Senate GOP, Dems fight for money edge

Senate GOP, Dems fight for money edge

WASHINGTON

The Democrats’ national fundraising organizations have become a silver lining for a beleaguered party that has its hands full with Republican-allied outside groups and well-financed GOP candidates. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Friday reported raising a record $27 million during the three months ending Sept. 30, and entered the crucial final weeks of the election campaign with $25.6 million in the bank, $6.4 million more than its Republican counterpart. The Democrats’ House equivalent, looking to stave off a Republican takeover, reported $41.6 million in the bank, more than twice the cash on hand reported by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Feds oppose Prop 19 to legalize marijuana

SAN FRANCISCO

Attorney General Eric Holder is warning that the federal government will not look the other way, as it has with medical marijuana, if voters next month make California the first state to legalize pot. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, which drug agents will “vigorously enforce” against anyone carrying, growing or selling it, Holder said.

Politics trumping loyalty in House

WASHINGTON

Grasping to keep control of Congress, Democratic leaders are turning their backs on some of their staunchest supporters in the House and propping up stronger candidates who have routinely defied them on health care, climate change and other major issues. Raw politics — the drive to win a House-majority 218 seats, no matter how — is increasingly trumping policy and loyalty in these decisions, as Democrats shift money and attention in the closing days of the campaign toward races they can win and pull back from those seemingly lost.

Witnesses: Gunman kept firing outside

FORT HOOD, Texas

As dozens of soldiers lay dead or bleeding in a Fort Hood processing center last year, a gunman went outside and continued firing as others ran to nearby buildings, hid behind cars or carried wounded comrades to safety, witnesses told a military court Friday. Chief Warrant Officer II Christopher Royal said he ran out of the center where soldiers were preparing to deploy after he heard gunshots and saw the shooter but then decided to go back and try to stop the rampage, because “I told myself I could not let him get away with it.”

Obama’s half brother says he married teen

NAIROBI, Kenya

President Barack Obama’s polygamist half brother in Kenya has married a 19-year-old woman more than 30 years his junior. Malik Obama, 52, told a Kenya news station that the teen quit school and wanted to get married. He appeared on video taken by a hidden camera, although he knew he was talking to journalists. “She decided she doesn’t want to go back to school. She wants to get married now. She came here, and what am I supposed to do? So we are married,” Malik Obama said on the video broadcast by NTV.

Human bones found in pits at cemetery

PHOENIX

State regulators said Friday they have launched an investigation after the discovery of two sprawling pits of human skulls, ribs, femurs and other bones dumped at an Arizona cemetery. Investigators want to find out if the remains were handled properly by a cremation business that was contracted to dispose of them for a medical research company.

Keys has a son

NEW YORK

It’s a boy for Alicia Keys and her husband, music producer/rapper Swizz Beatz. A representative for Keys said she gave birth Thursday night in New York. The couple named their son Egypt Dean. They were married July 31.

Associated Press