A Texas Democratic congressional candidate’s campaign reported more than $4,300 in spending on cookies, Mexican restaurant purchases and beer and wine earlier this year, according to federal election records, drawing renewed attention after a heated debate in which she apologized for a remark about her Republican opponent “making fun of Nazis.” Katy Padilla Stout, the Democrat nominee for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, reported expenditures totaling $4,338.14 in five...

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday vowed to conduct a “fair” investigation into the seven defendants accused of sexually assaulting an unnamed woman at a fraternity party at Cornell University. James’ investigation into the alleged college gang rape was launched after the filing of a recent lawsuit against Cornell University, the Chi Phi fraternity and several other defendants that has thrust the Ivy League university’s handling...

Democrats renewed calls for tougher gun laws after three children and a teacher were killed in an Oregon school shooting, but gun-rights advocates say the circumstances of the attack bolster their case against new restrictions. The teenage shooter reportedly opened fire with a shotgun purchased by his mother before an armed father-of-two-students, Kaylub Giamanco, pursued him into Silver Rail Elementary School and fatally shot him. Second Amendment advocates...