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Gerry Goffin, a hit songwriter and former husband of Carole King, died early Thursday. He was 75. Together with King, he wrote such classics as "The Loco-Motion," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "Up on the Roof."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he won't attend a Washington Redskins home game until the football team changes its controversial name. In a letter late last week to the team's president, Reid called the Redskins name a racial slur that disparages the American people. The Nevada Democrat, who said he represents 27 tribes in his state, rejected Bruce Allen's invitation to a Redskins home game until the team does "the right thing" and changes its name.

A private chef employed by Miami Heat guard Norris Cole was shot and killed inside a popular South Beach nightclub early Tuesday, police said. Police say 42-year-old Antaun Teasley was found unresponsive inside Club Mansion....

If you’ve ever had a public defender in a criminal case, you probably plead guilty for fear of getting beaten in a trial. Yesterday in Brevard County, Florida however, a public defender got beaten at arraignment, literally. Judge John Murphy is accused of punching veteran public defender Andrew Weinstock in the face repeatedly, after the two exchanged words in the court room. Murphy reportedly wanted Weinstock’s client to waive his right to a speedy trial, and when he refused, the judge said “If I had a rock I’d throw it at you” and then invited him outside of the courtroom...

A man obsessed with Korean culture has gone to extraordinary lengths to look Asian after having 10 plastic surgery operations to change his appearance. Xiahn, 25, who was originally known as Max, became fixated on Korean culture following a year of study in the country. Xiahn, who goes by the pseudonym Oriental Gaucho online, watched hours of Korean soap operas and listened to K-Pop constantly – and in time became overcome with the desire to have plastic surgery so that he would look like a native Korean. ‘As you know, there are thousands of Asian eye styles,’ Xiahn told Metro.co.uk....

A family who was forced to buy healthcare is distraught after their daughter was denied medication because of an Obamacare error. Shelby Higdon needs her medication, but has been repeatedly denied it because the information in her BlueCross BlueShield health insurance account lists her as a male, not a female. “When it was time to get my medicine, they told that they couldn’t give it to me because on my insurance I was registered as a man,” Shelby told WLOS. Her mother, Kris Hitt Hidgon, shares her daughter’s frustration. She has called healthcare.gov “probably about eight times.” Each time Kris...

Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, brought her punishment of death upon herself, said Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa: "We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam." "I sentence you to be hanged to death." For good measure, Judge Khalifa ordered the woman to be beaten with 100 lashes of the whip before being hung for "adultery." She's nine months pregnant. They'll permit her to give birth to her baby and wean it before executing her. However, the punishment for "adultery" -- 100 lashes -- will be administered immediately after the birth. The "adultery" in question...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican National Committee wants to take more control over how the party picks a White House nominee. The RNC was to meet Wednesday in Memphis, Tennessee, to choose members who will effectively set the calendar for 2016's long list of potential presidential contenders. If the party's chairman, Reince Priebus gets his way, the GOP will pick its nominee more quickly than during past contests and have fewer debates in which candidates could criticize each other. The RNC also was expected to put penalties in place for candidates who don't follow the committee's plans.

Oregon State has fired men's basketball coach Craig Robinson, the brother of First Lady Michelle Obama, according to Sports Illustrated. Craig Robinson, who guided the team to a 93-104 record in six years, has three more years remaining on this contract and the university is expected to owe him more than $4 million. The magazine cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation.

JNS.org - Syrian Christian refugees from the ancient town of Maaloula are seeking to return to their home after it was recaptured by Syrian government forces this week. “I would love to go back and celebrate Easter there, but it’s still a bit early,” said Fadi Mayal, a former Maaloula resident who currently lives in Damascus’s Christian quarter, Lebanon’s Daily Star reported. “There are still sleeper cells in Maaloula,” Mayal said, referring to jihadist groups in the area. Maaloula, located 56 kilometers from Damascus, is an ancient Christian town where many of the residents still speak Aramaic, the same language...

MURRYSVILLE (KDKA) – At least 20-people have been injured in a stabbing at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville. Murrysville police Chief Thomas Seefeld says 19-of the victims are students, one of them is a school security guard. A school security guard called in the stabbing at 7:13 a.m. Seefeld wouldn’t detail the carnage beyond saying, “The juvenile went down the hallway and was flashing two knives around and injured the people.” Police say the 16-year-old male student suspect is in custody and is a sophomore at the high school. He was transported from the Murrysville Police Department by police...

Archie fans might want to brace themselves: The beloved character will die this July. Archie Comics announced Tuesday that the lovable redhead Archie Andrews will bite the proverbial dust, to cap the recent “Life With Archie” series. “We’ve been building up to this moment since we launched ‘Life With Archie’ five years ago, and knew that any book that was telling the story of Archie’s life as an adult had to also show his final moment,” said Archie Comics Publisher/Co-CEO Jon Goldwater in a statement. While details of the character’s impending death are scant, it has been revealed that Archie...

Seriously, when is enough, ENOUGH with this progressive BULLCRAP? Ban bossy? That’s the new star-studded campaign being trotted out right now. According to the campaign, by middle school, girls are less interested in management positions than boys. Well, there can only be one explanation for that; and it isn’t that boys and girls are just different from one another, with innately different interests. No, the only explanation is this: having been called “bossy.” Now, either boys have never been called “bossy” or somehow, some way, through some incredible miracle, they struggled through the horror of being labeled as such, and...

SAN FRANCISCO – A California state senator who authored gun control legislation asked for campaign donations in exchange for introducing an undercover FBI agent to an arms trafficker with links to separatist groups in the Philippines, court documents revealed Wednesday. Investigators said Sen. Leland Yee discussed helping the agent get weapons worth $500,000 to $2.5 million, including shoulder-fired missiles, and explained the entire process of acquiring them from a Philippine military captain and separatist groups to bringing them to the US, according to an affidavit by FBI agent Emmanuel Pascua....

Move Could “Open the Floodgates” Against National Standards Indiana Governor Mike Pence burst into the headlines with his announcement that Indiana will be the first of 45 states to opt out of the national education standards known as Common Core. “I believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many other states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has taken a step back,” Pence said, “designed our own standards and done it in a way where we drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on...

First Lady Michelle Obama will be accompanied by her children and her mother on her trip to China, which begins today. But she won't be accompanied by the press. "Michelle Obama’s trip to China starting on Wednesday will be nonpolitical, the White House says, a 'people-to-people exchange' emphasizing the importance that both nations place on education. As if to underscore the point, no reporters are traveling with the first lady, and she does not plan to give interviews while there," reports the New York Times. The White House is defending the first lady bringing her family along for the ride...

(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Residents of Kuda Huvadhoo in Dhaal Atoll in the Maldives reportedly saw a "low-flying jumbo jet" flying over houses early in the morning of March 8, the same day Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing. In a report by Maldivian daily Haveeru, residents described the aircraft which flew over Kuda Huvadhoo at around 6:15am as being white, with red stripes across it. This colour scheme is very similar to the livery used by Malaysia Airlines on its aircraft - including the Boeing 777 used for MH370.

BEIJING (AP) — China's official Xinhua News Agency says a government website has images of suspected debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. The report says the satellite images from the morning of March 9 appear to show "three suspected floating objects" of varying sizes. The report includes coordinates of a location in the sea off the southern tip of Vietnam and east of Malaysia.

After months of pressing the CBS News brass to get out of her contract, reporter Sharyl Attkisson was finally granted her request. While that is good for her, it ought to underline how CBS has abandoned hard-hitting reporting in the Obama era. Politico's Attkisson headline was "The right loses its hero at CBS," and liberal blogs tried to guess how long it would take for her to sign up with Fox News Channel. That might happen. Roger Ailes loves scooping up talent from other networks. That's meant as an insult, of course. Only those dreadful right-wing propagandists challenge Team...

<p>KERMIT, W.Va. (AP/KDKA) – Health officials have temporarily shut down a southern West Virginia pizza restaurant after a district manager was caught on surveillance video urinating into a sink.</p> <p>Local media reported that the Mingo County health department ordered the Pizza Hut in Kermit, about 85 miles southwest of Charleston, to shut down.</p>