Mark Sanford wins special election for Congress  —  The former governor and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch squared off in a special election for Congress.  —  WASHINGTON — Disgraced ex-South Carolina governor Mark Sanford won his bid for redemption on Tuesday night …

Americans Give Guns, Immigration Reform Low Priority  —  Creating jobs and growing the economy get highest priority  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans put reforming immigration and reducing gun violence — the focus of much of the attention on Capitol Hill in recent weeks …

Dick Cheney slams Obama administration's Benghazi performance as 'a failure of leadership ... I cannot understand why they weren't ready'  —  Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the Obama administration on Tuesday for its handling of the September 11, 2012 terror attack on the U.S. Consulate …

Medicare Provider Charge Data  —  As part of the Obama administration's work to make our health care system more affordable and accountable, data are being released that show significant variation across the country and within communities in what hospitals charge for common inpatient services.

Judge rips Obama's right-wing Plan B stance  —  “You're disadvantaging young people, African-Americans, the poor... that's the policy of the Obama administration?”  —  “It turns out that the same policies that President Bush followed were followed by President Obama,” said District Court Judge Edward Korman …

Delaware, Continuing a Trend, Becomes the 11th State to Allow Same-Sex Unions  —  Delaware on Tuesday became the 11th state to permit same-sex marriage, the latest in a string of victories for those working to extend marital rights to gay and lesbian couples.

Reports of sex abuse, beatings inside Cleveland house  —  THREE MISSING CLEVELAND WOMEN FREED  —  Three women who had been held captive for 10 years were found Monday in a Cleveland neighborhood, barely a mile from where they had been abducted.  Amanda Berry was able to escape and alert authorities …

Monthly Budget Review  —  The federal government ran a budget deficit of $489 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2013 (that is, from October 2012 through April 2013), according to CBO's estimates.  That amount is $231 billion less than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year …

An Open Letter to the Harvard Community  —  Last week I said something stupid about John Maynard Keynes.  Asked to comment on Keynes' famous observation “In the long run we are all dead,” I suggested that Keynes was perhaps indifferent to the long run because he had no children, and that he had no children because he was gay.

Breaking news: Traffic from Syria Disappears from Internet  —  At around 18:45 UTC the OpenDNS resolvers saw a significant drop in traffic from Syria.  On closer inspection, it seems Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet.  —  The graph below shows DNS traffic from and to Syria.

Obama May Back F.B.I. Plan to Wiretap Web Users  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people …

Michele Bachmann is in talks to settle Iowa lawsuit  —  Sources say she met with lawyers for woman who accused campaign of stealing e-mail list.  —  U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is engaged in settlement negotiations in a lawsuit alleging that senior members of her presidential campaign stole …

'That's absurd beyond the word absurd'  —  You know Republican state lawmakers in Texas are pursuing a troubling agenda when “birther” legislation starts to move, and it's not the most ridiculous proposal worth watching.  —  Rather, this is (thanks to Anneli Kunze on our Facebook page for the tip).

Ex-Romney aide details campaign ‘miscalculations’  —  WASHINGTON - One of Mitt Romney's former campaign aides is planning to ­release a new book next week that is being pitched as an insider's account that provides “an unblinking look at the tactical and strategic miscalculations” made by the former presidential candidate.