Analysis: That Silly Perry Vs. Cruz Idea? Don’t Be So Quick to Dismiss It

Pitting Ted Cruz and Rick Perry against each other in a political survey is just the sort of silly clickbait pollsters and headline writers love. Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning firm, released a survey this week saying Cruz would lose to the former governor in a hypothetical Republican primary for re-election.

Taking on Ted

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, is not ruling out challenging U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2018, but he's emphasizing that he is not focused on it for now. "Like Reagan said, never say never, but it's not something I'm spending a whole lot of time thinking about right now," McCaul told reporters Wednesday in Austin.

USDA aids Maine organic farmers, helps vets learn farming

Rep. Chellie Pingree says a pair of United States Department of Agriculture grants will help Maine's young farmers learn their craft. One is a grant of nearly $600,000 to Wolfe's Neck Farm in Freeport to expand the farm's organic dairy farmer training program.

Naked Trump statues erected in sites around US

A naked statue of Donald Trump, complete with bulging belly and elaborate yellow hair, caused laughter and merriment in New York on Thursday until it was demolished by park wardens. Hands clasped across ample belly, the sculpture was unveiled in Union Square, gazing out across a busy street with an engraved plaque reading "The Emperor Has No Balls", witnesses said.

U.S. voters skeptical about either Trump or Clinton presidency

Confidence in either U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton being a good president continues to remain low, as was the case earlier this year, a Pew Research Center poll said on Thursday. Just 27 percent of registered voters think Trump would make a good or great president, while 55 percent say the bellicose New York billionaire developer would be either poor or terrible president.

Clinton widens lead over Trump in poll of NY voters Updated Aug 15, 2016 at

Hillary Clinton holds a giant lead over Donald Trump among New York voters in a Siena College poll released Monday, beating him by 30 percentage points in a two-way matchup and by 25 points when Libertarian and Green Party candidates for president were included in the choices.

‘Help Me Grow’ child development program receives federal funding

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday the receipt of $2.1 million in federal funding that is earmarked to increase developmental skills among children and decrease maternal depression in the Western New York and Long Island regions. The state's Council on Children and Families will partner with the New York State Department of Health and local agencies on the projects to ultimately develop a statewide model for screening children earlier for developmental delays, screening their mothers for depression, and to provide needed services sooner to promote long-term success.

Trump, and Changing Demographics, Are Helping Turn North Carolina Blue

Over the past three election cycles, Republicans in North Carolina won the governor's mansion, ousted Democratic Senator Kay Hagan, and built a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature. But with Donald Trump imperiling down ballot candidates and population demographics in the state undergoing a shift, those gains could soon be reversed.

This chart shows how quickly college tuition has skyrocketed…

Student-loan debt in the US has grown to a staggering $1.3 trillion , and many policymakers refer to the seemingly inexorable levels of mounting debt as a crisis. Some, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, have suggested plans to provide college for free or at least, minimal cost.

Sen. Schumer Urges Support For Crackdown Ona

Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a federal crackdown on ticket scalpers using computer programs to jack up the prices of popular Broadway shows, concerts and sporting events, urging support for legislation he introduced to restrict them. The New York Democrat, citing support from Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway's "Hamilton," says cyber scalpers have been using the programs, known as "bots," to buy and resell tickets to that play anywhere from $500 to more than $2,000 a ticket.