Sources: Sen. Stevens Conviction To Be Voided  —  Audio for this story will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET  —  · NPR's has learned that the Justice Department will drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.  —  A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts …

The GOP's Alternative Budget  —  President Obama offers us the option of European big government.  —  Today, the House of Representatives will consider two budget plans that represent dramatically different visions for our nation's future.  —  We will first consider President Barack Obama's plan.

Obama referendum: no winner, one loser  —  SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There's no winner yet in the Upstate New York special election and it might be mid-April before the race is settled.  But a few things are clearer after Tuesday's contest, none of it welcome news to the Republican Party.

Twitter switch for Guardian  —  • Newspaper to be available only on messaging service  —  • Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters  —  Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become …

Breakthrough on U.S.-Russian Relations?  “We're Not Looking Into Anybody's Soul,” Says U.S. Official, Previewing “Sober” Yet Optimistic Announcement  —  LONDON — Senior officials with the Obama administration tell ABC News that this morning, after a bilateral meeting between President Obama …

So Erick Erickson Says He Wants a Revolution  —  Erick Erickson is mad as hell and asks “at what point do people revolt?” … At issue here is . . . an environmental regulation relating to dishwasher detergent.  —  I think it's safe to say that we're not going to see violence in the streets over this one.

Steele chides GOP for infighting  —  Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele lashed out at GOP infighting Tuesday and urged the party faithful - some of whom have criticized his erratic statements - to be more like him: “unconventional, unpredictable ... to do from time to time the unexpected.”

Dems could use controversial ‘fast track’ for budget  —  CNN Congressional Producer  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — A key Democratic senator said Tuesday that he's not ruling out a controversial budget procedure to speed passage of President Obama's health care and global warming legislation.

The Death of England (cont)  —  Jay, that fire story from Doncaster is almost unbearably sad: The characteristically moronic behavior of the braindead British coppers transformed it from a family tragedy to a national metaphor.  I have written recently in Canada of the disturbing passivity of the …

Obama calls for unity at G20  —  Gordon Brown, British prime minister, and his wife Sarah greet Barack Obama, US president, and first lady Michelle in London  —  Barack Obama on Wednesday urged the world's biggest nations to work together to tackle the economic downturn and forget their occasional differences on how to go about this.

Barack Obama: Born in Hawaii  —  A fairly impressive internet industry has sprung up claiming that Obama was born in either Kenya or Indonesia.  This is nonsense which distracts from the broadly unexplored story of Obama's upbringing.  This kind of nonsense has emerged because the McCain campaign chose …

Public's Sound And Fury Over Budget Are As Deafening As ‘Crickets Chirping’  —  With President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget hitting the House and Senate floors this week, groups for and against the spending plan have issued strong appeals for citizens to pick up their phones and let their voices be heard on Capitol Hill.

BREAKING NEWS: Hundreds of Iowans thrown out of public hearing  —  More than 500 people who are upset with a plan to change Iowa's tax laws were cleared from a hearing tonight at the Iowa House after they interrupted multiple times.  —  House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque …

Job Losses at 742,00 in March; Planned Layoffs Fall  —  Job losses in the U.S. private sector accelerated in March, more than economists' expectations, according to a report by ADP Employer Services Wednesday.  —  Private employers cut jobs by a record 742,000 in March versus a 706,000 revised cut …

Obama's Ersatz Capitalism  —  THE Obama administration's $500 billion or more proposal to deal with America's ailing banks has been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal.  Actually, it is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win — and taxpayers lose.

U.S. reconciliation offer “lunatic”: Taliban spokesman  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents reject a U.S. offer of “honorable reconciliation,” a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a “lunatic idea” …

Storm Clouds Gather Over Obama Nominees  —  WASHINGTON — Although the parties have changed places, the nomination wars continue.  —  Senate Republicans are struggling to adapt to an altered political world when it comes to candidates for federal courts and senior Justice Department posts.

Brian Barry: philosopher and political scientist  —  Brian Barry was one of the most influential British political philosophers of the postwar era.  He had been an academic wanderer, holding positions at the universities of Birmingham, Keele, Southampton, Oxford and Essex …