FAA: 149 control towers to close  —  Frederick, Maryland (CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday told 149 regional airports across the country it would begin closing their air traffic control towers in April, but said it would spare another 40 towers that had been on the chopping block.

Keystone XL picks up Senate backing  —  The Senate on Friday voted 62-37 to approve the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in an amendment to Senate budget.  —  Sen. John Hoeven's (R-N.D.) amendment was largely symbolic, but served as a clear statement that the Senate backs the pipeline.

Senate on record opposing use of chained CPI  —  The Senate voted Friday night to oppose cutting entitlement benefits for veterans using a new method of calculating inflation.  —  President Obama has put the new method, known as chained consumer price index, on the table in deficit talks with Republicans.

Massachusetts lawmaker 'took pictures of his genitals and put them on a female coworker's computer'  —  A state representative in Massachussetts is being investigated after allegedly sending pictures of his genitals to a government computer.  —  The investigation is ongoing and the committee …

Late Marriage and Its Consequences  —  On Wednesday I had the privilege of joining a Brookings Institution event organized around the new report “Knot Yet: The Benefits and Costs of Delayed Marriage,” which tries to tease out the social implications of the steadily rising age of first marriage …

Miss Israel: Obama ‘world-class hunk’  —  President Barack Obama has earned a new title: world-class hunk.  —  That was the assessment of Miss Israel, the 21-year-old Ethiopian immigrant Titi Aynaw who met Obama on Thursday.  —  “He's an exciting man, a world-class hunk …

Gov. Christie says he does not believe in gay conversion therapy  —  Gov. Chris Christie speaks in Edison earlier this month.  Christie said today he doesn't believe in gay conversion therapy.  (Photo by Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger)  —  TRENTON — Under pressure from Democrats …

Donald Trump Trashes Michelle Malkin On Twitter: You're A ‘Dummy’ And ‘Were Born Stupid’  —  So... looks like Michelle Malkin and Donald Trump are having a good ol' Twitter spat.  —  Malkin's conservative Twitter aggregator site Twitchy took to calling the real estate mogul and recent CPAC speaker Trump a “conservafraud.”

New York City Cop Testifies That He Was Told To Target Young Black Men  —  As hearings are under way to investigate New York City's stop and frisk policy, one police officer is testifying that he was told by superiors to target young black men between the ages of 14 and 21.

Andy at Ace of Spades has made an interesting discovery.  Here's Matthew Yglesias last September: … Silly wingnuts.  You didn't build that, and you don't own that.  The government is just letting you borrow it.  —  Speaking of “property” that doesn't really exist, Washingtonian.com reports:

Genachowski Announces Resignation as F.C.C. Chairman  —  The resignation on Friday of Julius Genachowski after four years as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission again raises a thorny issue for President Obama: whether it will be possible to get the F.C.C. or Congress to help …

At Yad Vashem in Israel, Obama Urges Action Against Racism  —  AMMAN, Jordan — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Friday apologized in a personal phone call to Turkey's prime minister for a deadly commando raid on a Turkish ship in 2010, in a sudden reconciliation between …

Obama presses Congress to vote on assault weapons ban  —  President Obama in his weekly address urged both chambers of Congress to hold a vote on a series of gun-control measures, including the controversial assault weapons ban and a limit on magazine sizes.

The New Republic Fires Timothy Noah  —  On Thursday, New Republic columnist Timothy Noah received an email from editor Frank Foer asking him to meet at 2:30 pm on Friday.  During the meeting, Foer told Noah that he was out of a job.  —  When Noah got to the New Republic's lobby …

Exclusive: Syrian with ties to 9/11 hijackers still in US, virtually immune from deportation  —  Free to do as he pleases, living out his days in the suburbs of northern New Jersey, a Syrian national who is a known associate of the 9/11 hijackers never has to worry about deportation by the U.S. government …

Dominican official links Daily Caller to alleged lies about Menendez  —  A top Dominican law enforcement official said Friday that a local lawyer has reported being paid by someone claiming to work for the conservative Web site the Daily Caller to find prostitutes who would lie and say they had sex …

How Now Chairman Mao?  —  The Scrapbook doesn't spend a lot of its time surfing tired bureaucratic websites that look like relics of the 1990s, but our interest was piqued last week by a quotation on the “Kids' Zone” page of the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics …

The numbers prove it: The GOP is estranged from America  —  Andrew Kohut is the founding director and former president of the Pew Research Center.  He served as president of the Gallup Organization from 1979 to 1989.  —  In my decades of polling, I recall only one moment when a party …

Obama not welcome in Jordan: Islamists  —  Print Article Print Article with Comments  —  AMMONNEWS - A Jordanian Islamist leader on Friday said that U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Jordan is not “respected or accepted” by Jordanians.  —  During a demonstration in Amman Friday evening organized …

North Dakota Republican Pols To Protest Anti-Abortion Laws: ‘We Have Stepped Over The Line’  —  A group of GOP state lawmakers in North Dakota will protest new abortion restrictions on Monday at a Stand Up for Women rally in Bismarck, N.D., because they believe their fellow Republicans have gone too far.

EXCLUSIVE: EMails Show Prop.  8 Judge Sought Ted Olson's Advice On Whether to Attend Supreme Court Argument on Gay Marriage  —  Vaughn R. Walker, the judge who struck down Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, sought Ted Olson's opinion regarding whether Walker should attend next …