White House reboots on economic advice  —  Signaling a shift to a new phase of the administration's response to the nation's economic woes, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Friday establishing a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that will be lead by General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt.

No, Charles Johnson, Glenn Beck Did Not Tell His Viewers to Shoot Anyone in the Head  —  On Twitter, Charles Johnson excitedly says:  —  He links to a post, evidently written by an LGF user, which provides no context for the clip, but simply embeds it.  Here is a screenshot of the entire post:

Are We In Bill Clinton's Third Term?  —  Jacob Lew was tapped by Barack Obama last July to lead the Office of Management & Budget.  Most recently, William Daley accepted a request to serve as BHO's chief of staff.  —  Both Lew and Daley also had prominent positions within the Clinton administration …

A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Their Debt Burdens  —  Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.

Rudy Giuliani ‘absolutely’ thinking about 2012  —  Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani says he's “absolutely” open to a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.  —  “I will take a look at 2012,” Giuliani said Thursday night on CNBC.  —  He ran what was regarded …

Everything starts with repeal  —  Suppose someone - say, the president of United States - proposed the following: We are drowning in debt.  More than $14 trillion right now.  I've got a great idea for deficit reduction.  It will yield a savings of $230 billion over the next 10 years …

Woman who fell into fountain faces theft charges, has criminal record  —  The Reading woman who became an Internet sensation by falling into a fountain while sending a text on her cell phone was in Berks County Court on Thursday for a status hearing on theft-by-deception and related charges.

G.O.P. Bloc Presses Leaders to Slash Even More  —  WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders confronted pressure from conservatives on Thursday to take more aggressive steps to cut federal spending, with a large group of lawmakers calling for outlays to be slashed by $2.5 trillion over the next decade …

Republican Presidential Contenders for 2012  —  ABC News' Early Look at Top GOP Presidential Hopefuls and Their Chances of Winning Nomination  —  Roughly one year before the Iowa caucuses, a diverse and ambitious group of Republicans has begun jockeying for the party's presidential nomination …

Eight Somali pirates killed as South Korea rescues freighter crew  —  Navy commandos storm ship hijacked in Arabian Sea, and officials say all 21 crewmembers safe after operation  —  South Korean navy commandos today rescued the crew of a freighter hijacked in the Arabian Sea last week …

Poll: Emanuel closing in on majority vote  —  Front-runner has 44%; Braun next with 21%  —  Rahm Emanuel is closing in on the majority he needs to end the mayor's race next month and avoid a one-on-one runoff, a new Tribune/WGN poll shows.  —  The former White House chief of staff had the support of 44 percent of those surveyed.

Just as things were looking up, Obama's annual job approval average puts him near the postwar bottom  —  As if the poll showing improved approval of Congress under partial Republican leadership wasn't discouraging enough, now comes a new survey showing President Obama's second-year job approval near …

Poll Finds Wariness About Cutting Entitlements  —  As President Obama and Congress brace to battle over how to reduce chronic annual budget deficits, Americans overwhelmingly say that in general they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Next up for Obama: Marriage equality for gay Americans  —  Less than a month after President Obama repealed “don't ask, don't tell,” his Justice Department filed its latest brief defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act - the law that makes gay Americans second-class citizens …

Dems Growing Convinced That GOP Will Try To Force Shutdown Over Health Care Funds … WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats expressed a rare touch of nonchalance Wednesday as House Republicans voted to repeal last year's health care overhaul, since the repeal has little chance of passing the Senate.

Ghailani Terrorism Conviction Is Upheld  —  A federal judge in Manhattan refused on Friday to overturn the sole count for which Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was convicted last fall in a trial stemming from the 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa, which killed 224 people.

Sen. Murkowski questions approach to health repeal  —  Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Thursday cast doubt on the manner in which Republicans have attempted to repeal the healthcare law.  —  Murkowski (Alaska) said that she would vote to repeal the law if a vote was held in the Senate …

The Most Emailed ‘New York Times’ Article Ever  —  It's a week before the biggest day of her life, and Anna Williams is multitasking.  While waiting to hear back from the Ivy League colleges she's hoping to attend, the seventeen-year-old senior at one of Manhattan's most exclusive private schools …

FEC VOTES ON TWO DRAFTS OF AN NPRM ON INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES AND ELECTIONEERING COMMUNICATIONS, APPROVES FINAL AUDIT REPORT  —  WASHINGTON - At its first open meeting of the year, the Federal Election Commission today voted on two drafts of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) …

‘Mr. President, Say This on Tuesday Night’  —  President Obama delivering the State of the Union address last January.  —  With four days until President Obama gives his State of the Union address, interest groups have buried the White House with a barrage of unsolicited advice about what they want him to say.