Republicans Have Edge on Top Election Issue: the Economy  —  Democrats have advantage on Affordable Care Act and economic inequality  —  PRINCETON, NJ — American voters rate the economy as the most important issue to their vote for Congress this year, and give the Republicans in Congress …

VA investigating Florida hospital wait lists  —  (CNN) — An audit team sent to the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida, discovered a list of patients needing follow-up appointments that was kept on paper instead of in the VA's electronic computer system.

Arthur Sulzberger's First Interview About the Turmoil at The New York Times: “I Would Have Done It Differently”  —  A week after the firing of Jill Abramson as executive editor of The New York Times, the newspaper's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., sat down with V.F.'s Sarah Ellison for an exclusive interview about the controversy.

Hillary's Brain; Hillary's Brain on Drudge  —  An article linked today on Drudge:  —  http://on.wsj.com/1jOqOJR  —  Hey!  Hillary's brain is off-limits!  Leave her health records alone!  Democrats are right - scouring records of a female candidate is just politics of personal destruction …

Oregon gay marriage ban struck down by federal judge; same-sex marriages begin  —  Oregon's ban on same-sex marriages was struck down Monday by U.S. District Judge Michael McShane, who ruled that the prohibition violated the federal constitutional rights of gays and lesbians.

Cochran campaign knew of wife's taping for weeks  —  Sen. Thad Cochran's (R-Miss.) legal team apparently held onto information concerning a man's taping of the senator's bedridden wife for as many as two weeks before turning it over to the police.  —  Cochran's campaign spokesman …

Dems desperately seek an Obama midterm strategy  —  For months, President Barack Obama has been telling donors that there's nothing more important to him than the November elections.  —  But many Democrats say their biggest worry for the fall is the president himself.

U.S. Cites End to C.I.A. Ruses Using Vaccines  —  WASHINGTON — Three years after the Central Intelligence Agency set up a phony hepatitis vaccination program in Pakistan as part of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the Obama administration told a group of American health educators last week …

Florida Lawmaker: Common Core Will Turn ‘Every One Of Your Children’ Gay  —  Florida Republican Rep. Charles Van Zant, left, believes that increasing educational standards cause homosexuality.  —  CREDIT: AP Photo/Phil Coale  —  Common Core may not be a well-intentioned set …

Monica Wehby's ex-husband accused her of ‘ongoing harassment’ during divorce: police report  —  The ex-husband of Republican Senate candidate Monica Wehby accused her of “ongoing harassment” as they were going through a divorce in December 2007 and also called the police on her in December 2009 …

Why Democrats Are Aching to Run Against Jeb Bush  —  On Friday, Hillary Clinton spoke at the New America Foundation's “Big Ideas” conference (disclosure: I'm a New America senior fellow).  Her basic theme was familiar—the American dream of upward mobility is in peril—though she did offer a couple of intriguing twists.

Report: Fear of high ObamaCare premiums ‘unfounded’  —  Fears that insurance premiums will spike next year are premature, according to a new report that argues market competition will likely keep costs from rising.  —  Critics of the Affordable Care Act have long warned that premiums …

Ira Glass Doesn't Know or Care Who Edits the New York Times  —  The “This American Life” host admits he's not up on the biggest media story of the moment.  —  This afternoon at the Peabody Awards, which celebrate TV, web, and radio storytelling, “This American Life” host Ira Glass admitted he's …

Thomas Piketty and the End of Our Peaceful Coexistence With Inequality  —  Economic disparities aren't new.  But from Piketty to the pope, talking about them is.  —  Two years ago, I wrote, “Inequality will be the central theme of 2012.  It has always existed and is not going away …

NRA Thinks #BringBackOurGirls Hashtag Isn't 2nd Amendment-y Enough  —  The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, which was launched to bring attention to the kidnapping of hundreds of girls in Nigeria by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, has inspired plenty of discussion, on Twitter and elsewhere.

Exploring the Origins of the Legend of Joe Biden  —  I've been wondering about this for a while: I just noted this story about how a Connecticut teen invited Joe Biden to her prom and he replied by sending a corsage.  But I've wondered for a while about the origins of what I'll call the still-growing Joe Biden Legend.

Data Pirates of the Caribbean: The NSA Is Recording Every Cell Phone Call in the Bahamas  —  The National Security Agency is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas.

Thailand army declares martial law  —  Jonathan Head reports from Bangkok on the surprise announcement  —  The Thai army says that it is imposing martial law amid a political crisis “to preserve law and order”.  —  The surprise announcement also granted the army wide-ranging powers to enforce its decision.

Truthers Plan to Hand out Fake Brochures for 9/11 Museum On Opening Day  —  The dedication of the new National September 11 Memorial Museum happened last week, with speeches from President Obama and Mayor de Blasio and flags flown at half-mast outside at the World Trade Center Memorial Plaza.

Libya evacuation decision ‘minute by minute,’ U.S. official says  —  Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — The U.S. military has doubled the number of aircraft standing by in Italy if needed to evacuate Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, CNN has learned.  —  A decision to evacuate as violence …