Unaware as Levees Fell, Officials Expressed Relief  —  WASHINGTON, March 1 — A newly released transcript of a government videoconference shows that hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, federal and state officials did not know that the levees in New Orleans were failing …

The Justices Look at Some Shapely . . . Congressional Districts  —  The Supreme Court hosted its own performance of "Beauty and the Beast" this week.  On Tuesday, it heard the plea of Anna Nicole Smith, the former stripper and Playboy Playmate seeking a share of her deceased husband's fortune.

U.S., India Seal Nuclear Deal  —  Accord Sets Up Sharing of Data, Fuel to Satisfy Rising Energy Needs  —  NEW DELHI, March 2 — President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh struck what both leaders called an historic agreement Thursday to provide U.S. nuclear power assistance …

What Bush Was Told About Iraq  —  Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq …

Black Flight  —  The exodus to charter schools.  —  MINNEAPOLIS—Something momentous is happening here in the home of prairie populism: black flight.  African-American families from the poorest neighborhoods are rapidly abandoning the district public schools, going to charter schools …

Prisons Often Shackle Pregnant Inmates in Labor  —  Shawanna Nelson, a prisoner at the McPherson Unit in Newport, Ark., had been in labor for more than 12 hours when she arrived at Newport Hospital on Sept. 20, 2003.  Ms. Nelson, whose legs were shackled together and who had been given nothing stronger …

Rice shows off her fitness regime  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Condoleezza Rice, the nation's top diplomat, is appearing in a three-part TV interview in which she rides a bike, works on her abs, pumps iron and talks about her weight.  —  Public figures usually do not go public when they work on their figures …

Rhetoric of Unreality  —  When late in the spring of 1940 people of southeastern England flocked across the Channel in their pleasure craft and fishing boats to evacuate soldiers trapped on Dunkirk beaches, euphoria swept Britain.  So Prime Minister Winston Churchill sternly told the nation …

Doubts Back Home Fuel G.O.P. Worries Over Ports Deal  —  WASHINGTON, March 1 — Senator Jon Kyl, a staunch supporter of President Bush who faces a potentially difficult re-election fight this year, is hearing a lot from constituents in Arizona about the plan to allow a Dubai company to operate shipping terminals at Eastern ports.

U.S. Reviewing 2nd Dubai Firm  —  The Bush administration, stung by the public outcry over the Dubai port deal, has launched a national security investigation of another Dubai-owned company set to take over plants in Georgia and Connecticut that make precision components used in engines for military aircraft and tanks.

Teacher caught in Bush "rant"  —  The Overland High educator is on administrative leave.  Cherry Creek's superintendent said a balanced viewpoint will be given to students.  —  An Overland High School teacher who criticized President Bush, capitalism and U.S. foreign policy during …

Labor Pains  —  I don't write about labor issues nearly as much as I should—which is terrible, because workers' rights are so important.  And the truth is, while progressives are getting their asses kicked from here to there in a lot of struggles, the organizing that labor unions are doing …