Israel Declares It Will Cease Fire; U.N. School Hit  —  JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel announced late Saturday night that the Israeli military would begin a unilateral cease-fire in Gaza within hours while negotiations continued on how to stop the resupply of Hamas through smuggling from Egypt.

Obama Arrives in Washington After Train Trip  —  BALTIMORE — President-elect Barack Obama stepped onto a vintage train car, built at a time when a black man's ascendancy to the presidency was impossible in America, and traveled Saturday to Washington in a three-day prelude to his inauguration as the nation's 44th president.

Obama refuses to surrender Blackberry … Despite legal and security hurdles, president-elect Barack Obama says he has a plan to retain his beloved Blackberry once he moves into the White House next week.  —  Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools …

Poll Finds Faith in Obama, Mixed With Patience  —  President-elect Barack Obama is riding a powerful wave of optimism into the White House, with Americans confident he can turn the economy around but prepared to give him years to deal with the crush of problems he faces starting Tuesday …

The official Flag of the Obama States of America  —  Defacing the flag in honor of the inauguration of Barack Obama?  —  Well, don't you dare question their patriotism.  —  That would be...unpatriotic.  (Hat tip: Inside Charm City)  —  Photo source: Baltimore Sun

Obama Announces “Organizing for America”  —  President-elect Barack Obama announced the formation of a new group known as “Organizing for America” that aims to continue the grassroots advocacy that the former Illinois Senator began in his presidential campaign.

Our permanent state of routine emergency  —  With government, mission creep is the defining feature.  —  Recommend  —  In just about his last act as president, George W. Bush has declared Washington, D.C., a federal disaster area.  —  No, seriously.  I'm not setting up some lame-o punchline here …

Bailout Is a Windfall to Banks, if Not to Borrowers  —  At the Palm Beach Ritz-Carlton last November, John C. Hope III, the chairman of Whitney National Bank in New Orleans, stood before a ballroom full of Wall Street analysts and explained how his bank intended to use its $300 million in federal bailout money.

Admit It: The Surge Worked  —  It's no longer a close call: President Bush was right about the surge.  According to Michael O'Hanlon and Jason Campbell of the Brookings Institution, the number of Iraqi war dead was 500 in November of 2008, compared with 3,475 in November of 2006.

Obama prayer speaker comes from group feds say is linked to Hamas  —  One of the religious leaders invited to address Barack Obama's inaugural prayer service Wednesday heads an Islamic group named by federal prosecutors as a co-conspirator in a terrorism-fundraising trial in Texas.

Does Holder's “waterboarding is torture” comment implicitly commit him to prosecuting Bush administration officials?  Ever-hopeful observers say yes, but Holder's statement that waterboarding is torture is hardly news; his soon-to-be boss has said the same thing.  The chances of prosecution remain slim for diverse reasons.

The Growing Foreclosure Crisis  —  One oft-repeated assertion no longer holds true.  Those in trouble are not, primarily, lower-income borrowers.  The foreclosure crisis has become a wave, afflicting neighborhoods of every stripe — but particularly communities created by the boom itself.

Florida Fund Manager Missing; Clients Say Money Gone  —  Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) — Arthur Nadel, a hedge-fund manager in Sarasota, Florida, has disappeared and clients are concerned they may have lost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to law enforcement officials.