McDonald's May Drop Health Plan  —  McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul.  —  The move is one of the clearest indications …

Senate blocks recess appointments with deal between Dems, GOP  —  Senate Democrats struck a deal Wednesday night with Republicans to keep President Obama from making recess appointments while Congress is out of town campaigning for the midterm elections.  —  Democratic leaders have agreed …

Paladino and Post reporter square off  —  Tweet  —  Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker last night got into an angry confrontation — during which Paladino threatened, “I'll take you out.”  —  It started when Dicker asked Paladino …

New Yorkers outraged as bureaucrats order city to change lettering on every single street sign  —  The city will change the lettering on every single street sign - at an estimated cost of about $27.5 million - because the feds don't like the font.  —  Street names will change from all capital letters …

Private Moment Made Public, Then a Fatal Jump  —  It started with a Twitter message on Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight.  I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam.  I saw him making out with a dude.  Yay.”  —  That night, the authorities say …

Locked and Loaded: The Secret World of Extreme Militias  —  Camouflaged and silent, the assault team inched toward a walled stone compound for more than five hours, belly-crawling the last 200 yards.  The target was an old state prison in eastern Ohio, and every handpicked member of Red Team 2 knew …

Sen. Murkowski targets Tea Party Express in new ad  —  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Wednesday released two new TV ads her campaign says will counter the Tea Party Express.  —  Earlier this week, the group unveiled its own TV ad targeting Murkowski, which spokesman Levi Russell said he hopes …

Democrats Find Many Big Donors Cutting Support  —  Many wealthy Democratic patrons, who in the past have played major roles financing outside groups to help elect the party's candidates, are largely sitting out these crucial midterm elections.  —  Democratic donors like George Soros …

Angry Voters Push Rubio To Top In Florida Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Say Republican Most Shares Their Values  —  Republican Marco Rubio holds a solid 46 - 33 percent likely voter lead over Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent in the race for Florida's U.S. Senate seat …

Romney, Palin at Front of GOP Presidential Field  —  Preferences for leaders similar among conservative, moderate/liberal Republicans  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin lead other potential candidates in Republicans' preferences for the party's 2012 presidential nomination.

In a Computer Worm, a Possible Biblical Clue  —  Deep inside the computer worm that some specialists suspect is aimed at slowing Iran's race for a nuclear weapon lies what could be a fleeting reference to the Book of Esther, the Old Testament tale in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them.

Hugo Lindgren Named New York Times Magazine Editor  —  In a stunning move, The New York Times is expected to announce that Hugo Lindgren will be the next editor of The New York Times Magazine, according to three people familiar with the deal.  —  Mr. Lindgren spent the last seven months …

Tony Curtis, Hollywood Leading Man, Dies at 85  —  Tony Curtis, a classically handsome movie star who earned an Oscar nomination as an escaped convict in Stanley Kramer's 1958 movie “The Defiant Ones,” but whose public preferred him in comic roles in films like “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and …

Grading the Governors  —  A new Cato Institute report on the fiscal best and worst.  —  It's been a rough couple of years to be a Governor, but some have adjusted to austere times better than others.  The Cato Institute today releases its 10th biennial survey of the best and worst Governors …

Congress cools on Colbert  —  Members of Congress have been fooled time after time after time by Stephen Colbert, and after last week's mockery, they have a message for the satirist who makes a living lampooning them: Colbert, you're dead to us.  —  Colbert's act had steadily been losing cachet …

'Obama's Wars': The gang that couldn't shoot straight — or shut up  —  Senior Washington officials, in this administration or its predecessors, talk to Bob Woodward for all kinds of reasons — to fluff up their vanity, to avenge slights, to neutralize rivals, to gratify egos or, most laughably, to shape the historical record.

Anderson Cooper launching daytime talk show  —  UPDATED: Exclu: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is launching a syndicated daytime talk show.  —  The “Anderson Cooper 360” host has made a deal with Telepictures Productions and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution for a program …

Democrats Aren't Staging A Comeback  —  Democratic strategists have recently started experiencing a new feeling of optimism.  There are indications, they say, that the party is showing the smallest signs of a turnaround, and that rumors of their electoral demise have been premature.

Waxman says net neutrality bill dead, FCC should assert regulatory authority  —  Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) confirmed Wednesday afternoon that his net neutrality bill was effectively scrapped after Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) declined to support the legislation.

Iran's European Helpers  —  Swiss and German business deals may be directly and indirectly supporting Tehran's nuclear program.  —  The European Union in July imposed unprecedented sanctions against Iran's energy and financial sectors.  But despite the crackdown, some European companies continue …

Loyalty to Obama Costs Democrats  —  DOYLESTOWN, Pa.—Rep. Patrick Murphy, a fresh-faced rising Democratic star and loyal backer of President Barack Obama's agenda, is facing the fight of his life in a suburban Philadelphia district Mr. Obama won easily two years ago.

Immigration Bill to Include LGBTs  —  Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey is expected to introduce comprehensive immigration legislation before the Senate adjourns this week for the midterm recess, according to Politico, and a source tells The Advocate that the legislation will be LGBT-inclusive.