Obama order worries speech groups  —  Free speech advocates from across the political spectrum are accusing President Barack Obama of impinging on First Amendment rights and are gearing up to take their case public.  —  At issue is an unprecedented directive that Obama …

White House Debate Led to Plan to Widen Afghan Effort  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama's plan to widen United States involvement in Afghanistan came after an internal debate in which Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. warned against getting into a political and military quagmire …

Do New Bulbs Save Energy if They Don't Work?  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It sounds like such a simple thing to do: buy some new light bulbs, screw them in, save the planet.  —  But a lot of people these days are finding the new compact fluorescent bulbs anything but simple.

Bush Torture Lawyers Targeted in Criminal Probe  —  One of America's NATO allies—which supported the Bush Administration's war on terror by committing its troops to the struggle-has now opened formal criminal inquiries looking into the Bush team's legacy of torture.

Obama Town Hall Questioners Were Campaign Backers  —  President Obama has promised to change the way the government does business, but in at least one respect he is taking a page from the Bush playbook, stocking his town hall Thursday with supporters whose soft — though far from planted …

CNN in third place in prime time for first time  —  NEW YORK - CNN is poised to finish March third in the prime-time weeknight ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the first time this has ever happened for the channel that pioneered the cable news genre nearly three decades ago.

We Did It!  —  The good guys win!  Ayers is out!  Because you spoke out, got on the phones and sent the emails, Boston College did the right thing and told unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers to take a hike.  —  Here's how the Boston Herald reports it today:

Weeks of Obama's budget sales pitch and support still slips  —  Now, we know why the White House laid on the immense trans-continental public relations offensive over its immense budget these past two-to-three weeks.  —  The Gallup Poll did another one this week on President Obama's $3,550,000,000,000 budget …

The Missing Mahatma  —  Searching for a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King in the West Bank.  —  They marched southward from Ramallah one windy morning in March 2012.  Sheikh Nasser a-Din al-Masri led them—a slim man with a short black beard that half-hid a puckered scar on his neck.

Weekly Address: Crisis and Service  —  This week the President dedicates his address to the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota as they face down disastrous flooding.  He speaks of what the government is doing, but also stresses that times of crisis like this are reminders …

Goldman Bailed Out 2 Executives  —  The financial giant Goldman Sachs spent tens of millions of dollars to bail out two senior executives last fall who were short on cash, according to the bank's proxy statement filed on Friday.  —  In an unusual move, Goldman bought back stakes …

Police identify 200 children as potential terrorists  —  Drastic new tactics to prevent school pupils as young as 13 falling into extremism  —  Two hundred schoolchildren in Britain, some as young as 13, have been identified as potential terrorists by a police scheme that aims to spot youngsters who are …

Obama's Man on the Budget: Just 40 and Going Like 60  —  WASHINGTON — At 6 in the morning, Peter R. Orszag is racing: across wet pavement for a 35-minute run, into a shower and a suit, and through a living room that looks rather like an office, the walls painted presidential gold and hung with pictures of federal monuments.

Cape “tea party” canceled; City fears too many attendees  —  CAPE CORAL, Fla. - A tea party to protest government spending and taxing is canceled.  Canceled by the government.  —  Why?  They feel too many people could show-up.  —  Lynn Rosko planned to hold a tax payer tea party at Jaycee Park in Cape Coral on April 1st.

In Texas Case, Showdown on Voting Rights  —  In Texas Case, a Divide Over How Far Minorities Have Come  —  Don Zimmerman in front of Jack Steuber's garage — where voting was originally held.  —  AUSTIN, Texas — Don Zimmerman got elected to the local utility board in 2002.