No. 2 Senate Republican proposing gun background check bill

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"Gaps in existing law or inadequate resources prevent our communities from taking proactive steps to prevent them from becoming violent," Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a written statement.

Jennifer Baker, spokeswoman for NRA legislative affairs, said the bill took "meaningful steps toward fixing the system and making our communities safer."

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Among those barred from buying guns are people legally determined to be "mentally defective" and those who have been committed to mental institutions. But states are not required to send those records to the background check system, which is run by the FBI, and its database is spotty.

Cornyn's bill would increase grants under the government's main law enforcement program by up to 5 percent for states that send the federal system at least 90 percent of their records on people with serious mental problems. States providing less data could see their grants from a broad range of justice programs penalized by the same amounts, at the attorney general's discretion.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/05/no-2-senate-republican-proposing-gun-background-check-bill/

Ronda Rousey defeats Bethe Correia via knockout in 34 seconds at UFC 190

Ronda Rousey promised to punish her trash-talking opponent Bethe Correia on the Brazilian’s home turf on Saturday and, boy, did she ever. It took the 28-year-old just 34 seconds at UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro to deliver a knockout punch to rack up another win in her undefeated record and retain the UFC women’s bantamweight championship.

“I guess she can’t really say things about my hands anymore, huh,” Rousey said after her win, which she dedicated to WWE legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, who died suddenly on Friday.

Contrary to past fights, when she’s been cordial to her opponents, Rousey showed no respect for Correia, either at the beginning of the fight or at the end. The two fighters did not touch gloves before the bell and Rousey certainly didn’t congratulate her on her effort.

Rousey may have had good reason. In May, Correia trash-talked Rousey with allusions to Rousey’s father’s suicide — a taunt Correia apologized for but one that Rousey refused to accept. Correia also taunted the star after defeating two of Rousey’s friends in the Octagon, Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/08/01/ufc-190-live-results-recaps-and-highlights/?tid=trending_strip_4

These 20 schools are responsible for a fifth of all graduate school debt

Getting an advanced degree doesn’t come cheap, which is why graduate students carry nearly half of all student debt. But it turns out that a handful of schools are responsible for a large share of that money.

A new study from the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that 20 universities received one-fifth, or $6.5 billion, of the total amount of loans the government gave graduate students in the 2013-2014 academic year. Those schools, however, only educate 12 percent of all graduate students.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/07/09/these-20-schools-are-responsible-for-a-fifth-of-all-graduate-school-debt/