Surprise Senate highway vote near deadline  —  Washington (CNN) - Alert: last-minute plot twist on a national issue that may involve your commute.  —  As the U.S. Highway Trust Fund skids toward an August 1 money shortage, the Senate decided Tuesday to keep the issue in limbo at least a day or two more.

Senate documents and interviews undercut ‘bombshell’ lawsuit against Obamacare  —  The most serious current legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act turns on the argument that the law did not actually make subsidies available to those obtaining coverage on the federal exchange.

LAWMAKERS TRY TO SEAL $225M AID PACKAGE FOR ISRAEL  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic and Republican members of Congress scrambled Tuesday to seal a $225 million boost to Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system before they break this week for a month-long recess.

Sandra Fluke's biggest donor is ... Sandra Fluke  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN FINANCE SANDRA FLUKE  —  Liberal darling and free-birth-control advocate Sandra Fluke is her own biggest donor in her state Senate race, according to official California campaign finance reports.

Paying Ransoms, Europe Bankrolls Qaeda Terror  —  BAMAKO, Mali — The cash filled three suitcases: 5 million euros.  —  The German official charged with delivering this cargo arrived here aboard a nearly empty military plane and was whisked away to a secret meeting with the president of Mali …

Why I Have Become Less Pro-Israel  —  A bad run for liberal Zionism.  —  A half-dozen years ago, I attended the first conference of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel organization, to debate the meaning of the term pro-Israel itself.  Pitted against Matthew Yglesias, I maintained that …

$1.8 Million for Ventura in Defamation Case  —  ST. PAUL — Jesse Ventura, the wrestler-turned-politician-turned- television-host, has defied the odds before.  More than a decade and a half ago, almost no one thought that a feather boa-wearing former professional wrestler could become the governor of Minnesota.

David Frum Accuses NYT and Reuters of Staging Gaza Hospital Photos (GRAPHIC)  —  Defending Israel with the objectivity and intensity of the Bush speech writer he once was, David Frum, the Senior Editor at the Atlantic, alleged to his 100k Twitter followers on Thursday (not once, but eight times) …

THIRD ROCKET ARSENAL FOUND AT UN SCHOOL IN GAZA  —  The United Nations Relief & Works Agency For Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced Tuesday that another rocket stockpile has been found at one of its schools in Gaza.  This instance marks the third time since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge …

Inside the Kerry-Israel Meltdown  —  The secretary of state has been furiously working on a Mideast ceasefire, but his ad hoc efforts were dealt another blow Monday when Israel rejected his latest peacemaking plan.  —  On Monday, Secretary of State Kerry took to the podium at the State Department …

Appeals Court Strikes Down Law, Saves Mississippi's Only Abortion Clinic  —  JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel has ruled that a Mississippi law that would close the state's only abortion clinic is unconstitutional.  —  The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court …

Colorado Supreme Court Orders Boulder Clerk To Stop Issuing Same-Sex Marriage Licenses  —  A total of 202 marriage licenses had been granted to same-sex couples.  —  WASHINGTON — After Boulder County Clerk Hillary Hall had been issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples for more than a month …

Israel Steps Up Airstrikes in Gaza as International Cease-Fire Efforts Stumble  —  JERUSALEM — As Israel intensified its aerial assaults on Tuesday against symbols of Hamas rule in Gaza and other targets, new efforts were underway to forge a cease-fire, though they were mired in confusion and mixed signals after 22 days of fighting.

Ex-First Couple's Defense in Virginia: The State of Their Union  —  RICHMOND, Va. — Former Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia and his wife, Maureen, on trial for conspiring to use his office for personal enrichment, outlined an unexpected defense on Tuesday: Their marriage was so broken …

“You damned Polack, you step one foot out of that door and I'll kill you,” Dowlut said the cop growled as he patted his gun. … The Webley Mark VI revolver that police said Dowlut dug up in the South Bend City Cemetery Indiana Supreme Court … Dowlut was already known to police …

McDonald's: Regulator Says It's a ‘Joint Employer’  —  McDonald's says it has been notified by a labor regulator that it can be named a “joint employer” for workers in its franchisee-owned restaurants.  —  The decision by the National Labor Relations Board was being closely watched …

Downscale  —  I recently had a conversation with an intensely conservative businessman whose first foray into politics was fighting for a tax hike on his business and others like it.  The little town where he lived as a young man had no paved roads, waterworks, or sewage facilities …