Mark Sanford wins special election for Congress  —  The former governor and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch squared off in a special election for Congress.  —  WASHINGTON — Disgraced ex-South Carolina governor Mark Sanford won his bid for redemption on Tuesday night …

Biden on Susan Rice: She speaks for the president  —  Washington (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden praised U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice on the eve of congressional hearings over last year's deadly terror attack against a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya …

Americans Give Guns, Immigration Reform Low Priority  —  Creating jobs and growing the economy get highest priority  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans put reforming immigration and reducing gun violence — the focus of much of the attention on Capitol Hill in recent weeks …

Delaware, Continuing a Trend, Becomes the 11th State to Allow Same-Sex Unions  —  Delaware on Tuesday became the 11th state to permit same-sex marriage, the latest in a string of victories for those working to extend marital rights to gay and lesbian couples.

Judge rips Obama's right-wing Plan B stance  —  “You're disadvantaging young people, African-Americans, the poor... that's the policy of the Obama administration?”  —  “It turns out that the same policies that President Bush followed were followed by President Obama,” said District Court Judge Edward Korman …

Immigration battle: Marco Rubio vs. Jim DeMint  —  Tea party heavyweights Marco Rubio and Jim DeMint are on opposite sides of the immigration debate - and they're duking it out for the support of the movement.  —  The clash went public Tuesday, when Rubio hosted leaders of tea party groups …

Reports of sex abuse, beatings inside Cleveland house  —  THREE MISSING CLEVELAND WOMEN FREED  —  Three women who had been held captive for 10 years were found Monday in a Cleveland neighborhood, barely a mile from where they had been abducted.  Amanda Berry was able to escape and alert authorities …

An Open Letter to the Harvard Community  —  Last week I said something stupid about John Maynard Keynes.  Asked to comment on Keynes' famous observation “In the long run we are all dead,” I suggested that Keynes was perhaps indifferent to the long run because he had no children, and that he had no children because he was gay.

Breaking news: Traffic from Syria Disappears from Internet  —  At around 18:45 UTC the OpenDNS resolvers saw a significant drop in traffic from Syria.  On closer inspection, it seems Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet.  —  The graph below shows DNS traffic from and to Syria.

Report: Budget Deficit Shrinks Due To More Tax Revenue  —  The Congressional Budget Office released updated projections today to find that the federal budged deficit is smaller than at this point last year, and smaller than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis.

Medicare Provider Charge Data  —  As part of the Obama administration's work to make our health care system more affordable and accountable, data are being released that show significant variation across the country and within communities in what hospitals charge for common inpatient services.

Michele Bachmann is in talks to settle Iowa lawsuit  —  Sources say she met with lawyers for woman who accused campaign of stealing e-mail list.  —  U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is engaged in settlement negotiations in a lawsuit alleging that senior members of her presidential campaign stole …

Pentagon Study Sees Sharp Rise in Sexual Assaults  —  WASHINGTON — The problem of sexual assault in the military came into unsparing focus on Tuesday as the Pentagon released a study estimating that 26,000 people in the military were sexually assaulted in the 2012 fiscal year, up from 19,000 in the same period a year before.

Gun crime has plunged, but Americans think it's up, says study  —  A placard featuring children victims of gun violence is displayed during a demonstration in front of the White House on Monday.  A new study shows that violent crime has dropped, though many Americans are not aware of the decline.

Obama May Back F.B.I. Plan to Wiretap Web Users  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people …

'That's absurd beyond the word absurd'  —  You know Republican state lawmakers in Texas are pursuing a troubling agenda when “birther” legislation starts to move, and it's not the most ridiculous proposal worth watching.  —  Rather, this is (thanks to Anneli Kunze on our Facebook page for the tip).