According to the AP, both Congress and the White House are on lockdown after a gunman shot a police officer outside of the Capitol building.

The San Bernardino county sheriff has confirmed the presence of an active shooter near the 1300 block of S. Waterman in San Bernardino, CA. At least 12 people are dead, with another 20 reportedly injured.

A young man reportedly stabbed at least four U.C. Merced students inside a university classroom before responding officers shot and killed him early Wednesday morning.

Earlier today, the Associated Press’s politics-focused Twitter account tweeted out perhaps the most important piece of news the venerated outlet will ever break—just in time for Halloween.

Have you noticed anything odd going on this morning? Oh yes. Let us be the first to tell you that the time to panic is upon us.

Well-moisturized Republican David Brooks fancies himself a bit of a social scientist. Not really in the sense of like, doing science. More in the sense of "knowing some guys."

On Tuesday evening, an 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Chile, triggering a tsunami.

Latest in the in-depth coverage of the wide-reaching effects of a drunk secret service agent: the citizens of Amsterdam, "taking advantage of a lovely spring day to partake of the city's pleasures, which famously include coffee along the canals and marijuana in the coffee shops," don't care at all.

Police just discovered a different kind of white powder in a Georgetown dorm room—ricin. A 19-year-old copped to manufacturing it and campus officials say there is no immediate threat to students.

The New York Post has quite the scoop:

A shooting has been reported at Berrendo Middle School in Roswell, New Mexico. The school was put on lockdown and the shooter apprehended. Two students were injured and sent to the hospital, but no deaths have been reported.

Police are saying that a Reno gunman shot and wounded four people at the Renown Regional Medical Center before committing suicide earlier this afternoon.

Officials at Harvard University are instructing students to evacuate four campus buildings, including a freshman dorm, following unconfirmed reports of explosives placed inside.

Police have confirmed that a gunman, believed to be a 15-year-old student, has barricaded himself inside a classroom at Scott High School in Toledo, Ohio. The school is currently under lockdown. UPDATE: The gunman is now in custody.

Bill de Blasio, the Brooklyn Democrat and sitting Public Advocate, was elected the 109th mayor of New York City on Tuesday, carried by a dramatic lead over Republican opponent Joe Lhota and widespread sentiment that the Bloomberg administration had turned against New York’s struggling middle class. The candidate is expected to deliver his victory speech in roughly eight-and-a-half hours before supporters gathered at the Park Slope Armory YMCA.

Here is what just happened this afternoon, with no warning: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, whose net worth is estimated to be more than $25 billion, just purchased the Washington Post. By himself. What?

A coveted job writing for the New York Times op-ed page is considered one of the most exclusive gigs in journalism. And with good reason: the unparalleled intellect and experience of their columnists are simply without equal. Where else will you find some middle-aged dad with the wit and bravery necessary to proclaim: hey, I don't care for this "Twitter" thing?

A giant explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas has killed between five and 15 people and injured over 160, prompting a widespread evacuation of the small town. The blast was felt and heard for 45 miles, and the force of it reportedly leveled dozens of homes and businesses, a nursing home, an apartment complex, and a nearby middle school. From DallasNews.com:

North Korean leader Kim Jon Un has placed his nation's missiles on standby and announced that he is targeting the American mainland. The leader has made recent brash public gestures of militarism, and the Pentagon has vowed to strengthen our nation's West Coast missile defenses in response. With tensions between the U.S. and the unpredictable North Korea at an all time high, the slightest signal by either side could set off a cascading set of responses that could end in disaster. So you can imagine the shockwaves rippling throughout the intelligence community right now, as analysts try to parse the latest strategic volley from North Korea's official news service:

Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has died of cancer at age 58, Vice President Nicolás Maduro announced this afternoon. Chavez had been fighting the disease since 2011, flying twice to Cuba for surgeries, and hadn't been seen in public for months before his death. Nevertheless, the former paratrooper, who turned to democratic politics after being imprisoned over a failed military coup, was re-elected president last year thanks to huge support from the country's poor and working class.