Argument recap: DOMA is in trouble (FINAL UPDATE)  —  Analysis  —  If the Supreme Court can find its way through a dense procedural thicket, and confront the constitutionality of the federal law that defined marriage as limited to a man and a woman, that law may be gone, after a seventeen-year existence.

Ashley Judd is not running for Senate  —  Update: Ashley Judd has announced via Twitter that she will not run for Senate.  “After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities & energy at this time need to be focused on my family,” she wrote.

‘Rude’ lawmaker Louie Gohmert pulls rank on cops over parking ticket  —  A Texas Republican congressman got into a late-night verbal altercation with U.S. Park Police officers earlier this month, pulling rank in an attempt to get out of a parking ticket near the Lincoln Memorial.

Customers Flee Wal-Mart Empty Shelves for Target, Costco  —  Margaret Hancock has long considered the local Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) superstore her one- stop shopping destination.  No longer.  —  During recent visits, the retired accountant from Newark, Delaware, says she failed to find …

Ex-Tucson mayoral hopeful McClusky plans free shotguns for high-crime areas  —  Tucson residents living in crime-ridden areas could soon receive free shotguns.  —  Operating on the premise an armed neighborhood is a safer neighborhood, a group led by former mayoral candidate Shaun McClusky …

Obama moves rule to tighten background checks on gun buys  —  The Obama administration is moving to shore up the federal criminal background check system as part of the president's effort to curb gun violence — with or without help from Congress.  —  A proposed rule meant to improve …

Poll: 80% of Americans unhappy with Washington  —  The Sequester  —  Americans continue to believe the sequester cuts will be bad for the country (41 percent) in the long run, and just 28 percent expect their effect to be good for the country.  However, the view that sequester will have no impact …

CIA director faces a quandary over clandestine service appointment  —  As John Brennan moved into the CIA director's office this month, another high-level transition was taking place down the hall.  —  A week earlier, a woman had been placed in charge of the CIA's clandestine service for the first time in the agency's history.

Poland Is Not Yet Lost  —  But its leaders remain determined to give disaster a chance.  —  Poland is one of Europe's relative success stories.  It avoided the severe slump that afflicted much of the European periphery, then had a fairly strong recovery:  —  As you can see …

Are Evangelicals Now More Scorned than Homosexuals?  —  Direct from the school of, “Counter-Intuitive Thinking,” I bring you this question: When it comes to the issue of same-sex marriage, are Evangelical Christians actually the ones more ridiculed than homosexuals?

Idaho teacher investigated for saying ‘vagina’ during biology lesson  —  A high school science teacher in Idaho is under investigation by the state's professional standards commission because he reportedly used the word “vagina” during a biology lesson.  —  Tim McDaniel, who teaches 10th grade science …

Local Airport Closures Cause GOPers Sequestration Anxiety  —  We've noted previously that outside Washington D.C. — where politicians and reporters obsess endlessly over inconsequential but high-valence things like White House tours and Easter egg hunts — sequestration is beginning to cause real harm, and political pain.

72nd Annual Peabody Awards Winners Announced  —  ATHENS, Georgia - Thirty-nine recipients of the 72nd Annual Peabody Awards were announced today by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.  The winners, chosen by the Peabody board as the best …

Sebelius: Some Could See Insurance Premiums Rise  —  Some people purchasing new insurance policies for themselves this fall could see premiums rise because of requirements in the health-care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Tuesday.