Puppet Masters
Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe was arrested Thursday morning on charges of DUI with property damage, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A trooper was called to a crash in the area of NE 21st Street and NE 156th Avenue in Alachua County around 2:28 a.m., according to FHP Sgt. Tracy Pace.
When officers arrived around 3:45 a.m., authorities found Lowe asleep behind the wheel of his car. They said Lowe appeared to be intoxicated and his silver Honda Civic was badly damaged.

Venezuelan foreign Minister Elias Jaua speaks during a press conference in Caracas, on March 20, 2013. The Venezuelan government has suspended a "channel of communications" it established with the United States at the end of 2012, Jaua said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said the move was a response to "interventionist statements" by US assistant secretary of state Roberta Jacobson, who called for "open, fair and transparent" elections on April 14.
"This channel of communication is suspended at this time, deferred until there is a clear message on what type of relationship the United States wants with Venezuela," Jaua said.
"It makes no sense to continue wasting time," he added.
Sources voiced concern about the decision to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which issued a report Wednesday on the under-the-radar announcement -- which was first made by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano after meeting in January with her Saudi counterpart. According to the IPT, this would be the first time the Saudi government has been given such a direct role in fast-tracking people for entry into the United States.
"I think you have radical Wahhabism in certain elements in Saudi Arabia, and I think to be more lenient there than in other places would be a mistake," Rep. Frank Wolf told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "There were 15 [hijackers] from that country, and there is a lot taking place in that region."
Those injuries happened after a morning of drinking to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and ended with a run-in with Pittsburgh Police.
"Cops came up behind me and shoved me down as hard as he could," Lojak said. "Face first onto the pavement and then they all jumped on me."
That's where the cell phone video picks up the incident. It shows a police officer striking Lojak twice, while three other police officers held him down.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn on Wednesday introduced the No Budget, No OMB Pay Act of 2013, which would withhold the pay for the director of the Office of Management and Budget and top budget officials until the fiscal 2014 budget is delivered.
The legislation, introduced by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, advanced through the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It now has to pass the full House to be implemented into law.
"Most taxpayers file accurate tax returns and pay the taxes they owe on time, regardless of their income," Chaffetz, a Republican, said during the hearing Wednesday. "Federal employees and individuals applying for federal employment should do the same."
The Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2013 requires the termination of employment for tax delinquent federal employees, while also prohibiting the hiring of new federal employees with a substantial amount of delinquent tax debt.
The emails, which were allegedly sent by former political adviser Sidney Blumenthal to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were forwarded to RT by a hacker using the alias "Guccifer."
Guccifer was credited with hacking the AOL email account of Blumenthal last week, though the authenticity of the emails has not been verified.
The purported memos appear to contain sensitive information regarding the September 11, 2012 attacks on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as well the January 2013 hostage crisis in In Amenas, Algeria.
Blumenthal has been refraining from comments so far. RT reached Blumenthal's son Max, who confirmed that his father will not be making any remarks about the leak.
In the leaked emails distributed to the media, Guccifer copied and pasted the correspondences into new files using bold Comic Sans text layered over a pink background, possibly as a security precaution. The letter 'G' on the memos appears to be the hacker's watermark.
America and the Palestinian Authority are "partners in pursuit to just peace that ends occupation and war," said Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday.
Speaking at a joint press conference held in Ramallah with his American counterpart US President Barack Obama, Abbas said that Palestinian officials "had good talks with his excellency President [Barack] Obama."
He added that the two discussed the risks that the continuity of settlement building contained for the future of his country.
He thanked the president for US commitment to the Palestinian cause and for the support to the PA Treasury. "I wish to thank the President [Obama] for his commitment to provide support to the Palestinian people," he said.
"We hope to exercise normal life over the free state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas reiterated.

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) stand together after reviewing the honour guard during a welcoming ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah March 21, 2013.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama said he remained committed to the creation of an "independent, viable and contiguous" Palestinian state, but said achieving that goal would not be easy.
"The core issue right now is how do we get sovereignty for the Palestinian people and security for Israeli people," he told reporters following almost two hours of talks with Abbas.
"That's not to say settlements aren't important. That's to say if we solve those two problems, the settlement issue will be resolved," he added.
During a News Nation segment about the President's trip to Israel, Mitchell said his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "one of the worst" she can remember going all the way back to her years covering Ronald Reagan (video follows with transcript and commentary):











