EMS responses delayed by GWB lane closures in Fort Lee  —  FORT LEE - Emergency responders were delayed in attending to four medical situations - including one in which a 91-year-old woman lay unconscious - due to traffic gridlock caused by unannounced closures of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge …

The secret life of Robert Gates  —  Robert Gates's tenure running the Pentagon might go down as the greatest performance in acting history.  —  On the outside, he was an even-keeled, plain speaking former college president, one who declared to Congress he hadn't returned to Washington to be a “bump on a log.”

It's hard to help the little guy when you hate the safety net  —  Don't look now, but poverty is apparently having its moment, right up there with egg creams and stroller derbies.  After years of being relegated to the political consultants' do-not-touch list, it's now on everyone's lips.

Novelist's Ex In Bizarre Handgun Threat Arrest  —  Cormac McCarthy's former wife pulled weapon from her vagina  —  A domestic dispute over space aliens escalated Saturday morning when a lingerie-clad New Mexico woman allegedly pointed a silver handgun at her boyfriend …

Virginia Special Election Surprise: Republican Trails Democrat by 10 Votes in District Obama Won Big  —  A special election held Tuesday for a Norfolk-based state senate seat should have been an easy win for Democrats.  President Obama won the district by 15 points (57 percent to 42 percent) …

Prospects worsen for Senate passage of unemployment benefits  —  (CNN) - The prospects for passing an extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed got significantly worse Wednesday after two Republican senators who voted with Democrats earlier this week said they will pull …

Eco-warriors stranded in the Antarctic!  It's too good to be true  —  Yes, yes, just to get the obligatory ‘of courses’ out of the way up front: of course ‘weather’ is not the same as ‘climate’; and of course the thickest iciest ice on record could well be evidence of ‘global warming’ …

House Republicans Preparing Plan for Immigration Overhaul  —  WASHINGTON — House Speaker John A. Boehner and his Republican leadership team are preparing to release their principles for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws later this month, the speaker told his members at a closed-door conference on Wednesday.

What It Means to Be a Public Intellectual  —  Last night my wife and I went out for dinner.  Our server was French, a fact that allowed us to spend a few moments practicing the language.  When the server left, my wife said, “It's everywhere.”  Indeed.  Some years ago I decided to learn French.

Heritage Scholar Slams Marco Rubio's Anti-Poverty Speech  —  Will Rubio's push into welfare reform make him a pariah on the right all over again?  —  Toby Melville / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — A senior scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation was quick to criticize Sen. Marco Rubio's …

Student slices off his own penis after stabbing his mother while high on party drug  — Both parent and son, 19, now in a stable condition in hospital, and surgeons are thought to have re-attached his penis  —  A teenager stabbed his mother before cutting off his own penis after he was believed …

BREAKING: Utah Governor Says State Will Not Recognize 1300+ Same-Sex Marriages  —  Utah's governor says the Constitution does not apply to these two men  —  Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's (R) office announced Wednesday that his state will not recognize the over 1,300 same sex marriages performed between …

Issa threatens perjury probe of Sebelius  —  House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Wednesday accused Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of providing “false and misleading” testimony to Congress and threatened to open an investigation.