Senior Official: Obama Administration Will Challenge Arizona Immigration Law  —  Updated 1:56 p.m. Eastern Time  —  As Hotsheet reported yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a television interview in Ecuador this month that the Obama Justice Department “will be bringing a lawsuit” …

GOP Senate Nominee Sharron Angle Breaks Her Silence … LAS VEGAS - As Sharron Angle greeted supporters at Stoney's Restaurant in Las Vegas, 8 News NOW Reporter Nathan Baca approached her to ask about her Social Security plan.  —  Her website calls for “transitioning out” Social Security and Medicare.

VIDEO COMPILATION: Conservative Pundits Rush To Defend Barton, Praise Him As Courageous  —  Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) has been widely condemned for telling BP executives yesterday that he is “sorry” for the Obama administration's “shakedown” of their company, which resulted in a $20 billion …

Jobs bill blocked in Senate  —  The Senate effectively rejected a slimmed-down package of jobless benefits and state aid late Thursday, rebuffing President Obama's call for urgent action to bolster the economic recovery.  —  Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) …

ENDORSEMENT: HALEY FOR GOVERNOR  —  So let's get this straight ... we know for a fact that S.C. Rep. Nikki Haley is lying through her teeth every time she denies our founding editor's claim that she had an “inappropriate physical relationship” with him in the Spring of 2007.

Former Resident Recalls Run-In With Etheridge  —  A video of Rep. Bob Etheridge physically confronting a college student in Washington brought back unpleasant memories for one former Moore County resident.  —  Brandon Leslie, who moved away seven years ago and is now an attorney in Oxford …

Exclusive: BP Chairman Talks To Sky  —  Pete Norman, Sky News Online  —  BP's chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg has told Sky's Jeff Randall that embattled chief executive Tony Hayward is to have a changed role in dealing with the oil spill. … Asked by Randall about Mr Hayward's ongoing role …

Utah firing squad death announced on Twitter  —  Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff uses Twitter to get his message out  —  It was a very modern way to announce a very old-fashioned death.  —  Shortly after midnight in the US state of Utah, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff picked up his Apple iPhone …

Issa has eye on subpoena team  —  HERSHEY, Pa.—Rep. Darrell Issa, the conservative firebrand whose specialty is lobbing corruption allegations at the Obama White House, is making plans to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators if Republicans win the House this fall.

U.S. Voters Split on Obama Re-Election in 2012  —  Little change seen since March on this measure  —  PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. registered voters remain split on whether President Obama deserves to be re-elected in 2012, with 46% saying he does and 51% saying he does not — little changed from earlier this year.

Did Kagan Compare the NRA with the KKK?  — By: Robert VerBruggen  —  It has become clear that Elena Kagan, Obama's most recent Supreme Court nominee, is no friend of gun rights, to say the least.  While clerking for Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall in 1987, she wrote the judge that she was …

School Officials Say Candidate Overstated His Role  —  CHICAGO — A leader of the church in upstate New York where Representative Mark S. Kirk of Illinois claims he worked as a nursery school teacher said on Friday that he had overstated his role there.  —  The leader, Sally Grubb …

N. Korea lifts ban on private markets to prevent famine  —  SEOUL — Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets — a last-resort option for a leadership desperate to prevent its people from starving.  —  In recent weeks, according …

Twisting Arms at BP, Obama Sets Off a Debate on Tactics  —  WASHINGTON — First there was General Motors, whose chief executive was summarily dismissed by the White House shortly before the government became the company's majority shareholder.  Chrysler was forced into a merger.

FORECLOSURES BY RACE AND ETHNICITY: THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF A CRISIS  —  Our new research shows that the foreclosure crisis is not over, and runaway foreclosures continue to drain hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth from families, hitting communities of color the hardest.

U.S. Debt and the Greece Analogy  —  Don't be fooled by today's low interest rates.  The government could very quickly discover the limits of its borrowing capacity.  —  An urgency to rein in budget deficits seems to be gaining some traction among American lawmakers.  If so, it is none too soon.

A Snakebit President  —  Americans want leaders on whom the sun shines.  —  The president is starting to look snakebit.  He's starting to look unlucky, like Jimmy Carter.  It wasn't Mr. Carter's fault that the American diplomats were taken hostage in Tehran, but he handled it badly, and suffered.

Public Wants More Stimulus  —  It's become conventional wisdom on the Hill (see, e.g., Ben Nelson) that the public is opposed to additional government stimulus spending.  But the latest Gallup poll says otherwise:  —  Obviously just because the public supports something (health care repeal …