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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.