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...Initial reports say the officer was not hit and is uninjured. The suspect has taken off on foot, and authorities in the area are searching for him

Lead is malleable. Some opinions about lead ammunition are not. That’s what critics of lead bullets and shells are finding as they advocate a switch to nontoxic alternatives such as steel. In a fight reminiscent of the climate-change debate, evolving evidence of threats to the environment, wildlife and humans from lead ammo and tackle is facing a firing squad of politicians and special-interest groups. Caught in the crossfire are hunters and anglers. So is the Environmental Protection Agency, a favorite target of rural-state lawmakers like U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who is a co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus. Thune...

Oil producers in North Dakota don't seem ready to give up their rail cars just yet. Enterprise Product Partners has shelved plans for a pipeline out of the prolific Bakken Shale after the company was unable to secure enough crude shipment deals along the route to make the project viable. The proposed 340,000 barrel-per-day line would have run 1,200 miles from the oil fields of North Dakota to the nation's largest oil transportation hub in Cushing, Okla. Houston-based Enterprise Product Partners originally announced that it would solicit shipping commitments from Sept. 4 to Oct. 17 - a process called an...

So apparently there’s a uterus puppet going around the country making videos about abortion clinics and lack thereof. Yes, there’s a puppet named Eunice, and she’s a sad uterus. Hans Johnson from JillStanek.com found this great little gem and we just had to share. He wrote: In the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” category comes a video called “The Abortion Desert.” Taking a cue from the idea of “food deserts” - a lack of urban grocery stores – the abortion lobby group Lady Parts Justice nervously brings attention to the dwindling number of abortion clinics. For a serious subject,...

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is among a group of five Republican senators who introduced a bill this week that, if passed, would impose a travel ban preventing those in countries currently afflicted by Ebola from coming to the United States. A release on Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's official website detailed the legislation. Rubio and Grassley are joined by Sens. Pat Roberts (Kan.), John Thune (S.D.) and Mark Kirk (Ill.). Under the proposed bill, people living in countries experiencing "widespread transmission of Ebola" as noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be unable to acquire a visa to...

One Democratic congressman is so opposed to the Keystone XL Pipeline that he wouldn’t vote for it even if his party got a minimum-wage bump from Republicans in exchange. “I wouldn’t make that trade,” Rep. Keith Ellison, Minnesota Democrat, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” of a hypothetical raise to $9.50 per hour. Senate Democrats late Tuesday filibustered a measure to green-light the contentious oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast, potentially dooming the chances of party colleague Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and underscoring the power of the pro-environment caucus. Republicans vowed to put President Obama’s veto pen to the...

When it came time for the US Senate to vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline, Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) “clout” did not have much of an impact on fellow Democrat senators. In fact, 35 of the senators who voted against the project were given campaign cash by Landrieu since the 2008 election cycle. Take a look here at the list of senators who don’t seem to acknowledge Landrieu’s “clout.” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) $10,000 Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-CT) $5,000 Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) $10,000 Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) $7,000 Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) $10,000 Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) $3,500 Sen....

President Barack Obama might be open to using the Keystone pipeline as leverage with Republicans if they cooperate on other aspects of his long-stalled domestic agenda, such as investing in infrastructure, closing tax loopholes or reducing carbon emissions. After years of fighting over TransCanada's crude oil pipeline from Canada, a Keystone deal is not entirely out of the question, sources inside the administration and others close to the White House told Reuters on Tuesday. With the Senate's narrow defeat of a Keystone bill on Tuesday, Obama avoided the awkward position of possibly vetoing a bill supported by members of his...

Six years into a wait for the approvals to operate the newest section of the Keystone Pipeline system, TransCanada has already spent $2.4 billion on the project. TransCanada had hoped that it would have the permits for its Keystone XL pipeline within two years, since the first phase of the Keystone Pipeline system was reviewed and approved in 23 months. But it’s been more than six years since TransCanada filed its application to build the Keystone XL expansion, and it has still not been approved. Facing environmental pressures from his liberal base if he approves the pipeline and strife from...

The president of a South Dakota-based Native American tribe says it will be an “act of war” if Congress authorizes construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. “We are outraged by the lack of intergovernmental cooperation,” Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Cyril Scott said in a statement. “We are a sovereign nation and we are not being treated as such,” Scott said in response to Friday’s House vote to approve the project. “We will close our reservation borders to Keystone XL. Authorizing Keystone XL is an act of war against our people.”...

Delays of the Keystone XL pipeline are providing little obstacle to Western Canadian oil producers getting their crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, with shipments set to more than double next year. The volume of Canadian crude processed at Gulf Coast refineries could climb to more than 400,000 barrels a day in 2015 from 208,000 in August, according to Jackie Forrest, vice president of Calgary-based ARC Financial Corp. The increase comes as Enbridge Inc.’s Flanagan South and an expanded Seaway pipeline raise their capacity to ship oil by as much as 450,000 barrels a day. Canadian exports to the Gulf...

President Obama is fond of telling Congress that it should pass things with the overwhelming support of the American people, including (among other things) comprehensive immigration reform, increasing the minimum wage, and increasing gun background checks. And yet, Obama could soon be in a position of vetoing something with a similar amount of support: the Keystone XL pipeline. Poll after poll has shown support for Keystone is somewhere between very strong and overwhelming. A Pew Research Center survey this month showed support for the project at nearly two-to-one, 59 percent to 31 percent. And that was about the lowest level...

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) offers our warmest congratulations to the Jewish Republicans who won their races yesterday in the important election of 2014. We are especially delighted that Lee Zeldin won his congressional race in New York’s first district, making him the Jewish Republican in the 114th U.S. Congress. We are also pleased that the Jewish Republicans in state offices around the country won their reelections. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel, South Dakota State Senator Dan Lederman, Texas State Representative and House Speaker Joe Straus and Texas State Representative Craig Goldman all won reelection....

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus predicted Tuesday that the GOP regaining control of the Senate would mean a signature from President Barack Obama on a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Getting approval for TransCanada’s pipeline, which has been waiting six years to break ground on the project, would be among the top priorities for a Republican-controlled Senate, Priebus told MSNBC’s Daily Rundown. “We will pass a budget in both chambers, number one, and we will pass the Keystone pipeline, number two,” Priebus said. “And I actually think the president will sign the bill on the Keystone pipeline...

South Dakota's suddenly tight Senate race is suddenly not so tight again, according to the polls. Still, none of the four candidates has majority support. Polls released in recent days show Republican Mike Rounds with bigger leads than in the previous round of polling. A KELO/Sioux Falls Argus Leader poll conducted Oct. 20-23 showed Rounds with 42 percent support; Democrat Rick Weiland at 33 percent; independent Larry Pressler at 13 percent; and independent Gordon Howie at 2 percent. Another 10 percent of respondents were undecided. An NBC News/Marist poll conducted Oct. 19-23 showed Rounds at 43 percent, Weiland at 29...

Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in San Diego for Rep. Scott Peters on Saturday, according to the Democratic incumbent's campaign. Peters is in what polls say is a tight race with Republican Carl DeMaio -- one of the most closely watched and expensive congressional campaigns in the nation. The race has generated more than $10 million in spending by the candidates' campaigns, political parties and independent committees.

Hot on the heels of the Department of Justice’s suddenly-renewed interest in George Zimmerman’s civil rights liability in the self-defense killing of Trayvon Martin (see: FBI Convenes Grand Jury For Zimmerman Civil Rights Case) just days before next week’s election comes another DOJ action timed perfectly for electoral manipulation. National Review Online is reporting that the FBI (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DOJ) has made the highly unusual decision to disclose their investigation into Mike Rounds (pictured above), a Republican Senate candidate in South Dakota, less than a week before next Tuesday’s vote. The alleged misconduct being investigated is somewhat...

Some polling earlier this month suggested that the South Dakota Senate race might be unexpectedly competitive, but a new poll shows Republican candidate Mike Rounds with a significant lead 10 days before the election. Rounds is taking 43 percent of the vote, according to the NBC/Marist poll released Sunday. Democratic candidate Rick Weiland is at 29 percent and former GOP Sen. Larry Pressler, now running as an independent, is polling at 16 percent.

I have noticed some wild variations in polling in places like South Dakota, Kentucky, and Georgia. Places that should not be in play seem to be in play.

The largest newspaper in South Dakota broke a story that could cost the GOP a red state Senate seat. The Fiscal Times reports:  The three-way race for South Dakota’s open Senate seat got more complicated Wednesday, when the Sioux Falls Argus Leader published a page one story alleging that former Governor Mike Rounds, the Republican candidate and current leader in the polls, had approved $600,000 in state assistance to a company that was about hire a member of his cabinet. According to reporter David Montgomery, then Secretary of Tourism and State Development Richard Benda requested the assistance for Northern Beef Packers about two...