Rand Paul wins CPAC straw poll

Rand Paul wins CPAC straw poll

OXON HILL, Md.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has won the Conservative Political Action Conference’s presidential preference poll.

The overwhelming win is purely symbolic but reflects the Republican senator’s popularity among conservatives who typically hold outsized influence in the GOP’s presidential-selection process.

Paul captured 31 percent of the vote. He won the poll last year as well. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz finished in second place with 11 percent, followed by neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

NASA twin study

PHOENIX

Astronaut Mark Kelly and his twin brother will help NASA study the effects of spaceflight on the human body.

NASA announced Friday that Mark Kelly and astronaut Scott Kelly will participate in 10 separate investigations.

Craig Kundrot, deputy chief scientist of NASA’s Human Research Program, says in a news release that the brothers provide a unique opportunity to study two people with the same genetics who were in different environments.

Mark Kelly is the husband of former U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, who has been recovering after being shot in the head in 2011 in her home district of Tucson.

Bees attack woman

PALM DESERT, Calif.

A 71-year-old woman is believed to have suffered about 1,000 stings in Southern California after being attacked by a swarm of killer bees that covered her entire body.

Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mark Williams says the woman was expected to recover after Thursday’s attack in Palm Desert. He said five firefighters also were hospitalized for stings.

A bee-removal specialist told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that up to 80,000 Africanized honey bees found in an underground electrical vault stung a Verizon employee who opened the vault. Lance Davis said the bees then attacked the woman, who had just gotten out of a car nearby.

‘Blowout’ arrests

AMHERST, Mass.

An early St. Patrick’s Day celebration around the University of Massachusetts’ flagship campus known as “Blarney Blowout” spun out of control Saturday as police in riot gear arrested more than 40 people while dispersing massive crowds, including unruly students throwing beer cans and bottles.

Forty-four people were arrested by late Saturday afternoon, and four officers suffered minor injuries after police spent the day attempting to disperse “several” crowds of more than 1,500 students, said Amherst Police Capt. Jennifer Gundersen.

Bond set at $1.2M

ORLANDO, Fla.

A pregnant South Carolina woman pointed to the ocean, locked the doors and rolled up the windows, telling her three children she was “trying to take them to a better place” as she drove her minivan into the surf, authorities said.

Ebony Wilkerson tried to call off bystanders hustling to rescue her screaming children from the water, saying “everyone was OK” as she left the van in the ocean, an affidavit said. Wilkerson, 32, is charged with three counts of attempted murder and three counts of child abuse causing great bodily harm.

Volusia County Court Judge Shirley Green found probable cause for the charges during Wilkerson’s first appearance in court Saturday and set her bond at $1.2 million.

Associated Press