Why Everyone Hates The White House Beat Now  —  BuzzFeed's new White House reporter explores the declining prestige of his “soul-killing” assignment.  —  The White House press corps is seen as Obama arrives to speak.  —  Image by Charles Dharapak / AP  —  WASHINGTON — Freshly minted …

Two U.S. soldiers killed in “insider” attack in Afghanistan  —  (Reuters) - Two American soldiers were killed in a so-called insider attack when a person in an Afghan military uniform turned his weapon on U.S. and Afghan forces at a joint base in the restive east of the country, coalition forces said on Monday.

Chief of US Pacific forces calls climate biggest worry  —  CAMBRIDGE — America's top military officer in charge of monitoring hostile actions by North Korea, escalating tensions between China and Japan, and a spike in computer attacks traced to China provides an unexpected answer when asked …

Paul Ryan Reverses Himself Yet Again On Medicare Cuts  —  When he unveils his budget plan this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will complete a 720-degree flip on President Obama's cuts to Medicare providers in the Affordable Care Act.  —  As he revealed on “Fox News Sunday,” Ryan's upcoming budget will sustain the cuts.

Harvard Search of E-Mail Stuns Its Faculty Members  —  Bewildered, and at times angry, faculty members at Harvard criticized the university on Sunday after revelations that administrators secretly searched the e-mail accounts of 16 resident deans in an effort to learn who leaked information …

President Obama's numbers plummet in New York  —  President Barack Obama's approval rating in New York fell precipitously in the last month, according to a poll released Monday, and three-fifths of the state's registered voters now believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Mandatory Cuts Could Open Path to Deeper Defense Trims  —  WASHINGTON — At a time when $46 billion in mandatory budget cuts are causing anxiety at the Pentagon, administration officials see one potential benefit: there may be an opening to argue for deep reductions in programs long …

New Family Structures Study Intended To Sway Supreme Court On Gay Marriage, Documents Show  —  Goal of conservative-backed parenting study was to influence SCOTUS decisions on gay marriage, docs show  —  WASHINGTON — The conservative funders who bankrolled a flawed and widely cited academic …

Why do the Koch Brothers get all the sunshine? … Here's a couple of data points that bear serious thought this week by transparency advocates celebrating Sunshine Week and by everybody else who cares about protecting and preserving a free and independent press:

Rep. Peter King fights kickboxing champion in fundraiser  —  Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) squared off against former kickboxing champion “Irish” John Foley in a two-round celebrity boxing match on Saturday before a crowd of about 400 at a Long Island pub.  —  No winner was declared in the fight …

When to Say No  —  The State Department's latest environmental assessment of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline makes no recommendation about whether President Obama should approve it.  Here is ours.  He should say no, and for one overriding reason: A president who has repeatedly …

Top Republican Strategist: GOP 'Doesn't Give Equal Opportunity To Women'  —  During a segment on women's evolving roles in the workplace on Meet the Press Sunday morning, GOP political operative and former McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt made a compelling case for equal opportunity …

Senators agree on path to legal status for illegal immigrants  —  Senators crafting a bipartisan overhaul of immigration laws agree on a path to legal status, aides say, but other hurdles remain.  —  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks to journalists in January about a bipartisan immigration reform effort …

Interview With Speaker Boehner: ‘We Need to Do a Better Job’ (Part I)  —  Boehner said he's “far from done” with being speaker.  (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)  —  Since November's electoral letdown, congressional Republicans have been under fire from inside their party over their inability to connect with voters.

Where banks really make money on IPOs  —  Every time an IPO has a big pop on its opening day, the same tired debate gets reprised: did the investment banks leading the deal rip off the company raising equity capital?  The arguments on both sides are well rehearsed — I covered them myself …

Research ties economic inequality to gap in life expectancy  —  ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — This prosperous community is the picture of the good and ever longer life — just what policymakers have in mind when they say that raising the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare is a fair way to rein in the nation's troublesome debt.