Collision course: CR and debt ceiling  —  A harsh reality began setting into Capitol Hill on Tuesday: The U.S. government may not reopen until the two parties reach a deal to raise the national debt ceiling.  —  Hours after federal agencies shuttered their doors for the first time in nearly two decades …

Staunch Group of Republicans Outflanks House Leaders  —  WASHINGTON — They have had their fleeting moments on cable television.  Their closed-door run-ins with Speaker John A. Boehner spill occasionally into the pages of Capitol Hill newspapers.  But outside their districts …

WWII veterans storm DC memorial closed by government shutdown  —  WASHINGTON — Wheelchair-bound elderly veterans pushed aside barricades to tour the World War II Memorial Tuesday morning, in defiance of the government shutdown which closed all of the memorials in the nation's capital.

Rick Perry calls Obamacare ‘a criminal act’ as he stumps for Lonegan in Bergen County  —  Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan (left) stands next to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (right) at a rally outside the Bendix Diner in Hasbrouck Heights this afternoon.  (Brent Johnson/The Star-Ledger)

The real story of the shutdown: 50 years of GOP race-baiting  —  A House minority from white districts want to destroy the first black president, and the GOP majority abets them  —  On the day the Affordable Care Act takes effect, the U.S. government is shut down, and it may be permanently broken.

Jellyfish Invasion Paralyzes Swedish Reactor  —  In an episode that evokes B-grade sci-fi movie plots from the 1950s, but actually reflects a continuing global problem, nuclear engineers in southeastern Sweden have been wrestling with a giant swarm of jellyfish that forced the shutdown of the world's largest boiling-water reactor.

White House turns to star power for ObamaCare boost  —  The White House is turning to local politicians and celebrities Wednesday to promote the second day that uninsured Americans can purchase coverage on the ObamaCare exchanges, following a launch that featured intense interest — and serious technical glitches.

The Saddest Paragraph You'll Read About the Government Shutdown Today  —  With NIH furloughs, children with cancer are being turned away from clinical trials.  —  You've heard about the Pandacam, the closed monuments and national parks, and the furloughed federal workers.

Conservative Organization Moves Forward With Hillary Clinton Movie Plans  —  Citizens United, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court over a film about the former first lady five years ago, is making a doc about her role as secretary of state to be released in 2016.

Unskewing Obama's Sexuality  —  Dean Chambers, the man who helped “unskew” polls during the 2012 presidential campaign to show Mitt Romney was actually leading, now says President Obama is gay.  —  “I think Sullivan is right, but not for the right reason.  I do believe that Barack Obama is in fact our first gay president.

Grayson blames shutdown on GOP literally drinking on the job  —  “Many of them seem loaded,” the liberal congressman says, charging his GOP colleagues smelled like alcohol  —  In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated …