Trump Not Running for President: ‘Decision Does Not Come Easily Or Without Regret’  —  ABC News' Michael Falcone, Jennifer Wlach, Sara Just and Devin Dwyer report:  —  After a roller-coaster flirtation with a presidential bid, Donald Trump bowed out of the 2012 contest in true Trump fashion on Monday …

French Shocked by I.M.F. Chief's ‘Perp Walk’  —  As our colleagues Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold report, “The arrest in New York of one of France's leading global figures and a possible next president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of attempted rape produced an earthquake of shock …

GOP Rep. Ryan swipes at Gingrich: ‘With allies like that, who needs the left?’  —  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took a swipe Monday at Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich after the former House Speaker criticized hiss proposed Medicare reforms.  —  “With allies like that, who needs the left?”

Romney: One-day money haul brings in over $10 million  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) announced a one-day haul of over $10 million to support his presidential campaign.  —  Romney's team said the former governor had brought in $10.25 million in a daylong event …

Why do one-in-five American voters now believe Osama bin Laden is still alive?  —  Here we go again.  —  It's been only two weeks since President Obama reported on national television that an American commando team in four military helicopters had killed Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan bedroom.

In for Nasty Weather  —  Maybe it's because tenured professors are so disproportionately white male baby boomers that classic rock seems like a natural way to capture the sense that tenured faculty existence is vanishing.  —  First, summon the image of a tweed-clad, gray-haired professor exiting …

Tea Party Express backs Jane Corwin in 26th District  —  GREECE — Members of the national Tea Party Express visited the Rochester area this morning to publicly throw their support behind Republican Assemblywoman Jane Corwin's bid for Congress and to excoriate her opponent Jack Davis for co-opting the “Tea Party” moniker as his own.

OOPS!  Historic ‘Spending Cut’ Bill Increased Spending By $3 Billion  —  Republicans stormed Capitol Hill in January vowing to slash discretionary spending by $100 billion right off the bat.  In their pledge to America, they promised that, “[w]ith common-sense exceptions for seniors …

As Debt Limit Reached, Agreement Still Far Off  —  The U.S. government is expected to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling Monday, setting in motion an uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default.  —  The Treasury Department plans to announce Monday it will stop issuing …

Debt and Taxes  —  So, today we banged our head against the current debt ceiling for the first time.  Think of the country like a tall person who has just moved into an unusually cheap and small basement apartment.  The first bang is the most surprising, but it's not catastrophic.

Exclusive: Private letter from CIA chief undercuts claim torture was key to killing Bin Laden  —  CIA chief Leon Panetta has written a private letter to Senator John McCain that offers the most detailed answer yet to questions about the relationship between torture and Osama Bin Laden's death …

Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story'  —  In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence  —  A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.

Dems' thuggery knows no bounds  —  Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, didn't mince words the other day on Hugh Hewitt's national radio show.  The Democrats, he said, “play politics very, very tough, they play it well, and they don't give a damn about what's right and what's wrong.”

Justices Allow Search if Police Hear Evidence Being Destroyed  —  WASHINGTON — The police do not need a warrant to enter a home if they smell burning marijuana, knock loudly, announce themselves and hear what they think is the sound of evidence being destroyed, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in an 8-to-1 decision.