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.

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 …

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 …

Issa's panel votes to bring Lerner back to Hill  —  The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted 22-17 on Friday that embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights during a hearing last month on the agency's tea party targeting scandal.

‘Cracker’ Means Something Entirely Different In Florida: A Source Of ‘Pride’  —  At the merciful close of key prosecution witness Rachel Jeantel's testimony in the trial of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin, defense attorney Don West asked Ms. Jeantel to describe the “culture” …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

Nationalized gay marriage, now inevitable  —  Under the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages even in states that have legalized it.  This week, the Supreme Court ruled DOMA unconstitutional.  —  There are two possible grounds, distinct and in some ways contradictory, for doing so.

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 …

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,” …

Jeb Bush Will Present Liberty Medal To Hillary Clinton  —  Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will receive the 2013 Liberty Medal this fall from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who many speculate could be a hypothetical 2016 presidential challenger to the former first lady.

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.

Father proposes deal for Snowden's voluntary return  —  (CNN) — The father of Edward J. Snowden has offered federal authorities a deal that he says would likely lead the accused leaker to return voluntarily to the United States to face espionage charges.  —  The proposal was laid out in a letter …

Mayor Bloomberg: NYPD ‘Stops Whites Too Much And Minorities Too Little’  —  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the police department's controversial stop and frisk program during a radio interview on Friday morning, and complained that the NYPD was stopping too many white people.