The administration's mandate has angered religious groups, especially Catholics, who say the requirement would force them to violate their beliefs against contraception, and congressional Republicans.

A new passenger screening program to make check-in more convenient for certain travelers is being expanded to 28 more major U.S. airports, the government said Wednesday.

The Republican-led House is trying Wednesday to give President Barack Obama the line-item veto, a constitutionally questionable power over the purse that has been sought by both Republican and Democratic presidents.

In this photo taken in 2007, a backhoe clears debris from Hurricane Katrina, in the Lakeview section of New Orleans, Louisiana.

At the start of the 21st century, the advertising industry is guiding one of history's most massive stealth efforts in social profiling. At this point you may hardly notice the results of this trend. You may find you're getting better or worse discounts on products than your friends. You may notice that some ads seem to follow you around the internet. Every once in a while a website may ask you if you like a particular ad you just received. Or perhaps your cell phone has told you that you will be rewarded if you eat in a nearby restaurant where, by the way, two of your friends are hanging out this very minute.

The War in Iraq is mostly over. We're drawing down forces in Afghanistan. Barring an unexpected terrorist attack or another Libya-style troop deployment, Election 2012 will proceed in a world where the War on Terrorism is being waged by intelligence agencies making drone strikes in places like Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and one in which we may be taking covert action inside Iran too.

This morning, Karen Handel resigned as the vice president of public policy of the Susan G. Komen foundation. Handel had spent the last week at the epicenter of the controversy around Komen's decision to withdraw support for Planned Parenthood and several progressive groups were circulating petitions to call for her dismissal. Handel's very public resignation letter shows a political acumen and sophisticated grasp of cultural narrative that seems to have eluded Komen generally and their CEO, Nancy Brinker, through this entire debacle.

A majority of Catholics support including birth control in health care plans and back the decision by the Obama administration that requires most employers to include such coverage, according to a new survey released Tuesday.

Karl Rove claims Clint Eastwood 's Super Bowl ad for Chrysler was a devious pitch to promote the Obama reelection campaign.

House Republicans have introduced their version of a bill to ban insider trading by thousands of federal officials, and have added provisions to bar lawmakers convicted of a felony from collecting their government pensions.

The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld an order removing a city council candidate from the ballot in San Luis, Ariz., because of her lack of English fluency.

The court's ruling means Alejandrina Cabrera will not be a candidate in the city's March primary election.

Manhattan prosecutors cleared the police commissioner's son of rape Tuesday in a case that gripped the city and threatened his career as host of Fox 5's "Good Day New York."

Greg Kelly said he was grateful to be exonerated and promised a rapid return to his anchor chair.

The striking down of California's Proposition 8 voter initiative banning same-sex couples from marrying sets up what may be a quick appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, in a 2-1 decision yesterday, ruled voters couldn't deprive gay couples of the right to marry. Proposition 8's only purpose "was to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California," which the U.S. Constitution doesn't allow, the court said.

The real story was the magnitude of what happened in this extraordinary vote. Not only did Rick Santorum win the Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado showdowns, but he did so decisively.

Move over, coffee and Red Bull. A Harvard professor thinks the next big thing will be people inhaling their caffeine from a lipstick-sized tube.

U.S. drone-fired missiles hit a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing nine people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke in St. Charles, Mo., after winning election contests in Missouri and Minnesota.

Johansson, dressed in a black-and-sheer Stella McCartney frock, lent her own glamour quotient Tuesday to a launch party for Runway to Win, a fundraising initiative from the fashion world.

Rick Santorum speaks in St. Charles, Mo., after being declared the winner of the Missouri primary and the Minnesota caucuses.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, who dropped her own bid for the White House in January, said on CNN she was unable to get home because of votes in Congress.