Palin owes tax on per diem, state says  —  EXPENSES: Governor received meal money while living in Wasilla.  —  ldemer@adn.com  —  Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials.

Obama Unveils $75 Billion Plan to Fight Home Foreclosures  —  MESA, Ariz. — President Obama pledged on Wednesday to help as many as 9 million American homeowners refinance their mortgages or avert foreclosure, an initiative he said would shore up distressed housing prices …

White House: Obama Opposes ‘Fairness Doctrine’ Revival  —  A White House spokesman tells FOXNews.com President Obama opposes any move to bring back the so-called Fairness Doctrine.  —  FOXNews.com  —  President Obama opposes any move to bring back the so-called Fairness Doctrine, a spokesman told FOXNews.com Wednesday.

New York Post Chimp Cartoon Compares Stimulus Author To Dead Primate  —  A cartoon likening the author of the stimulus bill, perhaps President Barack Obama, with a rabid chimpanzee graced the pages of the New York Post on Wednesday.  —  The drawing, from famed cartoonist Sean Delonas …

Roland Burris: ‘Stop the rush to judgment’  —  In a fiesty speech today in Chicago, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris defended himself against growing questions and multiple probes about the circumstances surrounding his appointment by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  —  “If I had done the things I've …

George McGovern To Be Honored At CPAC For ‘Courage Under Fire’  —  In August 2008, former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern published an op-ed on the conservative editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal attacking the Employee Free Choice Act.

Court Reverses Ruling Bringing 17 Detainees to U.S.  —  A federal appeals court this morning blocked the transfer to the United States of a small band of Chinese Muslims held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  —  In a decision released this morning, the three-judge panel …

HOLDER TALKS ABOUT RACE IN U.S.  —  From NBC's Mike Kosnar  —  At a Department of Justice program this morning celebrating African American History Month, the nation's first black attorney general — Eric Holder — said the United States is a “nation of cowards” when it comes to racial issues.

Pope lectures Pelosi on abortion stance  —  Pope Benedict XVI made clear to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday that she cannot advocate for abortion rights and still be a good Catholic.  —  After meeting with Pelosi (D-Calif.) at the Vatican, the pontiff stressed that Catholic politicians …

Obama Faces Familiar Divisions Over Anti-Terror Policies  —  No Change in Views of Torture, Warrantless Wiretaps  —  President Obama receives positive ratings for his handling of terrorism and most Americans say his administration's policies will reduce the likelihood of another major attack on the United States.

Jindal Signals Louisiana May Not Take Stimulus Money  —  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, has suggested his state may not be interested in all of the roughly $4 billion allotted to it in the economic stimulus package to be signed by President Obama today.

KNOWLEDGE MAY BE POWER, BUT INFORMATION IS PROFIT.  —  Doc-blogger Kevin Pho — no liberal, and no fan of government action — writes in defense of federally-funded comparative effectiveness research.  “Physicians need an authoritative source of unbiased data, untainted by the influence …

Dem exclusive?  Reporters jump ship  —  In three months since Election Day, at least a half-dozen prominent journalists have taken jobs working for the federal government.  —  Journalists, including some of those who've jumped ship, say it's better to have a solid job in government than a shaky job …

Manhunt: Accused Financier Scammer Stanford Missing  —  Authorities say Investor Losses Could Rival Madoff Scandal  —  Texas financier R. Allen Stanford is accused of cheating 50,000 customers out of $8 billion dollars but despite raids Tuesday of his financial empire in Houston, Memphis …

Major cache of fossils unearthed in L.A.  —  Volunteer Judy Scharf, left, assistant lab supervisor Trevor Valle and volunteers Pat Simun and Linda Wright carefully brush away dirt surrounding the pelvis of a mammoth at the Page Museum in Rancho La Brea.  The mammoth, which museum researchers …

GOP ousts Senate leader, budget deal in question  —  (02-18) 02:28 PST Sacramento — A state budget deal to close a $41 billion shortfall has been put further into question early this morning after Senate Republicans ousted their leader who had helped negotiate the long-awaited plan with other top lawmakers in California.

Patrick Fitzgerald, 50 others, still serving  —  With all the controversy surrounding the Bush administration's firings of several U.S. attorneys, the question for the Obama administration became: What now?  —  And with all the muck that the hard-charging Chicago-based U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald …

Charlie Savage's Alarm  —  The NYT reporter who, at the Boston Globe, helped expose the worst abuses of executive power under Bush-Cheney, writes a piece today that reminds all of us that vigilance is vital if we are to maximize civil liberty with potent measures to counter the terrorist threat.

ND House Passes Abortion Ban  —  North Dakota's House of Representatives has passed a bill effectively outlawing abortion.  —  The House voted 51-41 this afternoon to declare that a fertilized egg has all the rights of any person.  —  That means a fetus could not be legally aborted without the procedure being considered murder.

Comrade Greenspan: Seize the economy's commanding heights!  —  Here.  Truly, it's amazing how compelling the logic of temporary nationalization is.  How long will it be before the Obama administration is ready to take the plunge?  —  The WaPo reports that Tim Geithner realized late …

There's Virtue In Geithner's Vague Bank Plan  —  At least he doesn't want to guarantee more bad debt.  —  On Jan. 27, Bank of America sold a whopping $6 billion of three-year notes at a yield of 2.2% — a good 3.5% less than what its other bonds of similar maturity were trading for.

Why are we in Afghanistan?  —  I keep asking the question: “Why are we in Afghanistan?”  No one has a good answer.  A few without television respond, “To get Osama.”  But everyone agrees that he is somewhere in Pakistan.  Then the answer is: “As President George W. Bush said …

Obama approval over 50  —  Obama Approval in North Carolina:  —  Approve 52  —  Disapprove 41  —  Barack Obama has the highest approval PPP has ever found for the President in North Carolina.  Of course that may have something to do with the fact that we were formed during the Bush administration...