Gingrich takes the lead  —  Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in PPP's national polling.  He's at 28% to 25% for Herman Cain and 18% for Mitt Romney.  The rest of the Republican field is increasingly looking like a bunch of also rans: Rick Perry is at 6%, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at 5% …

Court sets 5 1/2-hour hearing on health care (FINAL)  —  FINAL UPDATE at 11:09 a.m. A separate post, coming shortly, will provide further analysis of the grants.  (It is posted above this.)  —  Setting the stage for a historic constitutional confrontation over federal power …

Jerry Sandusky to Bob Costas in exclusive ‘Rock Center’ interview: 'I shouldn't have showered with those kids.'  —  By Jessica Hopper  —  DEVELOPING: Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky admitted to showering and horsing around with young boys but said he is not a pedophile …

Cain stumbles on Libya question  —  Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, in the midst of a Midwestern campaign swing, stumbled Monday when answering a question about whether he agreed or disagreed with President Barack Obama's approach to handling the Libyan crisis.

Future Recession Risks: An Update … Gathering storms across the Atlantic threaten a U.S. economy not yet recovered from the last recession.  The September Economic Outlook from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) indicates that growth prospects have significantly dimmed …

Obama golfs with friend who was arrested in prostitution sting  —  President Obama golfed on Monday with his long-time friend Robert Titcomb, who in May plead no contest to soliciting a prostitute, according to the White House pool report.  —  “The president's fourball at the Mamala Bay Golf Course includes …

Protesters hope to shut down New York's Wall Street  —  (Reuters) - Protesters hope to shut down Wall Street on Thursday — home to the New York Stock Exchange — by holding a street carnival to mark the two-month anniversary of their campaign against economic inequality.

Ex-boyfriend of Cain accuser backs her story  —  Dr. Victor Zuckerman said today he backs ex-girlfriend Sharon Bialek's allegation that Herman Cain “touched her in an inappropriate manner.”  —  Zuckerman, a pediatrician, came forward after Cain last week denied knowing Bialek.

On Capitol Hill, Rand's ‘Atlas’ Can't Be Shrugged Off … Ayn Rand is best known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.  The ideas behind them — her philosophy — have sunk so deeply into our political thought, most people don't even recognize them as her ideas anymore.

Players Reject N.B.A. Offer and Opt to Disband Union  —  Faced with a deal it could not accept, and a negotiating process that had reached a dead end, the National Basketball Players Association elected to disband Monday afternoon, thrusting the N.B.A. into chaos.

Why Is China Building These Gigantic Structures In the Middle of the Desert?  (Updated)  —  This is crazy.  New photos have appeared in Google Maps showing unidentified titanic structures in the middle of the Chinese desert.  The first one is an intricate network of what appears to be huge metallic stripes.

CNN Reporter Asks Obama: Are GOP Candidates “Uninformed, Out Of Touch, Or Irresponsible?”  —  “Last night at the Republican debate, some of the hopefuls, they hope to get your job, they defended the practice of waterboarding which is a practice you banned in 2009.

Occupy Portland: Parks employees get first look at deserted Chapman and Lownsdale squares  —  A dozen city employees today plan to finish clearing Chapman and Lownsdale squares of debris and trash so engineers and horticulture experts can survey damage to the parks' structures and trees.

Listen Up, Boomers: The Backlash Has Begun  —  “Talkin' about my generation”: the Who song once expressed the hope and self confidence of the Baby Boomers as they reached biological if not emotional maturity.  It was an attack on the older generation, a defense of the young …

Obama defends hot mic moment  —  On Sunday afternoon in Hawaii, Obama commented on his “hot mic” exchange with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G20 summit, saying the exchange—in which the President complained about having to “deal” with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “every day” …

My Night At The Marine Corps Ball  —  To all my family, friends and fans -  —  I'm writing this out to all of you after attending an event that turned out to be one of the most moving evenings I've ever had...  I had the honor and privilege last night of attending The Basic School Instructor …

Local professor: Collecting care packages for troops is ‘shameful’  —  (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - A Suffolk University law professor will not collect items for United States troops overseas and thinks it is “shameful” to do so.  —  Law professor Michael Avery sent a five-paragraph e-mail …