• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republicans' newest point man on the Benghazi attack, is a seasoned prosecutor determined to apply his well-honed courtroom skills to an election-year examination of the Obama administration's actions.
• Tapped by House Speaker John Boehner, the two-term South Carolina congressman will lead a special select committee investigating the chaotic night of Sept. 11, 2012, when extremists attacked the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya, killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
• Multiple independent and bipartisan investigations have faulted the State Department for inadequate security at the mission and the military's lack of assets in the region. Yet the inquiries have failed to quiet the much-publicized aftermath, with Republicans vehemently insisting that the administration sought to downplay a terror attack just weeks before the presidential election.
• Two years later, Benghazi resonates with Republicans, who demand accountability from Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other administration officials. It remains a rallying cry with conservatives whose votes are crucial to the GOP in November's historically low-turnout midterm elections.
• Republicans are expected to force a vote Thursday to establish the select committee despite Democratic objections that it's unnecessary. It remains to be seen whether Democrats decide to boycott the panel.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- When it came time to deliver a new federal report detailing what global warming is doing to America and the dire forecast for the future, President Barack Obama turned to the pros who regularly deliver the bad news about wild weather: TV meteorologists.

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