Obama gives State of the Union Address

1. Obama gives State of the Union Address

2. Seeking to energize his sluggish second term, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday night at the Capitol Building in his hour-long State of the Union address to sidestep Congress "whenever and wherever" necessary to narrow economic disparities between America's rich and poor. The economy and other domestic issues, including health care, and minimum wage dominated the president's address. He touched only briefly on foreign policy, reiterating his threat to veto any new sanctions Congress might levy on Iran while nuclear negotiations with the Islamic republic are underway and touting the drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan this year. Declaring 2104 a "year of action," Obama also sought to convince an increasingly skeptical public that he still wields power in Washington even if he can't crack through the divisions in Congress. Burned by a series of legislative failures in 2013, White House aides say they're now redefining success not by what Obama can jam through Congress but by what actions he can take on his own.

3. In Other News • Rep. Michael Grimm, R-New York, defended his actions late Tuesday night after he physically threatened a NY1 News reporter at the Capitol. “I verbally took the reporter to task and told him off, because I expect a certain level of professionalism and respect, especially when I go out of my way to do that reporter a favor,” Grimm said in a statement. First elected in 2010, Grimm represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. The second-term congressman, who's also a former Marine and former FBI agent, spoke aggressively to Scotto for about 20 seconds and then threatened to throw him off a balcony. • The University of North Carolina failed some of its students "for years" by allowing them to take classes that did not match its own academic standards, Chancellor Carol Folt has admitted. The concession -- the strongest since UNC-Chapel Hill was caught up in a fake-class scandal two years ago -- comes just weeks after a CNN investigation found continuing problems at UNC and other public universities where some student-athletes could read only at an elementary school level. Two years ago, it was exposed that UNC students, many of them athletes, were given grades for classes they did not attend and for which they did nothing beyond turning in a single paper. One professor has been indicted on fraud charges for being paid for a class he didn't teach. • The ill-fated Royal Caribbean cruise ship returns home Wednesday. Nearly 700 crew and passengers fell ill aboard the Explorer of the Seas, the highest number of sick people reported on any cruise ship in two decades. • A handful of Northwestern football players have kicked off the process of earning employee status for their participation in college athletics. National College Players Association president Ramogi Huma says Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter and his teammates have requested to be represented by a labor union.

4. CE Quiz Dates 10, 13, 14, 15, 16 17, 23, 24, 27, 29