Midday Roundup: Obama sending special forces to Syria

On the ground. President Barack Obama will send a cadre of U.S. special forces to Syria to advise opposition groups there, a Pentagon official said today. The 50-or-so troops will work to enhance Syrian rebel groups’ war against ISIS. So far, the United States has supported the rebels with airstrikes only. The change comes as Russia and Iran are bolstering their support for the Syrian government, which also is fighting ISIS while trying to squash the groups that oppose President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. A source told ABC News the troops headed to Syria will not be in combat and will work to make U.S. airstrikes more effective.

Bloated budget. The U.S. Senate passed a budget bill at 1 a.m. today over the objections of conservative Republicans who say the act gives President Barack Obama a carte blanche on spending for the rest of his term. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted the Republicans had “just given President Obama a diamond-encrusted, glow-in-the-dark AmEx card.” Critics of the bill also bemoan how outgoing House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, negotiated the compromise with Democrats behind closed doors. The deal raises spending by $85 billion, breaking domestic and military spending caps both parties agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011.

Runaway blimp. The Pentagon apologized to the town of Bloomsburg, Penn., today. Residents in the northeastern part of the state were left without power Thursday after a 250-foot military blimp broke free in Aberdeen, Md., and a trailing tether took out power lines. The Army said it will take days to figure out what happened. After its slow-speed crash landing, most of the unmanned blimp and its equipment are in two large, wrecked sections.The craft carries high-tech surveillance equipment and is part of the military’s defense system for the East Coast.

Funding restored. A federal judge in Alabama has ruled the state must resume payments to Planned Parenthood, dealing a serious blow to efforts to defund the abortion business. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson rejected the move to cancel Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid contract based on the undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress. Those videos show Planned Parenthood executives discussing how fetal organs are preserved and purchased by research labs in what some say is a clear violation of federal law. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is one of several GOP governors trying to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider. The Alabama decision comes shortly after a Louisiana federal judge ordered Gov. Bobby Jindal to restore funding to Planned Parenthood in that state.

Finally caught. Police early today caught up with and killed a fugitive accused of shooting a Tennessee police officer and firing at a Kentucky trooper. The death of Floyd Ray Cook, 62, ends a week-long manhunt that terrified residents along the Kentucky-Tennessee border who knew an armed and dangerous criminal was loose in the woods. Cumberland County, Ky., called off school for three days this week out of fear students might cross paths with Cook. The fugitive, wanted for failing to comply with the sex-offender registry, shot and wounded a Tennessee officer during a traffic stop Saturday. He took off in his vehicle and later on foot. Police finally cornered Cook near Burkesville, Ky., where he forced a shootout and was killed.

WORLD Radio’s Kristen Eicher and Jim Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.