Donald Trump

Trump, Cruz assert their standing atop Republican field

Trump, Cruz assert their standing atop Republican field

Associated Press

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — With just over two weeks until voting begins, Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz firmly asserted their standing atop the GOP race in a fiery debate, overshadowing a crowded field of rivals still grappling for a way to overtake the front-runners.

Thursday night's debate underscored that the competition between Trump and Cruz will be rough-and-tumble in the days leading up to the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses, a shift from the relative civility that's defined their relationship until now. The candidates tangled over Cruz's eligibility to serve as commander in chief and the real estate mogul's "New York values," with Trump besting his rival with an emotional recounting of his hometown's response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mass. lawmakers take fact-finding pot-shop tour in Denver
Massachusetts

Mass. lawmakers take fact-finding pot-shop tour in Denver

Evan Lips

DENVER – A group of Massachusetts lawmakers returned Thursday from what state Sen. Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) described as a marijuana "fact-finding" trip to Colorado, where voters legalized pot in 2012.

The three-day visit came after a proposal to make the drug legal in Massachusetts moved closer to the November ballot, putting the Legislature on the spot. On Wednesday, backers of legalization urged lawmakers in the State House to pass a similar legislative measure, as a way to keep control of the issue.

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