Sources: Checketts to drop Limbaugh  —  Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources.  —  Dave Checketts, chairman of the NHL's St. Louis Blues and the point man in the Limbaugh group attempting to buy the Rams …

Harry Reid abdicates his leadership role  —  Bill Frist never had 60 votes.  Bill Frist never cared.  Republicans ran the Senate as if they owned the place, even when enjoying razor-thin majorities.  —  Yet when Democrats took the chamber, the first thing Harry Reid did was complain …

Why Joe Biden Should Resign  —  Joe Biden met with CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus this morning to talk about Afghanistan — an issue that has pushed the vice president into the spotlight, landing him on the cover of the latest Newsweek.  —  I have an idea for how he can capitalize on all the attention …

GOP senator's protest grinds Senate to a halt  —  Oklahoma's Coburn tries a filibuster after pet idea dropped from bill  —  WASHINGTON - The Senate ground to a halt Wednesday in a display of what an individual senator can do to protest his treatment by some of Capitol Hill's most powerful barons.

Election 2010: Pennsylvania Senate Election  —  2010 Pennsylvania Senate: Toomey Leads Specter, Runs Even With Sestak  —  Republican-turned-Democratic Senator Arlen Specter trails potential GOP challenger Pat Toomey by five points in an early look at Pennsylvania's 2010 Senate race.

Russia's Putin warns against intimidating Iran  —  BEIJING (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned major powers on Wednesday against intimidating Iran and said talk of sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme was “premature”.

French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban  —  When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified.  —  Their revulsion increased with the news …

Dow's Rally to 10,000 Carries Over Into Asian Markets  —  The Dow Jones industrial average, one of the most watched barometers of the financial world, closed above 10,000 points on Wednesday, a milestone of the stock market's recovery from the depths of the financial crisis.

What Olympia Snowe Got for Her Vote  —  The list of senators charged with merging the Finance and HELP bills into the legislation that will actually come to a vote on the Senate floor is vanishingly small, and every participant is there for a reason.  Harry Reid will preside.

An Apartment Complex Teeters  —  High-Profile Tishman/BlackRock Property in New York in Danger of Default  —  The giant Stuyvesant Town apartment complex on Manhattan's East Side, shown Tuesday, was developed by MetLife for World War II veterans.  —  One of the biggest …

Palin Plans New Political Group  —  Michael M. Phillips reports on the doings of conservative favorite Sarah Palin.  —  Sarah Palin fans can expect to see a new Palin political organization surface as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” hits the shelves next month.

Stanley McChrystal's Long War  —  Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal stepped off the whirring Black Hawk and headed straight into town.  He had come to Garmsir, a dusty outpost along the Helmand River in southern Afghanistan, to size up the war that President Obama has asked him to save.

Stagnant Prices Prevent Social Security Increase  —  President Obama on Wednesday attempted to preempt the announcement that Social Security recipients will not get an increase in their benefit checks for the first time in three decades, encouraging Congress to provide a one-time payment …

NOW MUSLIMS DEMAND: GIVE US FULL SHARIA LAW  —  A RADICAL Muslim group sparked outrage last night as it launched a massive campaign to impose sharia law on Britain.  —  The fanatical group Islam4UK has ­announced plans to hold a potentially ­incendiary rally in London later this month.

Report Card Due on Stimulus  —  Data to Provide Clues on Job Creation, Though Few Details  —  The public will get its first granular look Thursday at how the $787 billion stimulus package is being spent — but the information may leave armchair auditors dissatisfied, and the data on job-creation data will be less than definitive.

Sean Hannity on Nobel Peace Prize: 'Frankly, I would've given it to George Bush.'  —  Last night, Fox News host Sean Hannity hosted a panel that debated the merits of President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.  After complaining about Obama's goal of eliminating nuclear weapons and claiming …

Bolton suggests nuclear attack on Iran  —  This Friday, the American Enterprise Institute will host an event addressing the question “Should Israel attack Iran?”  The event includes, among others, Iran uberhawk Michael Rubin and infamous “torture lawyer” John Yoo, but the real star is likely …

Contrarian Double-X hires sociopath as friendship expert  —  Double-X shrewdly hired noted sociopath Lucinda Rosenfeld to write its friendship column.  This is precisely the kind of fresh, contrarian perspective we've come to expect from the Slate/Double-X brand.

Obama to avoid the rabble on S.F. visit  —  The White House's fear of protests from Code Pink and other left-wingers has put the brakes on President Obama making any public appearances during his visit to San Francisco this week.  —  Obama is scheduled to parachute into Liberalville …

Blue Cross group blasts reform legislation  —  Premiums will rise up to 50 percent for individual policies and 19 percent for small group plans if healthcare reform passes, a new report released by a major health industry trade group claims.  —  Sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association …

WSJ takes top spot among daily papers; staff toast at 5 pm UPDATE  —  Rupert Murdoch may have always wanted—still wants?—to own the New York Times, but the press baron can now boast of owning the top-circulating U.S. paper: The Wall Street Journal.  —  Staffers in New York were sent …

Muslim parents win battle with runaway teen  —  (CNN) — A runaway teen who said her father threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity will be returned to Ohio once her immigration status has been clarified, a Florida judge ruled Tuesday.

Poll: 51.8% plan to vote no on question 1  —  in - Central Maine Newspapers - Portland Press Herald  —  According to new poll data, 51.8 percent of people who plan to vote in November say they will vote no or are leaning in that direction on question 1, the people's veto of Maine's same-sex marriage law.