For Lawmaker Examining Terror, a Pro-I.R.A. Past  —  WASHINGTON — For Representative Peter T. King, as he seizes the national spotlight this week with a hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims, it is the most awkward of résumé entries.

NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Resigns  —  This follows yesterday's news that then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) was videotapped slamming conservatives and questioning whether NPR needs federal funding during a lunch with men posing as members of a Muslim organization …

White House moving to repair troubled relationship with Cabinet  —  News this week of the first departure of a Cabinet secretary from the Obama administration comes amid a wide-ranging effort under the new chief of staff, William M. Daley, to repair badly frayed relations between the White House and the Cabinet.

E-mails reveal possible Walker concessions on union bill  —  By Jason Stein and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel  —  Madison — Gov. Scott Walker's office released documents Tuesday showing he's willing to give on some points of his union bargaining bill to break the Capitol standoff …

Obama and Bush  —  The announcement that military show trials are to recommence at Guantanamo Bay, combined with the brutal and vindictive treatment of Bradley Manning, make it clear that, as regards willing to suppress basic human and civil rights in the name of security …

Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages  —  Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn't taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement.

TRENDING: ‘Birther’ debate alive and well in New Hampshire  —  (CNN) - The New Hampshire state legislature is attempting to take politics out of the equation when a House committee considers an amendment that would require presidential candidates to present birth certificates when filing …

Charlie Sheen is not filial  —  Actor Charlie Sheen is a classic example of the difference in Western and Eastern values and norms.  —  Ignoring public pleas from his father, Sheen has continued a weeklong media blitz, exhibiting obvious signs of mania.  With no firm hand to guide them …

Americans Oppose Republican Attack on Unions in Poll  —  Americans reject Republican efforts to curb bargaining rights of unions whose power they say is dwarfed by corporations, a Bloomberg National Poll finds.  —  As battles rage between state workers and Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio …

Joe Manchin goes rogue  —  Several weeks ago, freshman Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) strolled through the Hart Senate Office Building and ended up in what should be enemy territory: a face-to-face meeting with the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Blagojevich wants trial called off  —  Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is asking a federal judge to cancel his upcoming retrial and to sentence him on his one conviction from his previous trial.  —  In a motion filed early Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago …

In a Wealthy Suburb, Concern Over School Taxes  —  BRONXVILLE, N.Y. — This wealthy New York suburb prides itself on its public schools.  Class sizes are small.  Students can choose from an array of subjects not offered everywhere.  Teacher pay ranks among the nation's highest.

Searching for Marizela: An update  —  SEATTLE — The photo above from Marizela's friends/family shows the tattoo on her left inner arm that reads “lahat ay magiging maayos” — a Tagalog saying for “all will be well.”  —  Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers and for helping to spread the word across the Internet.

Battle of the Bike Lanes  —  At the risk of incurring the wrath of the bicycle lobby, a constituency that pursues its agenda with about as much modesty and humor as the Jacobins pursued theirs, and which has found its heroine in transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan …

NPR sting also nets ... Pamela Geller?  —  Conservative activist James O'Keefe today released a sting video showing an NPR fundraising official saying impolitic things to a couple of (fake) potential Muslim donors.  A key part of the sting was the creation of a hoax website for the fake group …

BofA Segregates Almost Half of its Mortgages Into ‘Bad Bank’  —  Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the biggest U.S. lender by assets, is segregating almost half its 13.9 million mortgages into a “bad” bank comprised of its riskiest and worst-performing “legacy” loans, said Terry Laughlin, who is running the new unit.

How Corbett fracked Pa.'s middle class  —  Tomorrow's front page (headline: “We're Getting Drilled!") opinion-news tonight:  —  If there was a moral to the story that Gov. Corbett spun Tuesday in his much-anticipated, first-ever budget talk, it was that all wealth is not viewed equally …

Newt Gingrich: ‘I was doing things that were wrong’  —  Newt Gingrich addressed his multiple nuptials and admitted affairs more head-on than he has to date, telling the Christian Broadcast Network that he sought God's “forgiveness” for the things he did wrong and that he now has a “great” marriage.

Crossroads GPS airs anti-union ad  —  An arm of American Crossroads, the well-financed Republican super PAC, is going up on the air Wednesday with an ad taking aim at public employee unions and highlighting the aid President Obama got in his campaign from organized labor.

Vilsack: ‘I took it as a slam on rural America’  —  Yesterday afternoon, I got an e-mail from a “usda.gov” address.  “Secretary Vilsack read your blog post ‘Why we still need cities’ over the weekend, and he has some thoughts and reflections, particularly about the importance of rural America,” it said.

Why hasn't the Internet helped the American economy grow as much as economists thought it would?  —  If you have attended any economists' cocktail parties in the past month or so—lucky you!—then you have probably heard chatter about Tyler Cowen's e-book, The Great Stagnation.

Conservative Corporate Advocacy Group ALEC Behind Voter Disenfranchisement Efforts  —  The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization linked to corporate and right-wing donors, including the billionaire Koch brothers, has drafted and distributed model legislation …

21 Priests Suspended in Philadelphia  —  The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Tuesday that it had placed 21 priests on administrative leave from active ministry in connection with credible charges that they had sexually abused minors.  —  The mass suspension was one of the single …