Hostage Situation in Paris Resolved, Defense Contractor Bribed 'Scores' in U.S. Navy, Florida Police Use Black Mugshots for Target Practice: A.M. Links

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An armed suspect took two hostages in a Paris post station Friday morning before releasing them and turning himself in. Police say it doesn't appear to be related to the attacks at Charlie Hebdo and a Parisian supermarket last week, and the gunman may be mentally "unbalanced."
A Malaysian defense contractor who pled guilty to corruption charges Thursday says he bribed "scores" of U.S. Navy officials with things like cash and Spanish suckling pigs.
Freshman GOP Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) has been chosen to give the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address, following in the footsteps of Reps. Paul Ryan (2011) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (2014) and Sen. Marco Rubio (2013).
Neurosurgeon with presidential dreams Ben Carson is doubling down on remarks that Obamacare is the worst U.S. policy since slavery and America now akin to Nazi Germany. "I stand by those" said the Republican politician. "I don't think there's anything crazy at all."
North Miami Beach police were discovered using black men's mugshots for target practice. The police chief said the department didn't mean to racially profile and would expand the target faces to include white and Latino men.
The state of Michigan must recognize same-sex couples who married on March 22, 2014—the one day it was legal to do so in the state. "In these circumstances, what the state of Michigan has joined together it may not put asunder," ruled U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith.

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