U.S., Cuba to announce plan to open embassies

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will announce today that the U.S. and Cuba have finalized an agreement to reopen embassies in each other's capitals, a major step in ending hostilities between the Cold War foes, a senior administration official said.

The U.S. and Cuba have been negotiating the reestablishment of embassies following the historic December announcement that they would move to restore ties after a half-century of animosity. The U.S. embassy in Havana is expected to open in July.

For Obama, ending the U.S. freeze with Cuba is central to his foreign policy legacy as he nears the end of his presidency. Obama has long touted the value of direct engagement with global foes and has argued that the U.S. embargo on the communist island just 90 miles south of Florida was ineffective.

State Department to release 3,000 pages of emails

WASHINGTON - The State Department has released roughly 3,000 pages of Hillary Rodham Clinton's correspondence from 2009, her first year as the nation's top diplomat.

The emails, covering March through December of that year, were posted online Tuesday evening, as part of a court mandate that the agency release batches of Clinton's private correspondence from her time as secretary of state every 30 days starting June 30.

Clinton's emails have become a major issue in her early presidential campaign, as Republicans accuse her of using a private account rather than the standard government address to avoid public scrutiny of her correspondence. As the controversy has continued, Clinton has seen ratings of her character and trustworthiness drop in polling.

The monthly releases all but guarantee a slow drip of revelations from the emails throughout Clinton's primary campaign, complicating her efforts to put the issue to rest. The goal is for the department to publicly unveil 55,000 pages of her emails by Jan. 29, 2016 - just three days before Iowa caucus-goers will cast the first votes in the Democratic primary contest. Clinton has said she wants the department to release the emails as soon as possible.

GOP candidate Jeb Bush releases tax records

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has earned nearly $28 million since leaving the Florida governor's mansion and paid an effective federal income tax rate of roughly 36 percent in the past three decades, according to tax returns released by his campaign on Tuesday.

In an effort designed to show a commitment to transparency, Bush posted the tax returns on a website that outlines his work history since 1981, including most of the time that has passed since the two-term Florida governor left office in 2007. In those recent years, Bush has served on numerous corporate boards and has seen his income rise sharply.

From 2007 to 2013, Bush reported roughly $27.7 million in total income. His primary occupation during that time was as a consultant, although he also made nearly $10 million giving speeches from 2007 through the end of last year.

Bush earned nearly $7.4 million in total income in 2013, the year covered by the most recent tax return released.

Fight for gay marriage turns to county clerks

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis shut her blinds at work Tuesday to block the view of rainbow-clad protesters outside. They carried flowers and flags and signs saying "you don't own marriage." They chanted "do your job."

Moments later, she told a lesbian couple who walked in asking for a license to try another county.

Davis is among a handful of public officials across the Bible Belt so repulsed by the thought of enabling a same-sex marriage that they are defying the U.S. Supreme Court and refusing to issue a license to anyone, gay or straight.

"It's a deep-rooted conviction; my conscience won't allow me to do that," Davis told The Associated Press. "It goes against everything I hold dear, everything sacred in my life."

Some judges and clerks in Alabama and Texas have done the same, ordering their offices in the name of religious liberty and free speech to issue no marriage licenses at all.

Chris Christie warns of blunt 2016 campaign

LIVINGSTON, N.J. - A tough-talking New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie launched his 2016 campaign for president Tuesday with a promise to tell voters the truth even if it makes them cringe.

The Republican governor, a one-time GOP favorite who faded and now tries to climb back, lashed out at "bickering leaders" from both political parties in a kickoff rally in the gymnasium of his old high school. And in his trademark blunt style, he told voters - and warned Republican rivals - that he's ready to be aggressive in the 2016 contest.

"You're going to get what I think whether you like it or not, or whether it makes you cringe every once in a while or not," Christie declared. He added: "I am now ready to fight for the people of the United States of America."

He went on to a town hall meeting in Sandown, N.H., receiving enthusiastic applause from the standing-room crowd as he arrived with his family.

- The Associated Press