Rick Warren to give inaugural invocation  —  (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony will feature big names like minister Rick Warren and legendary singer Aretha Franklin, the Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced Wednesday.

Person of the Year 2008  —  INSIDE:

Kennedy Goes on Tour Upstate  —  ROCHESTER — She talked about her book, about the Bill of Rights.  She talked about raising her family.  And, echoing her friend President-elect Barack Obama, she said she could bring change to Washington.  —  Caroline Kennedy, on her first day touring upstate …

LaHood asked to be Transportation Sec  —  Peoria Republican congressman Ray LaHood has been asked to be Transportation Secretary for the Obama Administration, a Republican source said today.  —  A spokesman for the Obama transition team declined to comment and LaHood's office did not immediately return phone calls.

Justice Kennedy rejects 2 more challenges to Obama  —  Featured Topics:  —  AP - President-elect Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008, where ...  - Slideshow: President-elect Barack Obama  — Play Video U.S. Courts Video: N.C. Supreme Court hears year-round school case WRAL Raleigh

Blagojevich was bookie, says federal informant  —  The ABC7 I-Team has learned that an attorney who went undercover for the FBI in the late 1980's says he told federal authorities years ago about wrongdoing by Blagojevich.  —  His name is Robert Cooley.  —  Cooley was a criminal defense lawyer …

IRAQI AMBASSADOR TELLS OFF CODE PINK WHACKOS (Video)  —  CODE PINK AMBUSHES IRAQI AMBASSADOR- AMBASSADOR FIRES BACK  —  “He's lucky he didn't try something like this under Saddam Hussein.”  —  Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie: … The anti-American Marxist front group Code Pink ambushed Iraq Ambassador …

Obama's Pressers: No Comment — and NoDoz  —  A month from now, the nation will say farewell to its sports-obsessed president who doesn't like tough questions.  And it will replace him with, well, another sports-obsessed president who doesn't like tough questions.

Second GOP senator to announce retirement  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Sam Brownback will announce Thursday he is retiring from the Senate when his term ends in 2010, allowing the Kansas Republican to explore a run for governor.  —  He will be the second GOP senator this year to publicly state …

Environmentalists Wary of Obama's Interior Pick  —  WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama's choice to lead the Interior Department, Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, will inherit an agency demoralized by years of scandal, political interference and mismanagement.

Cake request for 3-year-old Hitler namesake denied  —  EASTON, Pa. - The father of 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child's full name on it by one New Jersey supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance.  Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah …

WaPo: Only Positive Obama Ads, Please  —  Hoping to make a little cash off of Barack Obama's inauguration (that's certainly nothing new...), Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive and the Washington Post's classifieds departments have launched “Welcome to the White House”, a classfieds …

Between Obama and the Press  —  ROBERT GIBBS'S HEADY WASHINGTON RISE was certified on a humid day in June when a procession of media and political fancies gathered in tribute to Tim Russert, the “Meet the Press” host who died of a heart attack several days earlier.

Prostitution vs. war crimes: The real moral offense  —  In October, the extremely pro-war, neoconservative New York Sun ceased operations, and its journalists are now finding a warm and welcoming home, appropriately and revealingly enough, at The New Republic.