Politics - AP

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tapped a former senior defense official to lead a broad Pentagon review of the circumstances surrounding the Fort Hood shootings, The Associated Press has learned.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - College students ditched class, employees skipped work and some huddled in the cold overnight just to make sure they get an orange wristband Wednesday that would let them meet Sarah Palin.

WASHINGTON - Did the Obama administration really pump billions of dollars into phantom congressional districts?

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's choice for a top job in the Treasury Department did not disclose all of her late tax payments until she was repeatedly prodded by Senate investigators, a congressional report issued Wednesday said.

WASHINGTON - The Interior Department said Wednesday it will more closely monitor and review state-approved permits for mountaintop coal mining and also tighten the federal permitting process to better protect streams from mining waste.

WASHINGTON - It seems history won't rest until someone fills in that 18 1/2-minute Watergate gap.

WASHINGTON - National forests can be used as a carbon "sink" with vast numbers of trees absorbing carbon dioxide to help slow global warming, the Forest Service chief said Wednesday, but that goal must be balanced.

WASHINGTON - A senior Afghan official allegedly took a $20 million bribe to steer a copper mining project to a Chinese company, a glaring example of the claims of corruption clouding the Obama administration's deliberations over expanding the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - A leading auto organization is projecting a 1.4 percent increase in Thanksgiving travel this year, although fewer people will travel by air due to budget concerns, reduced airline capacity and added charges.

WASHINGTON - Ten months after Democrats took over the Capitol and the first African-American president moved into the White House, black lawmakers are in control of some of the most powerful positions in Congress — and face new challenges to using their long-sought influence.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert C. Byrd became history's longest-serving member of Congress on Wednesday, earning a formal salute from the Senate and President Barack Obama for his nearly 57 years of service.

WASHINGTON - From opposite ends of the globe, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder firmly rejected criticism Wednesday of the planned New York trial of the professed Sept. 11 mastermind and predicted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be exposed as a murderous coward, convicted and executed.

WASHINGTON - More Americans support creation of a new government-run health insurance plan to compete with the private insurance market, a new Associated Press poll finds, but the level of enthusiasm depends on how the question is asked.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama predicted that professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted and executed as Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed: "Failure is not an option."

WASHINGTON - More than $98 billion in taxpayer dollars spent by government agencies was wasted, much of it on questionable claims for tax credits and Medicare benefits, representing an increase of $26 billion from the previous year.

WASHINGTON - Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen lead the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.

WASHINGTON - Eight years after the 9/11 attacks brought a new focus on security at airplane maintenance facilities — and six years after Congress first required action — the government still hasn't tightened its vigilance.