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National Journal

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Washington’s premier source of nonpartisan insight on politics and policy. More at NationalJournal.com
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The two anti-abortion activists responsible for the undercover videos of Planned Parenthood released last summer face felony charges.

A Houston grand jury indicted two employees from the Center for Medical Progress on charges of felony tampering with a government record and a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs.

http://njour.nl/md/616668

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Ronald Reagan was the first president to brand the state of the union as "strong," in 1983. Since then, most State of the Union speeches have included some form of the word to describe the nation's condition.

Earlier presidents were comfortable being a little more forthcoming in their assessments.

On the eve of the Civil War, James Buchanan stated that the Union was "threatened with destruction." 

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Today marks the last edition of National Journal magazine, a publication that has worked to deliver smart, non-partisan insight on all things Washington for the last 46 years. In its place will survive a website and a newsletter that will deliver timely political analysis. 

Read a note from the editor on how the magazine upheld its high journalistic standards and investigative stamina in the age of the Internet:

It was a tradition that had, for decades, insisted that the details of policy and politics mattered enormously. That the decision-makers behind the scenes could not be ignored. That there was no shortage of investigative digging to be done in Washington. That reporting and argument could strengthen each other. That a magazine could earn the respect of both conservatives and liberals. 
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Researchers at the U.C. San Diego Medical Center began an experiment to study slow-wave sleep, the phase of sleep when it’s hard to wake you up. Slow-wave sleep is thought to be the most restorative period of sleep, and it’s important to good health: Experiments where people are denied slow-wave sleep on purpose have shown that bodies quickly change for the worse. 

What they found was disturbing. Generally, people are thought to spend 20 percent of their night in slow-wave sleep, and the study’s white participants hit this mark. Black participants, however, spent only about 15 percent of the night in slow-wave sleep.

The study was just one data point in a mounting pile of evidence that black Americans aren’t sleeping as well as whites.

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Amid a sprawling Republican field in the race for president, a sizable chunk of donors have spread their money among multiple candidates. Some pick ideo­lo­gic­ally sim­il­ar can­did­ates—Ted Cruz and Ben Car­son, Hil­lary Clin­ton and Bernie Sanders, Marco Ru­bio and Jeb Bush.

But others are hedging their bets and putting their money on both sides of the political aisle—including donations to Clinton and Bush.

See results for all the presidential candidates here

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When Republicans describe how they will rescue their standing with Latino voters in the 2016 presidential race, this is the place they point to.

This gritty old steel town nev­er really re­covered from the in­dustry’s crash in the early 1980s. It is older, less-edu­cated, and sig­ni­fic­antly less well-off than the rest of Col­or­ado. In a state where unemployment is near 4 percent, Pueblo is closer to 6 percent.

The town and its surrounding county is also a longtime Democratic stronghold.

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Over recent years, women, racial minorities, college-educated whites and young people have all grown as a share of the Democratic primary voting base. The first two groups have largely favored Hillary Clinton in early polling, while the latter two have frequently bolstered Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, her principal rival.

Read more about the changing Democratic electorate—a wildcard for the 2016 Democratic presidential contenders.  

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