Midday Roundup: Rand Paul wins CPAC presidential straw poll

Fan favorite. Attendees at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was their top choice for the 2016 presidential nomination. Paul won 26 percent of about 3,000 votes in the CPAC straw poll. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker finished a close second with 21 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who so far has commanded the field with heavy fundraising, finished in fifth place with only 8 percent of the vote. The straw poll, whose results were published Saturday, included a high number of students and young people—47 percent of participants were in the 18-25 age group.

Freed. Four American missionaries are heading home after being detained in Venezuela. Police there questioned the missionaries for several days before releasing them over the weekend. They are en route to their homes in North Dakota, where they are expected to arrive Tuesday. The three men and one woman were helping set up a church in the coastal town of Ocumare de la Costa when they were taken. It’s not clear why they were detained, though Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has blamed the United States for the country’s economic woes and made vague accusations against Americans in the country for allegedly conspiring against the government. The missionaries’ pastor, Bruce Dick of the Bethel Free Church in Devil’s Lake, N.D., said the church mobilized thousands of people to pray for them while they were detained.

Chilling effect. Relations between the Israeli government and the Obama administration might have hit an icy low as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to address Congress tomorrow. Earlier today in a speech at American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, Netanyahu decried Iran for threatening the security of the Middle East and the world with its nuclear aspirations. The Israeli leader has criticized the nuclear negotiations between Iran and America and its Western allies. But Netanyahu also said media reports have exaggerated the tension between President Barack Obama and himself. Over the weekend, Secretary of State John Kerry said Netanyahu was welcome to speak in the United States but jabbed congressional Republicans for inviting him without consulting the White House.

Open seat. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., announced she plans to retire at the end of her term in 2016. Mikulski will have spent 40 years on Capitol Hill when she retires, 10 in the House and the rest in the Senate. She has had the longest tenure of any woman in Congress. The surprise announcement has Democrats scrambling to decide who will run to protect the seat, which Mikulski won from Republicans in 1986.

Died. Baseball and basketball lost two well-respected players this weekend. Minnie Minoso, the first black player for the Chicago White Sox, died Sunday at age 89. Minoso, who hailed from Cuba, played in the major leagues during five decades. He began his big league career in 1949 with the Cleveland Indians and went from there to Chicago. He had a .298 career batting average and hit 186 home runs. Former New York Knicks star Anthony Mason died Saturday after a struggle with heart disease. He was 48. Mason was a native New Yorker and a fan-favorite with the Knicks in the 1990s. Fans remember how he shaved words into the hair on the side of his head, which often featured his nickname, “Mase.” After Coach Pat Riley pulled him out of basketball obscurity—he was a third-round draft pick and played overseas—he brought unapologetic brawn to the court for the Knicks.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.