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Williams leads Maryland past Clemson 79-77

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Jordan Williams set a school record with his 13th consecutive double-double, getting 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead Maryland over Clemson 79-77 on Saturday.

Williams surpassed the mark held by Len Elmore, who had 12 straight double-doubles for the Terrapins in 1974. Williams, a 6-foot-10 sophomore forward, has reached double figures in both scoring and rebounding in 17 of 19 games this season.

Cliff Tucker scored 15 for Maryland, and Adrian Bowie and Terrell Stoglin each had 13. Playing their second game in three days, the Terrapins (12-7, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed after an early 21-3 run made it 26-13.

Demontez Stitt led Clemson (13-6, 2-3) with 20 points, Jerai Grant had 15 and Andre Young added 14. The Tigers have lost two in a row following an eight-game winning streak.

After a 3-pointer by Stitt got Clemson to 76-75 with 14.7 seconds to go, Sean Mosley made two foul shots for the Terrapins. The Tigers then inexplicably went inside and got a dunk from Devin Booker with 2.1 seconds remaining, and Tucker sank one of two at the line for the final margin.

A final shot by Stitt from around midcourt banged off the backboard.

Clemson played without forward Tanner Smith, who sprained his knee in Tuesday night's loss at North Carolina. Smith was replaced by 6-foot-6 junior Bryan Narclisse, who fouled out after scoring four points in his third career start.

Maryland led 49-41 and 54-46 early in the second half but couldn't pull away.

It was 66-60 before Young hit a 3-pointer. Tucker struck from behind the arc for Maryland, and after Stitt sank a 3-pointer, Williams made two free throws to make it 71-66 with 1:49 left.

The victory enabled Maryland to avoid a third straight ACC home loss for the first time since 1993. The Terrapins were coming off a humbling 74-57 defeat against Virginia Tech, their worst home defeat in 12 years.

Maryland went 24 for 48 from the floor, the first team to shoot 50 percent against Clemson this season.

Terps coach Gary Williams used his fifth different starting lineup this season, calling upon freshman forward Haukur Palsson to make his first college start. Mosley, a junior, came off the bench for the first time since his freshman year and finished with nine points.

The Terrapins went 6 for 11 from 3-point range in taking a 40-36 halftime lead.

Maryland missed seven of its first eight shots and trailed 10-5 before Bowie made a driving layup to ignite an 8-1 run. After a basket by Stitt made it 13-all, the Terrapins peeled off 13 straight points, including successive 3-pointers by Mosley, Stoglin and Tucker.

The Tigers closed to 35-29 before Palsson connected from beyond the arc and Williams scored off a pass from Tucker to put Maryland up by 11, but the Terps were held scoreless over the final 3:47 of the half.

Rep. Michele Bachmann to deliver Tea Party response to State of the Union

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, one of the most conservative members of Congress and founder of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, will deliver an alternative response to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Jan. 25th, her office confirmed Friday.

The speech, which will be broadcast online and sponsored by Tea Party Express, a California-based political action committee, will compete with theby Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said that members of the caucus were welcome to respond to the president’s speech.

“Whether it is through a press release, Twitter, the Internet, on television, radio, via Facebook, or by other means, virtually every member of Congress will share their thoughts on the President’s State of the Union,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told The Daily Caller.

Tea Party Express announced Bachmann’s speech insent to supporters Friday morning.

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North Korea centrifuges confirm U.S. concerns: U.S. military

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Longstanding U.S. concerns about North Korea's uranium enrichment program have been confirmed by a U.S. nuclear scientist's recent visit to the reclusive state, the top U.S. military officer said on Sunday.

North Korean officials took the expert, Siegfried Hecker of Stanford University, to a plant at its Yongbyon nuclear complex where he saw hundreds of centrifuges, the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

Washington has believed since 2002 that Pyongyang had such a program but the apparent sophistication of its effort could ignite fresh debate over how to deal with North Korea's unpredictable leadership and whether to resume talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the scientist's claims show that North Korea has violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and the country's previous commitments to restarting talks.

"From my perspective, it's North Korea continuing on a path which is destabilizing for the region," Mullen told CNN television's "State of the Union" program.

"It confirms or validates the concern we've had for years about their enriching uranium -- which they deny routinely."

Mullen added that it reinforced Pyongyang's lack of credibility with the West, saying: "We are unable to believe that they would do what they say."

The North Koreans told the U.S. nuclear expert they had 2,000 centrifuges in operation but the U.S. team that visited the country was unable to verify that, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mullen put the nuclear discovery in context by pointing to the March sinking of a South Korean warship, which Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang. The suspected torpedo attack killed 46 South Korean sailors and stoked tensions on the peninsula.

"All of this is consistent with belligerent behavior -- the kind of instability creation in a part of the world that is very dangerous," Mullen said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Wall Street Journal shakes up D.C. bureau

Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Robert Thomson informed staff Monday that John Bussey, the Washington bureau chief over the past three years, will be heading to New York to write a column and take on two new roles: assistant managing editor and executive business editor.

The move doesn't come as a huge surprise to Journal staffers, since there's been buzz for months that a management change was in the works. Thomson praised Bussey's role in "restructuring the bureau" in the memo; however, some staffers might also point out the significant turnover in Washington over the past few years. A few of the big names who left the Journal during his tenure:љ Jackie Calmes, Glenn Simpson, Sue Schmidt, Peter Spiegel, and Greg Hitt.

Jerry Seib, who ran the bureau , will now oversee both the Journal and Dow Jones Newswires teams, along with two deputy bureau chiefs:љ Matthew Rose and Rob Wells. Seib will continue writing the "Capital Journal" column.

Thomson's memo, obtained by The Cutline, is after the jump.

Dear All,

We are making a fundamental change to the structure of our Washington Bureaus. After three years as Bureau Chief, John Bussey will move to New York to write a weekly column (and more) on international business and be promoted to Assistant Managing Editor and Executive Business Editor.

The Newswires and Journal teams will be combined and led by the adroit Jerry Seib, with two Deputy Bureau Chiefs, Matthew Rose, who will oversee the day-to-day running of Journal coverage, and Rob Wells, who currently heads the Newswires operation and will have an enhanced role overseeing real-time reporting.

In his role as Chief of a unified bureau, Jerry will continue to write his market-moving Capital Journal column once a week and provide leadership for all of our journalists in Washington.

The change in structure reflects our need to identify and develop emerging themes ahead of the competition, and to maximize the use of our very talented Newswires team. Integration is possible now because of the excellent work done by Rob and John to improve communication and coordination between the two bureaus, which covered the mid-term elections with much distinction.

We should laud John for his work in restructuring the bureau, promoting emerging talent and developing coverage at a time when our audience has grown significantly, and our national and international role as a trusted source of political and economic news has expanded.

Jerry will take up his new role early next month, and report to Matt Murray and Neal Lipschutz.љ Join me in congratulating Jerry on his ascension, and John, Rob and Matthew on their promotions.

Robert.

Earmark ban: Why GOP freshmen might just be getting started

Washington – The freshman class of 2010 - on Capitol Hill for orientation this week - isn't following the conventional script about taking time to get to know the institution before throwing your weight around.

In a powerful debut, a handful of tea party-backed GOP freshmen pushed the Senate Republicans caucus on Tuesday to impose on itself a voluntary ban on earmarks - member projects often criticized as pork barrel spending - in the new Congress. Senate Republican leadership had long opposed such a move, but yielded to the pressure of outspoken senators-elect, who had campaigned to rein in wasteful spending, notably earmarks.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he would allow for a vote on whether to ban the practice entirely in the Senate.

Senate's 16 new members arrive on Capitol Hill: Who are they?

For Senate Republicans, freshman orientation 2010 is an unusually important moment, if only for the size of the incoming class. Four years ago, freshman orientation for Senate Republicans was a brief meeting between lone freshman Bob Corker of Tennessee and Republican leader Mitch McConnell. In 2008, the GOP freshmen class had doubled - to two. This year, the incoming GOP class numbers 13.

"They are a very energetic class and determined to tackle spending issues. It's a theme that unites them," says Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine, after meeting with freshmen at a Republican luncheon Tuesday. "I don't see any waiting to take the measure of the place. I see them all jumping right in."

House Republicans open doors to rookiesOn the House side, Republicans announced that the 80-plus freshman class will be given two elected spots on the leadership team - up from zero - as well as three representatives on the Republican Steering committee in the 112th Congress.

"The best kind of government is government close to the people, and no one is closer to the people than the members of our new freshman class," said Republican leader John Boehner, whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, and chief deputy whip Kevin McCarthy of California in a joint statement on Tuesday.

"The new class will find a willing ear at all levels of our party," says Rep. Mike Pence (R) of Indiana, chair of the House Republican Conference.

In the 435-member House of Representatives, freshmen are typically seen but not heard. Three-time Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn (D) of Texas famously advised freshmen: "Don't try to go too fast. Learn your job. Don't ever talk until you know what you're talking about.... If you want to get along, go along."

The special role for freshmen is rare, but not unprecedented. In 1995, House Republicans gave the bumper class that helped Republicans take back control of the House one seat at the leadership table, but no first-term lawmaker has had such a leadership presence since then.

"It means that House Republicans feel this is an important class ... and a historic election," says Donald Wolfensberger, director of the Congress Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. "It constitutes 25 percent of the [GOP] conference, so they should have a seat at the table and have input in leadership decisions."

Freshman Democrats also eye reformNor is the reform energy in the new freshman class limited to the Republican side of the aisle. Democratic Sens.-elect Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Chris Coons of Delaware bucked a strong Republican wave in midterm elections by embracing a reform agenda, including fiscal restraint.

"My first concern of incoming senators is jobs and the second is the deficit and debt - and I think those concerns are very broadly shared," says Senator-elect Coons.

The newcomers' presence has encouraged reformers in earlier classes to renew their own reform drives. Sens. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma, Claire McCaskill (D) of Missouri, John McCain (R) of Arizona, and Mark Udall (D) of Colorado announced today that they aim to force a floor vote on a binding earmark moratorium through fiscal year 2013, as early as this week.

"I've been working to change the earmark culture in Washington since the day I was sworn in, but frankly it's been a lonely fight for Senators like Dr. Coburn, Senator McCain and me until very recently," said Senator McCaskill, who is also pushing for a spending cap and an end to the practice of allowing senators to place anonymous "secret holds" on nominations.

Newcomers say that the public cares about the dysfunctional ways of the Senate and backs reform. "All my wise and experienced consultants said that no one was interested in Senate rules: it's too arcane and abstract, forget about it," says Senator-elect Blumenthal. "But I started talking about secret holds and filibusters and it gripped people's attention, not just political science professors."

"The Class of 2010 is getting all the attention, but the reform debate to change the Senate goes back to the Classes of 2006 and 2008," says Sen. Wyden (D) of Oregon. "Earmarks are just the beginning."

Senate's 16 new members arrive on Capitol Hill: Who are they?