. The Franks issue fails: “None of the claimed omissions, if included in the affidavit, would have negated the probable cause determination.” Some of the claimed omissions were actually incriminating. United States v. Salisbury, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51998 (D. Nev. February 3, 2012).*

Fresh into second quarter fund-raising, both President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney will make the rounds this week in hopes of puffing up their coffers.

For all the talk about polarization and discord in Washington, Julian Zelizer says that both parties will have moderate candidates

Spoiler alert: The Senate on Monday will not get the 60 votes needed to move ahead with the so-called Buffett Rule, which makes critics think the White House spent a week pushing it just to make a political point.

Both political parties continued Sunday to jockey for position as more deserving of the female vote, a battle that took on new life last week after a Democratic strategist questioned Ann Romney's validity in giving her husband advice on economic issues affecting women.

The second and final day of the Summit of the Americas takes place in Cartagena, Colombia, on Sunday, where leaders from more than 30 North and South American countries are discussing several topics, such as bolstering economic ties and who should be part of future discussions.

President Barack Obama called Sunday for a "thorough" and "rigorous" investigation into allegations involving prostitutes and Secret Service agents in Colombia.

President Barack Obama discusses the allegations involving prostitutes and Secret Service agents in Colombia.

A frantic woman was worried about her children locked in the house with defendant. The district court’s finding of consent to enter was supported by the evidence. Moreover, there was sufficient evidence of exigency and the entry was not made to arrest or investigate a crime. State v. Morin, 2012 ND 75, 2012 N.D. LEXIS 80 (April 10, 2012).*

On staleness, “evidence of the manufacture of methamphetamine is closer to a regenerating conspiracy than a chance encounter in the night. On the continuum of long-versus short-term criminal operations, the manufacture of methamphetamine lies somewhere between growing marijuana and selling or consuming drugs.” It was at a residence, “the alleged criminals were entrenched rather than nomadic.” United States v. Redmond, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 7504, 2012 FED App. 0405N (6th Cir. April 13, 2012).*

A free trade agreement would give each country a stake in the other's success.

NEW YORK — A New York auction house has sold an original ticket to the launch of the Titanic and a dinner menu from the ill-fated ocean liner.

On the block Sunday at Bonhams were various items offered to mark the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic. The historic ...

The good news that U.S. teen birthrates are continuing to fall has resurrected the debate about how much credit for the trend should go to contraception and how much to abstinence.

The recent declines in teen birthrates can be linked "almost exclusively" to improvements in teens' contraceptive use, the Guttmacher ...

At least 75 bills to restrict abortion passed one state legislative chamber in the first quarter of 2012, the Guttmacher Institute said Friday.

While this wasn't quite the flurry seen in 2011, when a record 127 abortion-restricting bills passed one chamber, it was "still higher than usual for an election ...