Lawmaker Makes Lewd Remark to Teenage Girl  —  Connecticut state Rep. Ernest Hewett (D) made an inappropriate remark to a 17 year old girl testifying about a program that helped her overcome her shyness and get over her fear of snakes, the New London Day reports.

State Department Report: Keystone XL Is Environmentally Sound  —  The State Department released an environmental impact assessment on the Keystone XL pipeline Friday afternoon, concluding that the project is environmentally sound and “is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate …

House Republicans Cheer Boehner's Refusal to Negotiate on Cuts  —  WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner, the man who spent significant portions of the last Congress shuttling to and from the White House for fiscal talks with President Obama that ultimately failed twice to produce a grand bargain …

Obama Tips His Hand In Sequestration Fight  —  After meeting with congressional leaders from both parties about sequestration spending cuts that take effect Friday, President Obama mapped out future negotiations with Republicans, which he hopes will yield an alternative deficit reduction package …

Obama: I Can't Use ‘Jedi Mindmeld’ On Congress To Fix Sequestration  —  Asked why he doesn't just sit down with congressional leaders until a sequestration deal is reached, President Obama said Friday that he can't lock lawmakers in a room.  —  “I am not a dictator, I'm the President,” Obama said.

Covert Malaysian Campaign Touched A Wide Range Of American Media  —  Outlets from Huffington Post to National Review carried pieces financed by the Malaysian government.  An international campaign against Anwar Ibrahim.  —  Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (R) talks …

Al Qaeda Hits Obama for Supporting Marriage Equality  —  Al Qaeda says the United States has another crime to add to its litany of atrocities: support for same-sex marriage.  —  In the latest issue of Inspire, the Al Qaeda-produced English-language magazine that teaches readers …

As Cuts Arrive, Parties Pledge to Call Off the Budget Wars  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama and Congressional leaders failed on Friday to stop deep, automatic cuts in federal spending that will immediately shrink the size and ambition of government, even as they vowed an end to the rolling fiscal battles …

If you might want to insult Harvard down the line, go elsewhere  —  If you think Harvard is a revolutionary communist hotbed, don't apply.  If you think Harvard is full of “pinheaded” professors, don't enroll.  And if you think Harvard pollutes the minds of its students …

More than 700 pages of healthcare rules released  —  The Obama administration on Friday released more than 700 pages of new regulations to implement portions of the Affordable Care Act.  —  The four rules, which are scheduled for publication in mid-March, finalize both major and minor parts …

Disastrous Predictions and Predictable Disasters  —  How's that austerity doing?  —  Joe Weisenthal is wrong.  He writes that the unfolding economic disaster in Europe is what everyone predicted.  Not so.  It's what he predicted, it's what I predicted, but it's not at all what many people were predicting.

Judd: ‘Is there an elephant in the room?’  —  (CNN) - Ashley Judd was fully aware she was under the Washington media spotlight Friday when she spoke about public health issues at George Washington University.  —  “I'm a lot more nervous than y'all are, I promise,” she told a group of students who were asking questions at the event.

NRA president: Gun owners will do 'whatever's necessary' to ‘get rid of’ anti-gun lawmakers  —  National Rifle Association (NRA) President David Keene on Thursday promised that gun owners would do “whatever's necessary” to “get rid of those in public office” that they viewed as working to erode the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Romney likens 2012 race to ‘roller coaster,’ in exclusive ‘Fox News Sunday’ interview  —  Mitt Romney, in an exclusive interview with “Fox News Sunday,” said the end of the 2012 presidential race was like getting off a roller coaster.  —  “We were on a roller coaster, exciting and thrilling, ups and downs.

A reader representative for The Post  —  The world has changed, and we at The Post must change with it.  We have been privileged to have had the service of many talented ombudsmen (and women) who have addressed readers' concerns, answered their questions and held The Post to the highest standards of journalism.

A Cheer or Two for Sequestration  —  From left, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, and House Speaker John Boehner speak at a news conference on Tuesday in Washington.  —  A lot of liberals I read are very hot to trot with the idea that Congress should just repeal sequestration tout court.

Senator: Obama's Golf Weekend With Tiger Cost As Much As 341 Federal Workers Furloughed  —  In a sharply written statement, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama blasts President Obama for campaigning and not governing.  He calls Obama's response to the sequestration “the most cynical behavior I have seen during my time in Washington.”

Noonan: Obama Is Playing a New Game  —  He seems to think the way to win is by trying not to make a deal.  —  Everyone has been wondering how the public will react when the sequester kicks in.  The American people are in the position of hostages who'll have to decide who the hostage-taker is.