Penn State sanctions: $60M, bowl ban  —  The NCAA has hit Penn State with a $60 million sanction, a four-year football postseason ban and a vacation of all wins dating to 1998, the organization said Monday morning.  —  The career record of former head football coach Joe Paterno will reflect …

The Hill Poll: Majority of voters blame president for bad economy  —  Two-thirds of likely voters say the weak economy is Washington's fault, and more blame President Obama than anybody else, according to a new poll for The Hill.  —  It found that 66 percent believe paltry job growth …

Quote of the Day: Mitt Romney Told Olympians They Didn't Get There Alone  —  Our political Quote of the Day gives us one more strand in the heaping-plate-of-spaghetti-of- hyocrisy called American partisan politics, where the accuracy of an assertion is not what matters.

Mitt Romney Olympic Archive Still Off-Limits  —  More than a decade has passed since Mitt Romney presided over the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, but the archival records from those games that were donated to the University of Utah to provide an unprecedented level of transparency …

Weiner wife under guard  —  Police and federal officials have placed security around ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, after a New Jersey man threatened her, law-enforcement sources said.  —  An individual, described as a Muslim man, made the unspecified threat after Rep. Michele Bachmann …

Online Ammunition Sales Highlighted by Aurora Shootings  —  DENVER — Unhindered by federal background checks or government oversight, the 24-year-old man accused of killing a dozen people inside a Colorado movie theater was able to build what the police called a 6,000-round arsenal legally …

California Republicans Seek a Turnaround  —  LOS ANGELES — This would seem a moment of great opportunity for California Republicans.  The state has become a national symbol of fiscal turmoil and dysfunction, the Legislature is nearly as unpopular as Congress and Democrats control every branch of government.

Democrats shun Pelosi's plea for cash  —  One by one, the pictures of House members adorning the lobby of Democratic Party headquarters have come down, turning neat rows of framed photos into a disjointed mess — “splattered,” as one aide described it.  —  The half-dozen or so lawmakers whose mugs …

EXCLUSIVE: Massacre suspect James Holmes' gun-range application drew red flag  —  BYERS, COLO. - Less than a month before carrying out the midnight movie massacre that left 12 dead, suspected shooter James Holmes applied for membership at a private gun range, unnerving the club's owner whose calls …

Syria says it will use chemical weapons if attacked  —  BEIRUT (AP) - The Syrian regime threatened Monday to use its chemical and biological weapons in case of a foreign attack, in its first ever acknowledgement that it possesses weapons of mass destruction.

Disrupting the Infamy Game: How to Change the Coverage of Mass Shootings  —  “I think if I squint I can just about make out the face of a killer.  Isn't the news brilliant?”  —  Anyone remember a fourth-century-BC Greek named Herostratus?  He's the guy whose name history has recorded solely …

Gordon Crovitz: Who Really Invented the Internet?  —  Contrary to legend, it wasn't the federal government, and the Internet had nothing to do with maintaining communications during a war.  —  A telling moment in the presidential race came recently when Barack Obama said: “If you've got a business, you didn't build that.

Survey USA Poll: Obama's Lead Cut in Half Since Last Poll  —  RESULTS OF SURVEY USA/KSTP Poll  —  In an election for President of the United States in Minnesota today, 07/20/12, three months till voting begins, Barack Obama captures the North Star State's 10 electoral votes …

Loading the Climate Dice  —  A couple of weeks ago the Northeast was in the grip of a severe heat wave.  As I write this, however, it's a fairly cool day in New Jersey, considering that it's late July.  Weather is like that; it fluctuates.  —  And this banal observation may be what dooms us to climate catastrophe, in two ways.

Obama Tells Tall Tales About The Bush Years  —  A key attack line in President Obama's campaign stump speech these days is to claim that the country has tried Mitt Romney's economic policies already, and they were a dismal failure.  —  Romney, he says, wants to do two things …

Romney says Obama visit to Colorado was the ‘right thing’ to do  —  Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney praised President Obama's decision to visit Aurora, Colorado and meet with victims of a mass shooting as “the right thing” to do.  —  Romney, who returned to the campaign trail …

Iraq Insurgents Kill Nearly 100 After Declaring New Offensive  —  BAGHDAD — In a coordinated display intended to show they remain a viable force, Iraqi insurgents launched at least 37 separate attacks on Monday morning, setting off car bombs, storming a military base and ambushing checkpoints, Iraqi authorities said.

The Politics of Anything Goes  —  Barack Obama first captured the national spotlight with a speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston in which he called for an end to the politics of division.  The audience roared back its applause at the end of almost every line: … Americans, Obama declared, are