Today's edition of quick hits:
* UCLA: "Two people were killed Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide in an engineering building at UCLA, police said. The deceased, both males, died in a shooting in a small office in the engineering building, according to LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. Their identities were not released. At least three shots were fired, Beck said."
* Afghanistan: "The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is sending his recommendations to senior leaders this week on how many American troops should remain in the country next year to work with Afghan forces battling a resurgent Taliban."
* Kenneth Starr "resigned Wednesday as chancellor of Baylor University a week after he was ousted as president of the country's largest Baptist college."
* Minnesota: "The Justice Department said Wednesday that authorities found 'insufficient evidence' for federal criminal civil rights charges against the two Minneapolis police officers who fatally shot Jamar Clark, the 24-year-old whose death in November sparked protests in the city."
* Alabama: "Gov. Robert Bentley testified that he thought that House Speaker Mike Hubbard was acting in his position as speaker during certain meetings to recruit industries, meetings that happened while Hubbard's company was getting paid as an economic development consultant for a natural gas company."
* Filipino voters did not choose wisely: "Many slain journalists in the Philippines had been corrupt and had 'done something' to warrant being killed, the country's president-elect said. 'Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination if you're a son of a bitch,' Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported."
* Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on MSNBC yesterday, "The average person is about $3,000 or $4,000 a year worse off today than when President Obama came to office." He's brazenly lying.
* Amazing: "Pluto's exotic and incredibly varied landscapes dazzle in the sharpest views of the dwarf planet released to date."
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.