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WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Americans want to hear President Barack Obama discuss the topic of guns during his final State of the Union address. According to Facebook, 15 million people discussed Obama and his address in the week leading up to tonight's speech. There were 54 million likes, posts or comments. Guns were the most talked-about topic. The president is expected to present an optimistic vision built on economic progress under his watch.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has given near unanimous approval to a bill designed to punish North Korea for conducting its latest nuclear test. It's called the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act. It's meant to help deny the regime the hard currency it needs for developing miniaturized nuclear warheads and the long-range missiles to deliver them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A spokesman says the Pentagon has been in touch with Iran and received assurances that 10 sailors and their two small Navy boats will be promptly returned. One of the boats is said to have developed mechanical trouble and drifted into Iranian waters near the island of Farsi in the Persian Gulf.
NEW YORK (AP) — The pension fund for the United Methodist Church has blocked five Israeli banks from its investment portfolio. The fund excluded the banks as part of a broad review of investments it said was meant to weed out companies that profit from abuse of human rights. The United Methodist Church has nearly 13 million members worldwide and is the largest mainline U.S. Protestant group.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — On his first full day in office, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has reversed course from his Republican predecessor and started the process of expanding Louisiana's Medicaid program. Edwards called it "the right thing to do." Former Gov. Republican Bobby Jindal, who was term-limited and left office this week, refused expansion, calling it too costly.
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