Around the Horn: Twister Edition

In case you haven't noticed yet, southwest Missouri got hit with some bad storms last night.

And we in TV-land like to show you every possible debris out there. . . which, in turn, leaves less time for this stuff . . .

• Blunt Hearts Media . . . The House overwhelmingly passed a media shield bill that protects reporters this week, and Rep. Blunt signed on. "In the past few years, there have been too many instances where the pendulum has swung against the free flow of information and in favor of the government,"Blunt said on the House floor. "I was troubled by the instances I've seen where reporters have been jailed or threatened with jail for simply protecting their sources."
• Bond Defends Earmarks . . . Missouri's senior Senator objected to an amendment by one of his Republican colleagues that would have stopped an earmark for a bridge project in Kansas City. "When we put in earmarks … they reflect the judgment of each member of this body on what is important in his or her state," Bond said. "Now, my friend from Oklahoma is earmarking money for bridges. If he believes Oklahoma is not putting in an adequate share of its money for bridges, then we would be happy to entertain earmarks. But don't tell us (how) to earmark ours."
• Claire Knows Hsu . . . Disgraced political donor Norman Hsu gave his first federal political contribution to Claire McCaskill, reports The Politico. Hsu “suggested that a candidate needs support [in] a tough fight against Republicans,” he said of the pitch on behalf of McCaskill. Her office didn’t return a request for comment. Not returning a call for comment? That's so un-McCaskill-like.
• Skelton Writes Pelosi . . . Rep. Ike Skelton and Speaker Nancy Pelosi may not seem very similar, but Skelton once told me they are close, and he has a "great deal of respect for her." When Pelosi planted a tree on the Capitol lawn for Skelton's wife after she died, he said it "touched him forever." That's why he may have some pull as he writes the Speaker to bag a resolution that would recognize genocide of the Armenian people. He's urging Pelosi to not even bring the bill to the floor.

Now back to our regularly scheduled twister coverage . . .