Cover Story: Bert and Ernie's “Moment of Joy”  —  “It's amazing to witness how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime,” said Jack Hunter, the artist behind next week's cover, “Moment of Joy.”  Hunter, who originally submitted his image, unsolicited, to a Tumblr, continued …

House GOP's immigration playbook  —  Circle July 10 with red ink: It's now the most important day for immigration reform.  —  That Wednesday is when a hobbled, divided and raucous House Republican Conference will meet in the Capitol basement to figure out how to address the Senate-passed bill.

Hank Johnson: Clarence Thomas ‘Worse’ Than Edward Snowden For Gutting Voting Rights Act  —  WASHINGTON — Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said Wednesday that the fact that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas voted this week to gut the Voting Rights Act — the 1965 law aimed at protecting disenfranchised voters …

Alec Baldwin's pregnant wife Hilaria TWEETS about Rachael Ray and anniversary gifts during James Gandolfini's funeral  — She later insisted: 'I don't believe in bringing phones into a funeral and I never did and I never would'  —  It may not be considered funeral etiquette …

Pelosi: Dems are coalescing behind Hillary for 2016  —  In this clip from Capital Download, USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief asks Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton running for the Presidency in 2016.  Pelosi says Democrats are optimistic about it.

What's Really ‘Immoral’ About Student Loans  —  It's not so much the interest rates charged.  It is, rather, the principal of the thing.  —  Unless Congress acts, interest rates for government subsidized student loans will double to 6.8% from 3.4% on July 1.

Restricted web access to The Guardian is Armywide, officials say  —  The Army admitted Thursday to not only restricting access to The Guardian news website at the Presidio of Monterey, as reported in Thursday's Herald, but Armywide.  —  Presidio employees said the site had been blocked since …

Ex-Pentagon general target of leak investigation, sources say  —  Retired Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright was the second-highest ranking member of the U.S. military, and a key Obama adviser who served as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Legal sources tell NBC News Cartwright …

In U.S., 43% of Uninsured Unaware They Must Get Coverage  —  Awareness higher, at 81%, among all Americans  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The vast majority of Americans, 81%, say they are aware of the 2010 Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) requirement that most Americans must carry health insurance or pay a fine.

Wendy Davis strikes back against Rick Perry  —  Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis on Friday took Gov. Rick Perry to task over highly personal comments he made about her the day before.  —  “I would say to him, that I had the privilege of making a choice about the path I chose for my life,” …

The Criminal N.S.A.  —  THE twin revelations that telecom carriers have been secretly giving the National Security Agency information about Americans' phone calls, and that the N.S.A. has been capturing e-mail and other private communications from Internet companies as part of a secret program called Prism …

The most unfortunate anti-gay logo and slogan in the history of politics  —  In one of the most unfortunate moves in American politics since Republicans kept referring to the Tea Party “teabagging,” the anti-gay Family Research Council, which has been officially designated a “hate group,” …

Invest, Divest and Prosper  —  It has been a busy news week, what with voting rights, gay marriage and Paula Deen.  Even so, it's remarkable how little attention the news media gave to President Obama's new “climate action plan.”  Discount, if you like, the terrific speech he gave when unveiling …

Remember the Obama Scandals?  That Used to Be a Thing  —  Sifting through the Republican responses to President Obama's climate speech Tuesday, an odd omission could be found — or, at least, it would have seemed odd as recently as a week or two ago.  The various Republican statements churned …