Midday Roundup: More U.S. special forces headed to Syria

Syrian deployment. President Barack Obama announced today he will send 250 more U.S. special operations forces to Syria—quadrupling the number of troops assisting the Kurdish militias fighting Islamic State (ISIS) in the country. “So make no mistake, these terrorists will learn the same lesson as others before them have, which is your hatred is no match for our nations, united in the defense of our way of life,” Obama said. The 50 U.S. troops currently on the ground in Syria are serving in an “advise and assist” role and are not leading operations. The increase is part of the push to isolate Raqqa, the Syrian city ISIS fighters claim as their de facto capital. This is the second time this month U.S. officials have announced a troop deployment to the Middle East. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said last week 200 special forces would head to Iraq to help in the fight against ISIS there.

Team effort. Rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced late yesterday they will work together over the coming weeks to keep Donald Trump from getting enough delegates to secure the Republican presidential nomination. The Cruz campaign will focus its efforts on Indiana, while Kasich will campaign in Oregon and New Mexico. The strategy, in the works for weeks, is an admission that defeating Trump is more important than fighting each other. Neither Cruz nor Kasich has the ability to win enough delegates to secure the nomination outright. Their only chance is to force a contested convention during which delegates can eventually vote for whomever they want. Trump blasted the announcement in a rant on Twitter: “Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!”

Worship service violence. Police are investigating a shooting at a church in Pennsylvania that left one man dead. Robert Braxton, 27, was reportedly arguing with another man during a worship service at Keystone Fellowship Church in North Wales when the shots rang out. Braxton was rushed to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest. He later died. The shooter, who was licensed to carry a concealed handgun, has not been named or charged. Investigators are trying to determine whether he acted legally, in self-defense, although they said Braxton did not have a weapon. Hundreds of people filled the sanctuary at the time, and police are interviewing them to help determine what caused the fight. No one else was injured.

Prom attack. Police in Antigo, Wis., are trying to figure out what prompted a high school graduate to open fire with a rifle outside a prom late Saturday night. Jakob Wagner, 18, fired at two students before a police officer already at the school returned fire. Wagner later died at a local hospital from gunshot wounds. The two students he shot did not suffer life-threatening injuries. Former classmates said Wagner was bullied starting in middle school, with some students ganging up on him in a violent way, and that he was fascinated with guns. Students at the school of about 800 returned to class today. Police said they do not believe anyone is in danger at this point. Antigo, home to about 8,000 people, is 150 miles north of Milwaukee.

Shooting settlement. The city of Cleveland will pay $6 million to the family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy fatally shot by police in 2014. A grand jury declined in December to bring charges against the officer who shot Rice, and the city admits no wrongdoing as part of the settlement announced today. Rice was playing with a toy gun outside a neighborhood recreation center when bystanders called police. The gun’s orange tip, which identified it as a toy, had been removed, and when he pulled it out of the waistband of his pants, officers said they thought it was a real handgun. Although people who called 911 said they thought it likely was a toy gun, the dispatcher did not relay that information to the responding officers. In the last eight years, Cleveland has paid $4.4 million to victims of police shootings.