CASE CLOSED!  CONGRESSMAN WEINER WAS FRAMED!  (An important update to “The Weiner affair: Close to solution (but I need your help!)”  —  WARNING — NOW HEAR THIS (added at 10:13, EST): I welcome comments from people who hope to prove me wrong.  Disagreement is fine.

Romney will say Obama ‘has failed America’ in 2012 launch speech  —  President Obama “has failed America,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will say in a Thursday speech in New Hampshire launching his presidential campaign.  —  Romney's speech to formally declare that he'll again seek …

CNN Poll: Majority gives thumbs down to Ryan plan  —  Washington (CNN) - A new national poll indicates that a majority of Americans don't like what they've heard so far about congressional Republicans' plans to change Medicare.  —  According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey …

Ensuring your information is safe online  —  The Internet has been an amazing force for good in the world—opening up communications, boosting economic growth and promoting free expression.  But like all technologies, it can also be used for bad things.  Today, despite the efforts …

Employment Data May Be the Key to the President's Job  —  WASHINGTON — No American president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has won a second term in office when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2 percent.  —  Seventeen months before the next election, it is increasingly clear …

John Boehner calls for debt deal in a month  —  House Speaker John Boehner said he doesn't want to run up against an August deadline for boosting the nation's debt limit — fearing that it could unnerve Wall Street — but he's refusing to back away from his calls for major spending cuts in return for a debt deal with the White House.

Discovery of ‘worms from hell’ deep beneath Earth's surface raises new questions  —  For the first time, scientists have found complex, multi-celled creatures living a mile and more below the planet's surface — raising new possibilities about both the spread of life on Earth and potential subsurface life on other planets and moons.

Global war on drugs has ‘failed’ say former leaders  —  Opiate use increased by 35% worldwide from 1998-2008, in spite of anti-drug efforts  —  The global war on drugs has “failed” according to a new report by group of politicians and former world leaders.

Tornadoes Tear Through Mass. Leaving Four Dead, Dozens Injured  —  Multiple tornadoes slammed western and central Massachusetts Wednesday, leaving a path of destruction that destroyed buildings, flipped vehicles and left at least four people dead and an unknown number injured.

If we need taxes, why not pollution taxes?  —  Let's start with the obvious: Most Democrats (and, for that matter, most of the bipartisan deficit panels that are churning out endless white papers right now) agree that we can't tackle our long-term debt issues through spending cuts alone.

Christie refuses to reimburse N.J. for traveling by helicopter to see son's baseball game  —  TRENTON — Facing broad criticism for flying by helicopter to watch his son's high school baseball game in Bergen County, Gov. Chris Christie refused today to refund the state for Tuesday's $2,500-an-hour flight.

Chicago technologist Harper Reed joins President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign  —  One of the most recognizable faces in Chicago's startup scene joins the Obama campaign; former General Growth Properties CEO John Bucksbaum hits the lecture circuit  —  Chicago technologist Harper Reed …