CNN exclusive: Feds investigating Christie's use of Sandy relief funds  —  Scandal is unfolding around New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over lane closures on the George Washington Bridge as part of a political vendetta to punish a local mayor who wouldn't support him at the polls.

Hillary's hit list  —  The Clintons keep a favor file of saints and sinners, according to this excerpt from HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton.  —  Inside a cramped third-floor office of Hillary Clinton's once-bustling presidential campaign headquarters in the Ballston neighborhood …

Robert Gates: My memoir has been ‘hijacked’ by politics  —  Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates clarified claims he supposedly made about President Obama's commitment to the military surge in Afghanistan, saying Monday he “absolutely believed” the commander-in-chief supported the mission at the time.

The reputation of Roger Ailes.  —  In the nineteen-thirties, one in four Americans got their news from William Randolph Hearst, who lived in a castle and owned twenty-eight newspapers in nineteen cities.  Hearst's papers were all alike: hot-blooded, with leggy headlines.

Supreme Court Won't Hear Arizona Appeal on Abortion Ban  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from Arizona officials seeking to revive a state law that barred most abortions after 20 weeks of fetal gestation.  The justices offered no reasons for turning down the appeal, as is their custom.

How to Fight Income Inequality: Get Married  —  In families headed by married couples, the poverty level in 2012 was just 7.5%.  Those with a single mother: 33.9%.  —  If President Obama wants to reduce income inequality, he should focus less on redistributing income and more on fighting …

Records Show Christie Administration Canceled Meetings After Jersey City Mayor Didn't Endorse  —  Documents released Monday indicate that meetings arranged between top commissioners to Gov. Chris Christie and Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop were abruptly canceled without reason last year …

Why Bridgegate made headlines but Obama's IRS scandal didn't  —  Most government scandals involve the manipulation of the system in obscure ways by people no one has ever heard of.  That is why George Washington Bridgegate is nearly a perfect scandal — because it is comprehensible and …

Alaska Is At A Crossroads.  Can Mark Begich Keep It From Falling Apart?  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska — On a balmy day last August, Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) stood at a makeshift kitchen in the Alaska Native Medical Center and gleefully watched a chef whisk a bowl of reindeer fat.

Alex Sink rises to top in Florida special election  —  It's been framed as the clearest barometer of the public's mood heading into this year's midterms: a special election battle for a 50-50 congressional district in the famously 50-50 state of Florida.  —  But upon closer inspection …

Help!  I can't use my Obamacare benefits  —  Jeanne Patterson really needs to see a doctor but had to cancel her appointment last week.  —  Why?  Because her new Obamacare benefits were not in order, forcing her to spend hours and hours on hold with her insurer, Independence Blue Cross.

Heroic Measures  —  LISA BONCHEK ADAMS has spent the last seven years in a fierce and very public cage fight with death.  Since a mammogram detected the first toxic seeds of cancer in her left breast when she was 37, she has blogged and tweeted copiously about her contest with the advancing disease.

Enemies of the Poor  —  Suddenly it's O.K., even mandatory, for politicians with national ambitions to talk about helping the poor.  This is easy for Democrats, who can go back to being the party of F.D.R. and L.B.J. It's much more difficult for Republicans, who are having a hard time shaking …

Facebook acquires link-sharing service Branch for around $15 million  —  Link-sharing service Branch and sister service Potluck have agreed to be acquired by Facebook for around $15 million, sources familiar with the deal told The Verge.  Branch CEO Josh Miller broke the news in a Facebook post this morning …

Twinned Cities Now Following Different Paths  —  DULUTH, Minn. — The soaring Blatnik Bridge spans a modest body of water but a political gulf.  —  Most mornings around 7, Kim and Kyle Smith drive a mile and a half across the bridge from Duluth, where they live, to Superior, Wis., where they teach.

Two rockets fired from Gaza ahead of Ariel Sharon funeral in south: Israeli army  —  JERUSALEM — Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday, just hours ahead of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral, the Israeli army said.  The projectiles did not appear to have landed in Israel.

The Fight Over Unemployment Benefits Underscores the Right's Extremism  —  Under George W. Bush, the GOP never balked at extending unemployment benefits, but that was then.  Their newfound intransigence on this issue proves afresh that the party has been hijacked by extremists.