• 1

  6 hours ago

  Obama's Swing State Lead Narrows: Poll

  

  Getty
  President Barack Obama has a narrow advantage over Mitt Romney in three key swing states, new NBC-Marist polls indicate, even as Romney chips away at his lead. Obama leads Romney by 48 percent to 44 percent in both Florida and Virginia among registered voters. Obama's lead was slightly wider, six percentage points, in Ohio. Helping Obama in those states: recovering state economies. Still, Obama's lead was noticeably slimmer than in March, when he led in both Virginia and Ohio by double-digit margins — with the shift largely due to voter pessimism and a feeling the country is on the wrong track, NBC News reported. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll Wednesday also found Obama's lead shrinking, with Obama's gay marriage support announcement barely affecting his standing. Get More at MSNBC
• 2

  4 hours ago

  Facebook Mulls Stock Listing Switch to NYSE: Report

  

  Getty Images
  The New York Stock Exchange is trying to woo Facebook to switch over its stock listing, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, days after the company's fraught initial public offering on Nasdaq. A source told the Journal that the NYSE had exchanged "several emails" with Facebook about the possibility of coming aboard, but the exchange itself denied any such discussions. Facebook has been dominating headlines all week as it grapples with complications from its IPO last week — among them technological glitches in trading, regulatory probes and a flurry of shareholder suits alleging that the company and its IPO's underwriters misled smaller investors about the company's lagging performance expectations. Facebook's stock price has slid from its IPO price of $38 to close at nearly $32 on Wednesday. The stock edged higher Thursday. Get More at MSNBC
• 3

  17 minutes ago

  NYPD Detains Man Who Claims He Lured Etan Patz

  

  AP
  New York City police have detained a New Jersey man who claims he lured with candy and then killed Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who went missing from his SoHo home more than three decades ago, NBC News 4 New York reported. Police sources identified the man to NBC News 4 New York as Pedro Hernandez and said they received a tip about him from his brother-in-law. Hernandez allegedly spoke of having killed a child and disposed of the body at the SoHo bodega where he worked, a source told NBCNewYork.com. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the suspect had "made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself" in Patz's disappearance and death 33 years ago. Police renewed their search for Patz last month, digging up the basement of a nearby building but finding no new evidence. The search for Patz became one of the highest-profile missing child cases in New York history after he vanished in 1979. Get More at MSNBC
• 4

  2 hours ago

  Harvard Blasted for Unabomber Entry in Reunion Book

  

  ASSOCIATED PRESS
  Harvard University is sorry it included an entry from convicted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski in its 50th class reunion book. Kaczynski, who was caught and convicted after a two-decade campaign of mailing bombs to strangers, listed his occupation as "prisoner" and his awards as "eight life sentences, issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, 1998." The technophobic mathematician, who entered Harvard at age 16 before getting advanced degrees from the University of Michigan, is spending the rest of his life in the Supermax prison in Colorado for the deaths of three people killed by the bombs he allegedly mailed. "We regret publishing Kaczynski's references to his convictions and apologize for any distress that it may have caused others," the Harvard Alumni Association said Wednesday. Get More at MSNBC
• 5

  5 hours ago

  Secret Service Head: There's No Misconduct Epidemic

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• 6

  2 minutes ago

  Edwards Jury Requests Massive Batch of Documents

  

  AP
  The jury in the John Edwards campaign finance trial asked to review a massive batch of documents on Thursday, an indication that it may be deliberating for a long time yet. The jurors first asked for 20 evidentiary exhibits — most relating to the money Edwards' former campaign finance chair spent to keep Edwards' affair with a staffer quiet — but when the judge asked if they would like copies of all of the more than 500 exhibits in the case, they said yes. Earlier, it had asked for letters from the lawyer for Bunny Mellon, the 101-year-old heiress whose almost $1 million dollar donation to Edwards is at the heart of the criminal case against him. The prosecution says Edwards knew Mellon's payment was illegal but used it anyway to hide his affair and keep his presidential campaign afloat, but the defense says Edwards thought it was a personal gift and used it only to hide the affair from his wife. The jury must reach a unanimous verdict. Get More at MSNBC
• 7

  3 hours ago

  “Near Normal” Hurricane Season Expected

  
  Federal forecasters expect a “near normal” hurricane season of 9 to 15 named tropical storms along the East and Gulf coasts through November, MSNBC reported. About 4 to 8 of the storms are expected to become hurricanes with 1 to 3 of them likely to become major hurricanes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The hurricane season got off to an early start this year when Tropical Storm Alberto formed off the Carolinas on May 19. The season typically runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. On Friday, Hurricane Bud grew into a Category 2 storm with winds of 105 miles per hour as it swept through the Pacific toward the southwestern coast of Mexico, Bloomberg News reported. Get More at MSNBC
• 8

  2 hours ago

  Auction of Vial with Ronald Reagan's Blood Called Off

  
  A vial said to contain the dried blood of President Ronald Reagan will be donated to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation instead of being auctioned off, The Washington Post reported. The auction house, based on the Guernsey Island in the English Channel, cancelled the sale Thursday after the seller, who purchased the vial legally in the U.S earlier this year, decided against it, according to Politico. The glass tube, which received bids exceeding $30,000, contained residue of blood drawn from Reagan to test for lead in the aftermath of the 1981 assassination attempt on the former president. A laboratory worker in Columbia, Md. was allowed to keep the vial and its paperwork according to PFC Auctions, Politico reported. When the lab worker died, her son sold the vial at an auction for $3,550. Get More at MSNBC
• 9

  May 23, 02:33PM

    Here we are in the most prosperous nation, but millions of kids are getting a third-world education.   — Mitt Romney Speaking at the Latino Coalition economic summit in Washington
• 10

  5 hours ago

  Dems Lead in 3 Swing State Senate Races: Poll

  
  Democrats lead their Republican challengers in three big Senate races in swing states, new NBC-Marist polls found. The GOP's chance of retaking the Senate hinge on their chance to pick up three or four seats — possibly in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida and Virginia. But Ohio's Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown leads by 14 points, Florida's leads by four and Virginia's Democratic former Gov. Tim Kaine leads former Sen. George Allen by six. The GOP expected an easy path to taking the Senate, since Democrats must defend 23 seats, many of them in Republican-leaning states. But Democrats' resurgence has increased pressure on the GOP — and focused attention on the Massachusetts Senate race, where Republican Sen. Scott Brown and liberal darling Elizabeth Warren are virtually tied in a new poll. Get More at MSNBC
• 11

  3 hours ago

  SpaceX’s Dragon Flies Under Space Station

  

  AP
  The world’s first private supply ship flew within 1.5 miles of the International Space Station Thursday in a critical test before docking. Two days after the unmanned capsule Dragon lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket for a history making trip to the orbiting lab, officials at NASA and the SpaceX said the rendezvous went well. Dragon is carrying 1,000 pounds of provisions and is expected to dock on Friday. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract to fly at least 12 unmanned missions to the space station through 2015. The company is run by billionaire PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, who said that President Barack Obama called him “to say congrats” on Wednesday. “Caller ID was blocked, so at first I thought it was a telemarketer," he tweeted. Get More at MSNBC
• 12

  6 hours ago

  Russia Launches ICB Missile to Counter Defense Shield

  

  AP
  Russia reportedly has successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to overcome the defense shield the U.S. is erecting in Europe. According to the news channel Russia Today, the missile was fired from one end of Russia to the other, hitting its target on the Kamchatka Peninsula Wednesday. The missile defense shield the U.S. is deploying in eastern Europe has heightened tensions with Russia, which opposes the shield, and the countries are still wrangling over the details. Russia says the shield could intercept its warheads, but the U.S. says the shield is strictly intended to protect against a possible attack by Iran and won't affect Russia. According to Russia Today, a prototype of the missile Russia launched Thursday had fizzled back in September. Get More at MSNBC