Paul maintains his lead  —  The last week and a half has brought little change in the standings for the Iowa Republican caucus: Ron Paul continues to lead Mitt Romney by a modest margin, 24-20.  Newt Gingrich is in 3rd at 13% followed by Michele Bachmann at 11%, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum at 10% …

Romney in striking distance of Iowa win  —  Don't look now, but Mitt Romney suddenly seems like the Iowa front-runner.  —  The former Massachusetts governor has carefully tempered expectations in Iowa all year, visiting only a handful of times and saving the bulk of his television spending for the final weeks of the race.

GOP Rivals Unleash Blistering Attacks on Ron Paul  —  Ron Paul, who doesn't even return to the campaign trail until Wednesday, is already facing a barrage of attacks from his GOP rivals.  —  Newt Gingrich told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he could not support Paul if he won the Republican nomination …

In the Future Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop  —  Phil and I ended last week's FastForward Radio show discussing how higher education will change in the coming years.  My conclusion:  —  Universities Will Become Coffee Shops  —  We're faced with an education bubble.

America's Dirty Little Housing Secret Is Rocking The Suburbs  —  For years, the food pantry in Crystal Lake, Ill., a bedroom community 50 miles west of Chicago, has catered to the suburban area's poor, homeless and unemployed.  —  But Cate Williams, the head of the pantry …

Mitt Romney: The Real Austerity Candidate  —  Over the holidays, Willard Romney has been seeking once again to define himself, a job that is very similar to that undertaken by the people who renovate old country homes.  The first thing you have to do is to tear down the accumulated improvements …

Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing  —  U.S. Air Force/GETTY IMAGES - A crew chief from the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron completes post-flight inspections of the RQ-1 Predator after one of its sorties in Balad Air Base, Iraq.

New York Times Staffers Express ‘Profound Dismay’ With Management … New York Times , Newspapers , Video , Arthur Sulzberger , Bill O'Meara , Janet Robinson , Jill Abramson , Jill Abramson New York Times , New York Newspaper Guild , New York Times Buyouts , New York Times Contract …

Perry sues Virginia elections board to gain ballot access  —  Taegan Goddard provides the obligatory zinger about a noted fan of states rights and the Tenth Amendment asking a federal judge to overrule Virginia's preferences on ballot access.  The statement from Team Perry:

North Korean Mourners Line Streets for Kim Jong-il's Funeral  —  SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong-un, the designated dynastic heir to power in North Korea, walked alongside the hearse of his deceased father, Kim Jong-il, through snow-covered downtown Pyongyang on Wednesday …

Washington's year of drama leaves little done regarding debt  —  Reid Ribble, a Wisconsin roofing contractor-turned-Republican lawmaker, has helped change the way Washington talks about the national debt.  That's not to say he has done much about the debt itself.

Why Work Hour Limits?  —  Many laws discourage and limit work hours.  Laws require holidays and vacations, limit hours per day and week, and require extra payment for work over these limits.  And of course income taxes discourage work more generally.  The standard economic explanation …

Italy's Borrowing Costs Drop Sharply at Auction  —  LONDON — Italy's short-term borrowing costs fell steeply Wednesday at a debt auction, easing the immediate pressure on the country's embattled economy.  —  The sale of €9 billion, or $11.8 billion, of six-month Treasury bills was seen …

Islamic honor killing in Texas: “Santa” who murdered family on Christmas morning was Muslim who didn't like his daughter dating a non-Muslim  —  Aziz Yazdanpanah, a Muslim, didn't like his daughter's non-Muslim boyfriend and was exhibiting stalker behavior.  “She couldn't date at all until …