July 30, 2010 at 8:45 PM EST  |   On this edition of NewsHour Plus, we check in with Steve Myers, managing editor of Poynter Online, a training facility for journalists, who wrote this week about how WikiLeaks is changing the power structure in the news business and how...

July 30, 2010 at 7:51 PM EST  |   New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus -- who's sitting in for Mark Shields this week -- stopped by The Rundown Friday to discuss the debate over the expiring Bush tax cuts and what impact...

July 30, 2010 at 6:08 PM EST  |   RECORD DEATHS IN AFGHAN WAR | The deaths of six more U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan made for another record month of troop deaths and brought new attention on the dangers of roadside bombs known as IEDs. Ray Suarez speaks with...

July 30, 2010 at 5:10 PM EST  |   PHOENIX | Much has been made in recent months of the day that Senate Bill 1070 -- Arizona's controversial immigration law -- would go into effect. Everyone was waiting, debating, preparing. In the end, after Judge Susan Bolton's ruling, nothing...

July 30, 2010 at 4:45 PM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]> It might go down as the shortest joyride in history. President Obama got behind the wheel of a black Chevrolet Volt, GM's new electric car, and drove it a distance of about 10 feet, topping out at...

July 30, 2010 at 4:40 PM EST  |   Syrian President Bashar al-Assad speaks with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz at al-Shaab palace in Damascus on Thursday, on the eve of a joint mission to Lebanon aimed at containing political tensions there. Photo by Louai Beshara/AFP The...

July 30, 2010 at 2:04 PM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embeddable; //--><!]]> President Obama rallied autoworkers at a Chrysler plant in Detroit Friday, telling workers that his administration's decision to rescue the ailing auto industry in 2009 kept their jobs alive and was the right decision, despite "naysayers...

July 30, 2010 at 1:45 PM EST  |   The demand for emission-free nuclear electricity in China is growing as quickly as its megacities and middle-class. Some analysts estimate that China will need to build as many as 300 new nuclear power plants by 2050 -- a nuclear building...

July 30, 2010 at 12:58 PM EST  |   Workers clean tarballs from a beach July 20 in Pass Christian, Miss.; Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images Tarballs, the marble-like bits of oil that have been washing up on Gulf of Mexico beaches since May, have become one of...

July 30, 2010 at 12:15 PM EST  |   A few years ago, my friends Mark Halperin, now of Time Magazine, and John Harris, now of Politico, coined the term "freak show" as a catchall for the fever that overtakes those of us in the information gathering business from...

July 30, 2010 at 10:11 AM EST  |   Updated 10:45 a.m. EST The U.S. military has announced that three more American troops have been killed in Afghanistan, raising the monthly toll to 66. Posted 10:10 a.m. EST Newly-named BP CEO Bob Dudley will outline the company's long-term plans...

July 30, 2010 at 8:19 AM EST  |   House members head home Friday for the August recess and to begin the campaign season in earnest. But there is much unfinished business that prevents Democrats from wrapping a bow around their desired tidy messaging. One of the most...

July 29, 2010 at 4:46 PM EST  |   The NewsHour has learned that Rep. Charles Rangel's attorneys have presented the House ethics committee with a tentative plea agreement related to 13 charges of ethical misconduct allegedly committed by the New York Democrat. According to a Democratic source with...

July 29, 2010 at 3:06 PM EST  |   The tent camps of Port-au-Prince have all the makings of disease breeding grounds; thousands of people living in temporary shelters, in very close contact, completely reliant on aid for clean water and sanitation services. But as the disaster response...

July 29, 2010 at 1:55 PM EST  |   As the Deepwater Horizon oil leak surpasses the 100-day mark, here is a timeline of some key events from the past few months with links to NewsHour coverage : April 20 -- RIG EXPLODES...

July 29, 2010 at 12:35 PM EST  |   Freshman House Democrats Gerry Connolly, who represents Northern Virginia's eleventh district, and Tom Perriello of the rural fifth district are in a tough spot. Elected to office as part of the Obama wave, they are now selling themselves to voters...

July 29, 2010 at 11:56 AM EST  |   Reaction has flowed in fast and furious to a judge's decision to block parts of an Arizona immigration law and the pledge from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to appeal the ruling. Ray Suarez and a NewsHour reporting team are in...

July 29, 2010 at 9:53 AM EST  |   Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., has still not reached a deal with the House ethics committee to avoid a public trial of sorts, as many of his fellow Democrats had hoped he would. The New York Post reports that the main...

July 29, 2010 at 9:26 AM EST  |   Supporters, Opponents Gear Up for Long Fight Over Arizona Immigration Law One day after a federal judge blocked key provisions of Arizona's new immigration law from going into effect, both supporters and opponents of the law are gearing up for...

July 28, 2010 at 8:20 PM EST  |   Democrats Wednesday tried to paint Republicans and tea party supporters as members of the same political party, with a common goal: to move the country backward. Democratic National Committee Chair Tim Kaine, flanked by six congressional Democrats, ticked off a...

July 28, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST  |   So far this year, nearly 1,000 people have been killed by flooding in the central Chinese province of Hubei. Eight million have been evacuated from their homes to avoid rising floodwaters as the Yangtze and Hanjiang rivers reach record levels....

July 28, 2010 at 5:05 PM EST  |   Six House Democrats entered the Senate chamber Wednesday afternoon and took seats on the backbench of the Republican side of the aisle. Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland, Danny Davis of Illinois, Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, Carolyn Kilpatrick of Michigan, Ed...

July 28, 2010 at 4:52 PM EST  |   PARTS OF ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW BLOCKED | On Wednesday, a federal judge in Arizona blocked key parts of the state's high-profile immigration law from taking effect. Ray Suarez reports from Phoenix on the reaction to the ruling, then Gwen Ifill...

July 28, 2010 at 3:44 PM EST  |   NOGALES, Ariz. | To everyone here, the border represents something different: a barrier to a better life, a reminder of harder times, childhood, a separation of family, access to cheaper goods, a gateway for the drug trade, security from rampant...

July 28, 2010 at 2:13 PM EST  |   Just a day before Arizona's controversial new immigration law is set to go into effect, a federal judge handed opponents a last-minute victory by blocking the most controversial parts from being enforced. The law will still go into effect Thursday...

July 28, 2010 at 12:58 PM EST  |   While the enigmatic WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been in and out of the press in the past few days in the wake of his site's latest major publication, he is not an easy man to track down. We caught...

July 28, 2010 at 11:22 AM EST  |   Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election was broad-based, but when you look closely, it was mostly about the 'burbs. President Obama's margin of victory in the suburban counties Patchwork Nation calls the Monied 'Burbs was 12 percent. Four...

July 28, 2010 at 10:15 AM EST  |   Pakistani rescuers search for bodies in the wreckage of a plane crash Pakistani Passenger Plane Crashes Near Islamabad, 152 Dead A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in the heavily forested hills outside Islamabad Wednesday morning, killing all...

July 28, 2010 at 9:05 AM EST  |   President Obama will meet with small business owners at the Tastee Sub Shop in Edison, N.J., this afternoon, hoping to put a human face on his effort to get the Senate to pass a small business jobs bill before the...

July 27, 2010 at 5:50 PM EST  |   Senate Democrats rolled out a scaled-back energy bill Tuesday afternoon that responds to the Gulf oil leak and incentivizes people to make energy-efficient renovations to their homes. A draft version of the legislation, released by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,...

July 27, 2010 at 5:22 PM EST  |   Earlier Tuesday, a barge collided with an abandoned oil well in Barataria Bay, La., just north of an area already hit by oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak. The 20-foot gusher of oil and natural gas is reportedly hampering efforts...

July 27, 2010 at 4:55 PM EST  |   PHOENIX | As soon as Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070 into law in April, grassroots groups started protesting. The high-profile immigration law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally and requires local...

July 27, 2010 at 4:04 PM EST  |   IMPACT OF LEAKED WAR DOCUMENTS | A day after the release of more than 75,000 classified Afghan war documents by WikiLeaks through popular newspapers, Washington is still feeling the impact of the massive leak. Jim Lehrer talks to Republican Sen....

July 27, 2010 at 2:45 PM EST  |   President Obama spoke to reporters Tuesday after meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House. In brief comments, the president said that despite political setbacks on the scope of an energy bill, he still supports the need...

July 27, 2010 at 1:22 PM EST  |   Updated 2:11 p.m. In the past 48 hours, Democrats have been working feverishly behind the scenes to figure out a way to get Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., to strike a deal with the House ethics committee in order to...

July 27, 2010 at 12:45 PM EST  |   Correspondents from our partners at GlobalPost are getting an on-the-ground look at the challenges U.S. and Afghan forces are facing and documenting their reporting in a blog called "Dispatches: Afghanistan." Each week, we'll check in with them here on the...

July 27, 2010 at 9:38 AM EST  |   Two events on Capitol Hill Tuesday will keep the intensifying debate over the Afghanistan war effort in the spotlight. The House of Representatives may vote as early as today on the slimmed down $60 billion war supplemental bill passed by...

July 27, 2010 at 8:24 AM EST  |   After days of speculation, BP made it official early Tuesday: embattled CEO Tony Hayward will step down from his post and be replaced by American Robert Dudley on Oct. 1. The news comes as the company, which is still...

July 26, 2010 at 5:53 PM EST  |   WIKILEAKS RELEASES AFGHAN RECORDS | More than 75,000 classified documents detailing five years of war in Afghanistan were released by the website WikiLeaks and reported on by major news organizations Monday. Jeffrey Brown talks to Steve Coll, president of the...

July 26, 2010 at 5:50 PM EST  |   President Obama spoke in the White House Rose Garden Monday to urge the U.S. Senate to join the House of Representatives in passing the DISCLOSE Act -- aimed at making political advertising more transparent after the Supreme Court's Citizens United...

July 26, 2010 at 5:08 PM EST  |   BP could begin taking the final steps to try to kill its blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico as soon as next week, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Monday. Allen gave the most specific timeline yet for...

July 26, 2010 at 4:57 PM EST  |   People who own iPhones will now be able to crack electronic locks on them, allowing them to install applications that might not have Apple's blessing, according to new rules announced Monday by the U.S. government. The primary source for all...

July 26, 2010 at 3:55 PM EST  |   The question to ask on the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, is whether life today is any better for those with disabilities? The first-ever civil rights law for people with physical and cognitive challenges, signed by President...

July 26, 2010 at 3:20 PM EST  |   Fresh from an overseas trip to Afghanistan and Iraq, Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty weighed in on many of the policy and political issues of the moment at a breakfast meeting with reporters Monday in Washington, D.C., but it may...

July 26, 2010 at 1:01 PM EST  |   The U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal charged with investigating the notorious "killing fields" regime in Cambodia handed down its first verdict Monday, sentencing the warden of a violent Khmer Rouge prison to 35 years in prison -- a sentence that was...

July 26, 2010 at 9:50 AM EST  |   More than 90,000 classified U.S. documents detailing the war in Afghanistan have been published online by the whistle-blower group WikiLeaks, offering a newly detailed window of insight into the U.S. military's struggle to confront the Taliban and the role...

July 26, 2010 at 9:30 AM EST  |   The release of 92,000 classified reports by the website WikiLeaks paints a familiar and bleak picture of just how difficult and convoluted achieving success in Afghanistan will be for the American military. These reports will shine a bright light on...

July 25, 2010 at 12:24 PM EST  |   BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. | At 7 a.m. Saturday, Kenneth Feinberg stood in front of a standing-room only crowd at the municipal building in Bayou La Batre, Ala., and told people "I am your lawyer." He didn't get much...

July 24, 2010 at 3:58 PM EST  |   With Tropical Storm Bonnie downgraded to a tropical depression, a drilling rig and ships associated with the effort to kill the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well reversed course Saturday when the weather forecast improved. "We are going to continue...

July 23, 2010 at 8:08 PM EST  |   In another color-coordinated edition of the "extra-extra, read-all-about-it" segment we do with Mark Shields and David Brooks on The Rundown, the columnists weigh in on what the new Tea Party Caucus could mean for Republicans. Our duo also pontificated on...

July 23, 2010 at 6:12 PM EST  |   Washington, D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced Friday the firing of 241 teachers who did not meet standards set forth by a new district-wide evaluation system. The new system, known as IMPACT, for the first time ties D.C. teachers' job...

July 23, 2010 at 5:05 PM EST  |   In the weeks before Colombia gets a new president, tensions between current President Alvaro Uribe and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez reached a breaking point this week when Chavez cut diplomatic ties with its neighbor over renewed accusations he is coddling Colombian...

July 23, 2010 at 4:40 PM EST  |   Photo by Steve Stearns Leaders of the Democratic establishment are headed to Las Vegas this weekend to woo the online liberal activist wing of the party in hopes of energizing some of their most loyal supporters and even some...

July 23, 2010 at 4:30 PM EST  |   TROPICAL STORM MOVES CLOSER TO SPILL | Tropical Storm Bonnie hit southern Florida today on its path towards the Gulf of Mexico and the oil spill. Spencer Michels reports from New Orleans on how the area is making preparations for...

July 23, 2010 at 3:35 PM EST  |   It's been a long, slow summer for those waiting for a verdict in the legal dispute over Proposition 8. Californians went to the polls and voted Proposition 8 into law, overturning a state Supreme Court decision that said gays have...

July 23, 2010 at 2:16 PM EST  |   Daniel Schorr, a longtime NPR commentator and an original member of Edward R. Murrow's legendary CBS News team, died early Friday. He was 93. At the end of his long career, Schorr was most recently a senior analyst for NPR's...

July 23, 2010 at 2:07 PM EST  |   The chief electrician aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig testified Friday that a fire and natural gas alarm system had been disabled for a year before the rig exploded and sank three months ago, setting off the largest oil leak...

July 23, 2010 at 1:26 PM EST  |   On Thursday's NewsHour, Spencer Michels reported on the ongoing controversy over the use of chemical dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has sprayed nearly 2 million gallons of dispersant -- mostly a brand called Corexit -- into the Gulf...

July 23, 2010 at 11:48 AM EST  |   AIDS Conference in Vienna; Photo by Steve Forrest/International AIDS Society VIENNA, Austria | This year's International AIDS Conference, drawing to a close Friday, produced among other things a high-profile scientific breakthrough, endless policy discussions and plenty of new research...

July 23, 2010 at 9:09 AM EST  |   With Tropical Storm Bonnie expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, crews have stopped their efforts to plug BP's broken oil well and clean up the waters, halting work on the two relief wells and evacuating ships...

July 23, 2010 at 8:51 AM EST  |   Remember way back when Democrats were feeling excited about being 6 points up in the generic congressional ballot and were hopeful the week would be dominated by Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, calling for a return to the exact...

July 22, 2010 at 7:02 PM EST  |   We have received several complaints from our viewers regarding Wednesday night's NewsHour coverage of the Shirley Sherrod story. Most focused on two points: why we didn't mention the name of Andrew Breitbart, whose website, BigGovernment.com, originally posted the incomplete and...

July 22, 2010 at 6:58 PM EST  |   Eleven years ago, the United States and its NATO allies were bombing the Balkan nation of Serbia in a campaign to protect ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo. On Thursday, the International Court of Justice ruled that Kosovo's declaration...

July 22, 2010 at 6:29 PM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]> President Obama spoke by phone Thursday with fired U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, expressing regret for her firing and hoping she will accept the offer of a new position at the agency. The call helped bring...

July 22, 2010 at 6:00 PM EST  |   New Orleans fishing guide Ryan Lambert There is a charm about New Orleans; a feeling and a culture that is unique. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and now the big oil spill, there...

July 22, 2010 at 5:42 PM EST  |   After meeting with White House Director of Energy Policy Carol Browner, Senate Democrats held a news conference Thursday where Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he will attempt to move pieces of a comprehensive energy legislation instead of a complete bill...

July 22, 2010 at 4:48 PM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]> Editor's Note: Paul Solman is reporting from Greece and Spain this week on Europe's economic woes. This entry is cross-posted on his business desk blog. Jose Antonio Martinez Soler is a distinguished Spanish journalist who was tortured...

July 22, 2010 at 4:35 PM EST  |   MIXED PICTURE FOR THE ECONOMY | A mixed economic picture emerged today: the stock market surged on news of strong corporate earnings, but home sales continued to sink and unemployment claims rose. Jim Lehrer talks to Greg Ip of "The...

July 22, 2010 at 4:30 PM EST  |   Federal authorities have decided that it will be safe to leave a sealing cap on the Gulf oil well even if all ships have to leave the area during a possible tropical storm this weekend, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen...

July 22, 2010 at 3:20 PM EST  |   Crowds gathered Thursday outside a federal courthouse in Phoenix as lawyers for the Department of Justice ask U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton to stop Arizona's controversial new immigration law from going into effect on July 29. The law makes it...

July 22, 2010 at 2:02 PM EST  |   Detroit skyline. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images DETROIT | It's long been said that when the U.S. economy gets a cold, this city, with its reliance on the auto industry, gets pneumonia. The last few years have raised the...

July 22, 2010 at 1:25 PM EST  |   VIENNA, Austria | Global AIDS leaders continue to call for sustaining and increasing HIV/AIDS funding in the face of the global economic crisis at the International AIDS Conference this week. "For the first time we are seeing funding going down,"...

July 22, 2010 at 12:12 PM EST  |   In our continuing coverage of issues across the United States, this Newshour Connect focuses on the economy. We speak with Thanh Tan of Idaho Public Television, Lori Rasmussen from OETV in Oklahoma City and Erik Anderson from KPBS in San...

July 22, 2010 at 11:32 AM EST  |   When President Obama signed the financial regulation overhaul into law Wednesday, he said he believed it would "rein in the abuse and excess that nearly brought down our financial system" and bring transparency to a sector that became too...

July 22, 2010 at 9:11 AM EST  |   A storm brewing in the Caribbean is forcing dozens of ships in the Gulf of Mexico to prepare to evacuate the area where workers are trying to plug BP's oil well and clean the waters. Though the storm will not...

July 22, 2010 at 8:59 AM EST  |   Keep your eyes on the flurry of activity set to occur at the Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse today in Phoenix. Two of the seven federal lawsuits seeking an injunction to prevent the Arizona immigration law from going into effect next...

July 21, 2010 at 5:32 PM EST  |   Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann did not ask House Minority Leader John Boehner for permission before launching her new Tea Party Caucus, which met for the first time Wednesday. In a luncheon sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, Boehner told...

July 21, 2010 at 5:06 PM EST  |   FINANCIAL REFORM SIGNED INTO LAW | President Obama signed financial reform into law today; the first major overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression. To get some perspective on how the new law seeks to end the risky...

July 21, 2010 at 4:50 PM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]> Editor's Note: Paul Solman is reporting from Greece this week about the country's financial crisis. Above, watch the second half of his interview with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou about how Greece is handling the crisis. He...

July 21, 2010 at 4:00 PM EST  |   After nearly two years, tens of millions of dollars in lobbying, and fierce battles between Democrats, Wall Street and banks, President Barack Obama enacted a major overhaul Wednesday of regulations covering the financial sector. It's often been called the most...

July 21, 2010 at 3:35 PM EST  |   A North Korean soldier looks through the window during Secretary Clinton and Secretary Gates' visit to the Demilitarized Zone. Photo by Cherie Cullen/DOD via Getty Images Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates toured the heavily...

July 21, 2010 at 2:32 PM EST  |   Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., speaks to the media as Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., listens after the first meeting of the newly formed Tea Party Caucus Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images CAPITOL HILL | Twenty-four members...

July 21, 2010 at 2:01 PM EST  |   Workers clean tarballs from a beach in Pass Christian, Miss. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images Officials could move forward by the weekend with an operation to begin permanently sealing the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, Coast Guard Adm. Thad...

July 21, 2010 at 1:23 PM EST  |   VIENNA, Austria | Europe now has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world, due in large part to intravenous drug use, the World Health Organization told the International AIDS Conference in Vienna Wednesday. The epidemic is disproportionately affecting Eastern...

July 21, 2010 at 9:25 AM EST  |   President Barack Obama is expected Wednesday to sign a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations. "In an ironic touch," notes the Associated Press, President Obama will sign the bill in downtown Washington, D.C., at the Ronald Reagan Building, named after a...

July 21, 2010 at 8:52 AM EST  |   Three months after his first major bill signing of the year with health care legislation, President Obama will drum up the fanfare again as he puts pen to paper to sign Wall Street reform into law. (Presumably, Vice President Biden...

July 20, 2010 at 6:49 PM EST  |   British leader David Cameron, who made his first visit as prime minister to Washington this week, used his time at the White House to discuss Afghanistan, the economy and prospects for Middle East peace. But at a news conference with...

July 20, 2010 at 6:30 PM EST  |   KARZAI AND THE AFGHAN GOVERNMENT | Afghanistan President Haman Karzai addressed dozens of nations and organizations, calling for Afghans to take charge of their own security by 2014. For analysis, Jim Lehrer talks to James Dobbins, a veteran State Department...

July 20, 2010 at 6:17 PM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]> Editor's Note: On Tuesday's NewsHour, Paul Solman reports on how the people of Greece are responding to the austerity measures the country has imposed to deal with its debt crisis. "Obviously we have a daunting [...] prospect...

July 20, 2010 at 5:26 PM EST  |   Our partners at GlobalPost have a team of reporters on the ground in Afghanistan this summer, covering Afghan and U.S. military activities during this crucial point in the war. In one dispatch, Kevin Sites reports on a firefight that ensued...

July 20, 2010 at 3:38 PM EST  |   Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, chairman of the committee charged with putting Republicans back in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, told reporters Tuesday that the 2010 midterm elections were going to be all about President Obama's agenda before the...

July 20, 2010 at 1:57 PM EST  |   VIENNA, Austria | In a big step forward for the field of HIV prevention, a new study shows for the first time a microbicide gel provided significant protection for women from HIV infection. Use of a vaginal gel containing the...

July 20, 2010 at 1:17 PM EST  |   The Senate Judiciary committee voted 13-6 Tuesday to recommend that the full Senate approve Solicitor General Elena Kagan to be the next Supreme Court justice. The vote was along party lines with one exception -- South Carolina Republican Lindsey...

July 20, 2010 at 9:58 AM EST  |   We may never know how much oil really leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. Over the weekend came news that BP may be able to keep the Deepwater Horizon well capped until two relief wells can permanently seal it....

July 20, 2010 at 9:36 AM EST  |   The federal government and BP continue to keep a close eye on the cap over the broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. The cap, though still mostly holding in oil, has some scientists worried. The New Orleans Times-Picayune...

July 20, 2010 at 8:54 AM EST  |   The British are coming. British Prime Minister David Cameron makes his first official visit to Washington on Tuesday and has a packed schedule, including breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden, an Oval Office chat with President Obama and a 2...

July 19, 2010 at 6:30 PM EST  |   BP will keep the cap closed for at least 24 more hours on its ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said in a news conference Monday afternoon. The cap has been closed since...

July 19, 2010 at 5:37 PM EST  |   We here at Making Sen$e have long been fans of Nashville investment adviser Jon Shayne, who became known to us as Merle Hazard, the singer and author of country-and-western songs about economics. We featured snippets of his performances in our...

July 19, 2010 at 4:21 PM EST  |   DISAGREEMENT OVER NEXT STEPS IN GULF | After 4 days of BP's containment cap stopping oil from leaking into the Gulf, seepage was spotted two miles from the wellhead, prompting disagreements between the government and BP over the correct action...

July 19, 2010 at 2:26 PM EST  |   According to conventional wisdom, it is going to be a bad year for Democrats. Historically the party of the president has lost seats in the mid-term, ugly fights over health care and the soaring deficit have owned media headlines and...

July 19, 2010 at 1:29 PM EST  |   U.S. tennis star Andy Roddick works with Special Olympics competitor James Reiter in a tennis clinic on Sunday in Nebraska. I can confirm there was at least one place in America...

July 19, 2010 at 9:05 AM EST  |   Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Monday morning that BP will be allowed to keep the cap on the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico for another day despite a seep in the sea floor. BP has...

July 19, 2010 at 9:02 AM EST  |   -- President Obama takes to the Rose Garden at 10:30 a.m. ET to continue his push for an extension of unemployment benefits for approximately 2 million long-term unemployed Americans. Just as he hammered away at Republicans in the Senate in...

July 18, 2010 at 12:36 PM EST  |   A Transocean Ltd. Development Driller III rig works to drill a relief well to plug the damaged Macondo well; Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg via Getty Images Updated 12:46 p.m. ET | BP said Sunday morning that tests on a 75-ton...

July 17, 2010 at 5:13 PM EST  |   After two days of waiting and watching as a containment cap kept new oil from flowing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since a spill disaster began, officials decided Saturday to extend a test on BP's broken...

July 16, 2010 at 9:30 PM EST  |   Even after the Senate's passage of a landmark financial reform bill, Mark Shields and David Brooks tell us about how difficult a sell Democrats and the administration face with voters as the midterm elections draw closer yet unemployment remains high....

July 16, 2010 at 6:39 PM EST  |   Out-of-work fishermen do maintenance on their boats at the Delta Marina in Empire, La. "At least we're taking more oil out of the Gulf than is going in," says Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish. Cautiously optimistic. Pleased, but...

July 16, 2010 at 6:19 PM EST  |   With the number of detainees at the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, steadily shrinking, military personnel there say the release of the prisoners is having a positive impact on those who remain. The Obama administration has made it...

July 16, 2010 at 4:59 PM EST  |   CAP CONTINUES TO HALT LEAK | With the new containment cap in place for the past 24 hours and no new signs of oil leaking into the Gulf, President Obama called the news hopeful but reaffirmed the need for a...

July 16, 2010 at 4:39 PM EST  |   In real time, it was difficult to see the exact moment that oil stopped flowing from BP's broken wellhead in the Gulf. So we built this time lapse video -- compressing three hours of our live stream into a little...

July 16, 2010 at 4:08 PM EST  |   Responding to weeks of complaints about reception issues with Apple's popular iPhone 4, CEO Steve Jobs mounted a defense at a Friday news conference, announcing that customers will be able to get a free rubber case to alleviate the problem...

July 16, 2010 at 3:22 PM EST  |   For now, at least, there is no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. That could last until Saturday, if BP carries out its well integrity test for a full 48 hours. Engineers are checking pressure inside the well...

July 16, 2010 at 3:17 PM EST  |   West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin announced Friday that he has appointed Carte Goodwin, his former chief counsel, to succeed the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd until the state holds a special election. Voters will then choose who will serve in...

July 16, 2010 at 12:21 PM EST  |   Federal authorities charged 94 health care providers with Medicare fraud Friday, and 36 of the accused have been arrested so far. The indictments span the country and include doctors, medical assistants, health care company owners and others in Detroit, Miami,...

July 16, 2010 at 11:40 AM EST  |   You see, that headline is what I've always hated about Twitter. It's way too cute. But, alas, I have been lured in. My first week on Twitter has been enlightening, funny and a little creepy. You have to understand first...

July 16, 2010 at 9:14 AM EST  |   Updated 5:33 p.m. ET The results of pressure tests on the shut-in oil well have not been ideal over the past 24 hours, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said Friday afternoon -- but the well will remain closed for at...

July 15, 2010 at 6:20 PM EST  |   A federal judge in Phoenix heard arguments Thursday in the first of seven lawsuits filed against the state's controversial new immigration law. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton questioned both sides sharply, but gave no indication of how she might...

July 15, 2010 at 6:02 PM EST  |   News agencies report: Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing that oil stopped flowing into the water at 2:25 p.m. CDT after engineers gradually dialed down the amount of crude escaping through the last of...

July 15, 2010 at 6:00 PM EST  |   President Obama spoke to reporters this afternoon, praising the Senate's passage of a financial reform bill and offering brief comments on BP's test of a cap over its broken wellhead, which has temporarily stopped the flow of oil. <!-- _pap_embed_custom;...

July 15, 2010 at 5:58 PM EST  |   It's nearly dusk in Port-au-Prince on a recent sweltering summer evening, and four women at the Health Center of Croix des Bouquets are in the early stages of labor. They are all expected to give birth by morning and...

July 15, 2010 at 5:30 PM EST  |   The Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a $550 million settlement with Goldman Sachs in its case accusing the company of misleading investors in mortgage-backed securities, the agency said in a statement. "This record-setting settlement reflects the egregiousness of...

July 15, 2010 at 4:54 PM EST  |   OIL FLOW CEASES AS BP TESTS CAP | The flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico has been halted for the time being, as BP performs pressure tests on the new containment cap placed over the leaking oil well....

July 15, 2010 at 4:35 PM EST  |   These images were captured from the BP live video feed in the moments after the company announced that it had fully stemmed the flow of oil from its broken well in the Gulf....

July 15, 2010 at 3:21 PM EST  |   Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri holding the hand of his son. Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images Nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who claims he was abducted by the CIA a year ago, abruptly returned to his home in Iran on...

July 15, 2010 at 1:04 PM EST  |   Updated 2:57p.m. ET The Senate gave final approval to a financial reform bill Thursday, voting 60-39 to send the measure to President Obama for his signature. Posted 1:05p.m. ET The Senate cleared a sweeping financial reform bill for final passage...

July 15, 2010 at 12:04 PM EST  |   Capping stack departs June 29 from its construction site in Berwick, La. BP again plans to ramp up testing of its newest well cap system Thursday. The multi-stage test, which will take 48 hours, will determine...

July 15, 2010 at 11:53 AM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi worked Thursday to dispel the notion that she is furious with the White House for not helping House Democrats politically after those members cast tough votes to enact President Obama's agenda. A reporter...

July 15, 2010 at 9:18 AM EST  |   The U.S. Senate is planning a final vote Thursday on a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations. At least three Republicans, 55 Democrats and two independents are expected to support the bill, providing the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican procedural...

July 14, 2010 at 5:45 PM EST  |   On Wednesday's NewsHour, our lead story will look at the escalating war in Afghanistan and a recent spike in U.S. causalities. The death toll for July stands at 33 so far, on track to top last month's record of 60....

July 14, 2010 at 5:40 PM EST  |   Six current and former New Orleans Police Department officers were indicted Tuesday in the latest in a series of cases looking into questionable police action after Hurricane Katrina. Four officers were charged in connection with the deaths of two unarmed...

July 14, 2010 at 5:33 PM EST  |   With 1.5 million Haitians still living in tent camps, international organizations and the government are struggling to find legally available land for new settlements and ways to decongest the existing camps. The government is now advising people who can return...

July 14, 2010 at 5:17 PM EST  |   Oceanographer and documentary filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau recently checked in with the Rundown to update us on his team's explorations since returning to the Gulf Coast. Since his last visit, Cousteau has been both on the water with local fishermen and...

July 14, 2010 at 4:49 PM EST  |   CASUALTIES RISE IN AFGHANISTAN | The death toll for NATO forces has risen to 45 in the month of July after multiple attacks killed 8 U.S. and 3 British soldiers in the past 24 hours. For insight, Jim Lehrer talks...

July 14, 2010 at 4:37 PM EST  |   The voices of senators expressing growing concerns about the Vietnam War more than four decades ago were brought to life Wednesday with the release of more than 1,000 pages of previously classified testimony and transcripts by the Foreign Relations Committee....

July 14, 2010 at 2:59 PM EST  |   Across the U.S., cash-strapped states are facing the possibility of layoffs and program cuts this year as an extension of federal Medicaid aid looks increasingly uncertain. Thirty states had written the extension of the additional Medicaid money -- first granted...

July 14, 2010 at 2:30 PM EST  |   The North Iowa Tea Party recently purchased a billboard in downtown Mason City, Iowa, that tied together the images of President Obama, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. Each were labeled with the words "change" and...

July 14, 2010 at 2:00 PM EST  |   The Federal Reserve urged Gulf Coast banks Wednesday to help customers get through what is sure to be a tough road ahead economically due to the ongoing oil disaster. In response to this disaster, financial institutions can take measures to...

July 14, 2010 at 11:59 AM EST  |   In a country as complex as diverse as the United States, there aren't many issues that cut the same way everywhere. Some places may be strongly opposed, say to free trade, while others tend to be more supportive. Patchwork Nation...

July 14, 2010 at 11:49 AM EST  |   All week the NewsHour is reporting on the state of recovery in Haiti, six months after a powerful earthquake devastated the impoverished island nation. As we've reported earlier, thousands of Haitians continue to live in tent camps after their homes...

July 14, 2010 at 9:31 AM EST  |   Oil continued to flow into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday as the plan to start slowly shutting off valves on the new cap over the well was suddenly halted. Government officials and BP said further analysis must be done...

July 13, 2010 at 7:41 PM EST  |   The White House usually publicly refrains from getting too caught up in the poll obsessed chatter that dominates the Washington political world when a new survey makes a front page splash. But with the midterm elections less than four months...

July 13, 2010 at 5:14 PM EST  |   The Obama administration on Tuesday released a wide-ranging domestic AIDS policy plan that aims to reduce the annual number of new HIV infections by 25 percent by 2015 and calls for more targeted efforts to slow the spread of...

July 13, 2010 at 4:40 PM EST  |   OBAMA'S POLL NUMBERS| President Obama faces falling poll numbers with many Americans claiming they have lost faith in the president's ability to handle the economic crisis. Jim Lehrer talks to NewsHour Political Editor David Chalian about how to read these...

July 13, 2010 at 4:28 PM EST  |   The temperature has been in the mid-90s, but the humidity makes it feel like it's over 100. The sun pounds the pavement, heat radiates from the cinder block walls that push pedestrians to a narrow strip of sidewalk in...

July 13, 2010 at 1:57 PM EST  |   The latest Pew Research numbers found widespread public support not only for Arizona's controversial new immigration law, but also for comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for those here illegally. Immigration is already shaping up to be a...

July 13, 2010 at 1:05 PM EST  |   BP locked down its new sealing cap -- "the 3 ram stack" -- around 7 p.m. CST last night and a new container ship connected to the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well an hour later, raising hopes that more oil --...

July 13, 2010 at 12:27 PM EST  |   The White House announced Tuesday it was nominating Jacob J. Lew to be the next Director of the Office of Management and Budget. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Lew will replace outgoing OMB Director Peter Orzag. <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]>...

July 13, 2010 at 11:19 AM EST  |   NewsHour Political Editor David Chalian makes one of his first appearances here on the Rundown Tuesday, to break down what he thinks will be on the agenda for Congress ahead of their summer break and the turn into full mid-term...

July 13, 2010 at 9:12 AM EST  |   BP on Tuesday will begin testing the new, tight-fitting cap on top of the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico to see if it will hold and stop oil from spilling for the first time in nearly three months....

July 12, 2010 at 6:49 PM EST  |   A poll by the Pew Research Center released late Monday shows that 63 percent of Americans think it is very important for Congress to address national immigration policy, while a slim plurality disapprove of the Justice Department's decision to sue...

July 12, 2010 at 6:18 PM EST  |   When the Department of Veterans Affairs announced its changes for how military vets can quality for PTSD treatment Monday, it made us think back to a very powerful story we did in 2008 on the impact of these health issues...

July 12, 2010 at 4:07 PM EST  |   OIL SPILL UPDATE| With hopes that a new containment cap installed on the broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico will put an end to the oil leak, the Obama administration is pushing forward with a revised moratorium on...

July 12, 2010 at 3:35 PM EST  |   In a country full of surly voters, Nevada holds claim to some of the surliest. Sky-high unemployment and foreclosure rates have created a volatile atmosphere and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appears to be in for a major fight in...

July 12, 2010 at 2:40 PM EST  |   Six months after a powerful earthquake rocked Haiti, more than one million people are still homeless and the people of Port-au-Prince and surrounding regions continue to suffer the economic, physical and mental after-effects of the devastating temblor. The NewsHour has...

July 12, 2010 at 10:59 AM EST  |   Oil flowed nearly-unabated from the Deepwater Horizon's well Sunday as BP worked to replace its containment dome that had helped funnel oil to a container ship on the surface for more than a month. That new dome could let BP...

July 12, 2010 at 8:58 AM EST  |   BP continues to install a tighter cap over its leaking oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, saying it is ahead of its schedule to get the new, better cap in place. Once the cap...

July 9, 2010 at 8:17 PM EST  |   Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks stopped by the Rundown Friday to talk about the future of the Defense of Marriage Act, the impact of different interest groups on the political future of President Obama...

July 9, 2010 at 6:57 PM EST  |   Citing the "unprecedented" nature of the BP oil spill disaster, federal and state medical officials expressed concern Friday about what they see as mounting mental health issues that people in the Gulf states are facing. Public health officials in Louisiana,...

July 9, 2010 at 6:27 PM EST  |   U.S., RUSSIA COMPLETE SPY SWAP | In Austria on Thursday, the United States and Russia completed the largest exchange of spies since the Cold War. Judy Woodruff reports on the events that took place June 8 between the two countries....

July 9, 2010 at 5:35 PM EST  |   PORT-AU-PRINCE | Renette Saintjuste stocks a dizzying mix of items for her tiny makeshift shop in the Centre Sportif Dadadou tent camp in Haiti's capital. Fresh eggs, dried pasta, soap, earrings and cookware are all for sale to her...

July 9, 2010 at 5:22 PM EST  |   All statistics only include players listed in FIFA statistics. *BEST PASSING ACCURACY: Includes only players who played in all of their team's possible matches and attempted at least 200 passes....

July 9, 2010 at 5:18 PM EST  |   The National Governors Association kicked off its annual meeting Friday in Boston. For three days, the group will tackle health reform, government efficiency, education, the environment and, of course, the economy. As these state leaders gather to discuss the risks...

July 9, 2010 at 3:30 PM EST  |   Let me let you in on a Washington reality game show -- the ongoing push and pull between journalists and the people they cover. The prize: simple candor. By candor, I don't mean that I expect the people we interview...

July 9, 2010 at 2:44 PM EST  |   BP is hoping a window of calm weather will give it time to swap out containment domes over the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. According to The Washington Post: The company plans to change caps on...

July 9, 2010 at 1:13 PM EST  |   ESPN's hourlong special on LeBron James' free agency choice was called "The Decision." To Cleveland fans, it will go down as "The Betrayal." At 9:28 p.m. EST Thursday, the NBA superstar announced, "In this fall, I'm going to take...

July 9, 2010 at 10:21 AM EST  |   If you're one of those people who don't get all the fuss over Twitter and YouTube, hoping they'll simply go away, you may not want to read the results of a new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life...

July 9, 2010 at 9:33 AM EST  |   Unidentified officials stand near the planes at Vienna airport presumed to be carrying the spies being swapped by the United States and Russia. Photo by Dieter Nagl/AFP/Getty Images. The United States and Russia completed the largest spy swap since...

July 8, 2010 at 11:20 PM EST  |   Updated 8:00 a.m. EST Fans in Miami rejoiced. The longtime faithful in Cleveland mourned, with some going so far as to burn his famous jersey. And many of the rest of us were bemused, amused, or irritated by the...

July 8, 2010 at 7:53 PM EST  |   Just as President Obama attempted to do on the campaign trail in Missouri on Thursday, his chief of staff appears intent upon making sure George W. Bush and his administration's policies are on the ballot this November. That will, of...

July 8, 2010 at 6:46 PM EST  |   An experimental plane powered only by solar energy completed 26 hours of non-stop flying over Switzerland Thursday. The Rundown took a look at the feat and asked for some reactions to the Solar Impulse test flight from around the air...

July 8, 2010 at 5:32 PM EST  |   Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. EST LeBron James will come down from Mount Basketball with an announcement. After months of deliberation, James, the 26-year-old NBA All-Star, will reveal to the world what many are waiting to hear: which of the...

July 8, 2010 at 4:57 PM EST  |   Somali boys wave flag of al-Shabab. Photo by Stringer/AFP/Getty Images On Wednesday's NewsHour, we heard from The New York Times' East Africa bureau chief Jeffrey Gettleman about strained conditions in Somalia, where the civil war-ravaged country's transitional government is...

July 8, 2010 at 4:47 PM EST  |   U.S.-RUSSIA SPY SWAP | The United States is expected to trade Russians arrested on charges of espionage for convicted spies being held in Russia. Judy Woodruff talks to Mark Hosenball, a reporter for Newsweek, and former CIA Counsel General Jeffrey...

July 8, 2010 at 4:47 PM EST  |   An estimated 1.5 million Haitians were displaced in January's earthquake. Six months later, the majority of that population is still living in tent settlements and the medical infrastructure is still fragile. A reporting team from the PBS NewsHour, including senior...

July 8, 2010 at 2:29 PM EST  |   To Sen. Patrick Leahy, Solicitor General Elena Kagan was "more forthcoming than certainly any nominee that I can recall since I've been in the Senate." But to Sen. Arlen Specter, she was far less candid: "You have followed the pattern...

July 8, 2010 at 1:03 PM EST  |   Updated at 5:15 p.m. President Obama rallied a friendly crowd at Carnahan's fundraiser at the Marriott Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri Thursday, telling the audience that Carnahan would be a faithful servant to the people of Missouri and not...

July 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM EST  |   No one doubted Arizona's new immigration law was going to have far-reaching repercussions - in areas ranging from law enforcement to unemployment. But as its implementation date approaches, some communities in the state are feeling new pains where their struggling...

July 8, 2010 at 8:52 AM EST  |   A Russian officer guards an entrance to Lefortovo prison in Moscow on Thursday. Photo by Alexey Sazonov/AFP/Getty Images. Armored vehicles arrived Thursday morning at a Moscow prison in preparation for what could be the largest spy swap with the...

July 7, 2010 at 8:14 PM EST  |   Somalia has suffered from nearly two decades of civil war, piracy and now fighting between government forces and an Islamist rebel group called al-Shabab. For the past year or so, the transitional government received support as people viewed it as...

July 7, 2010 at 6:30 PM EST  |   Thanks to the Mark Twain Foundation and its trustees, the PBS NewsHour brings you for the first known time in print an essay by the American literary giant on a topic dear to our hearts -- the journalistic interview. In...

July 7, 2010 at 6:29 PM EST  |   Mark Twain had a lot to say, and most of it was funny. Reading his novels and essays, it doesn't seem like he pulled his punches; he said what he wanted, and a lot of it was pretty radical for...

July 7, 2010 at 6:27 PM EST  |   The Massacusetts Bay Transportation Authority has had to repair so-called "heat kinks" during recent high temperatures. The triple-digit temperatures pummeling the East Coast this week present many dangers: heatstroke, dehydration and power outages. This week, the Washington, D.C., Metro...

July 7, 2010 at 4:19 PM EST  |   EAST COAST HEAT WAVE | Scorching heat and humidity gripped the northeast and mid-Atlantic states, pushing electricity use toward record levels and disrupting train travel. Gwen Ifill reports on how people are coping with temperatures topping 100 degrees. REPUBLICAN PARTY'S...

July 7, 2010 at 2:12 PM EST  |   President Obama on Wednesday announced that he would sidestep congressional hearings and use a recess appointment to install Dr. Donald Berwick as the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The job -- running the federal health insurance...

July 7, 2010 at 1:18 PM EST  |   West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said Wednesday that he would not appoint himself to fill the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd's Senate seat -- but added that he wanted the state's attorney general to reevaluate a secretary of state's opinion...

July 7, 2010 at 1:10 PM EST  |   A resident of New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward mows his lawn in front of a FEMA trailer in 2006. It was just a couple of weeks ago when I looked out the window of...

July 7, 2010 at 11:45 AM EST  |   Haitian washes clothes in tent camp. Photo by Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images When I left Haiti in February, just three weeks after the earthquake that took 250,000 lives, I knew I would have to come back. The destruction had been...

July 7, 2010 at 9:30 AM EST  |   What happens in that split second between when the penalty kick taker approaches the ball, and when the ball hits the back of the net? In the instant replays from behind the kicker's shoulder, you can see in slow motion...

July 7, 2010 at 8:51 AM EST  |   Three American soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the southern Afghanistan and a NATO airstrike mistakenly killed five of its Afghan army allies in the east on Wednesday, officials said. The Afghan soldiers were launching an ambush before...

July 6, 2010 at 5:25 PM EST  |   Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Jim Lehrer in a newsmaker interview Tuesday that scars of the financial crisis are continuing to drag on the economy but said steps taken by the administration helped stabilize business conditions and home prices. <!--...

July 6, 2010 at 4:48 PM EST  |   President Barack Obama and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both said Tuesday that they expected proximity talks would lead to direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a secure two-state solution. Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Obama said five...

July 6, 2010 at 4:29 PM EST  |   NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: TIMOTHY GEITHNER | Concerns about the economic recovery linger on Wall Street as the service industry grew at a slower rate than expected last month. Jim Lehrer talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about the state of the...

July 6, 2010 at 3:06 PM EST  |   Updated 4:10 p.m. ET | The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday to block the enforcement of Arizona's new immigration law, which gives police power to detain and question people they suspect of being in the...

July 6, 2010 at 1:49 PM EST  |   Paul Solman is reporting from Europe this week about economic woes abroad and tough choices those problems pose. This entry is cross posted on his Business Desk page. My travels have taken me to France to talk with the...

July 6, 2010 at 12:07 PM EST  |   Skimming efforts haven't proven nearly as effective at removing oil from the Gulf of Mexico as BP told federal regulators just before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, the Washington Post reports: In a March report that was not questioned by federal...

July 6, 2010 at 9:19 AM EST  |   Strong storms and rough water in the Gulf of Mexico kept oil skimming boats idle Tuesday morning, as BP's oil reached Texas beaches for the first time. The oil has now reached every Gulf state. About a dozen tar balls...

July 5, 2010 at 6:29 PM EST  |   On Monday's NewsHour, Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog and other legal experts will review the highlights of the just-completed Supreme Court term. Here on the Rundown, Goldstein and his legal team at SCOTUSblog agreed to break down the most important cases...

July 5, 2010 at 5:24 PM EST  |   WEATHER HINDERS GULF CLEANUP | Rough conditions caused by weather prevented many skimmer boats from assisting with oil cleanup in the Gulf, including the testing of a new "super skimmer" vessel. Ray Suarez talks to Greg McCormack, director of the...

July 5, 2010 at 4:20 PM EST  |   Initial results from weekend gubernatorial elections in Mexico indicate neither the ruling party nor the main opposition party achieved an overwhelming victory, despite predictions that anger over high levels of drug-violence could cause backlash against the president. Key political...

July 5, 2010 at 3:07 PM EST  |   Ever since our hour-long, live-streaming interview with BP executive Bob Dudley last week, which featured questions from the public submitted via YouTube and Google, people have been asking me questions about how the conversation unfolded and the reactions to...

July 5, 2010 at 2:06 PM EST  |   When one thinks of basic rights, things like voting, clean water or education might come to mind. Now, add Internet access to that list. Finland this month became the first country in the world to make high-speed Internet service a...

July 5, 2010 at 12:51 PM EST  |   For those hoping for a quick economic turnaround, the last few weeks have been a cold splash of water in the face. A string of bad housing reports and bad unemployment news have even optimistic economic forecasters shaking their...

July 5, 2010 at 9:38 AM EST  |   An oil spill cleanup crew works on July 4 in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images. BP's costs for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster has reached just over $3 billion for capping the well, cleanup...

July 2, 2010 at 8:53 PM EST  |   You might remember we gave Mark Shields a hall pass to come in late a few weeks ago. On Friday, we decided to leave a chair open for David Brooks who was zooming in from an undisclosed location. RNC Chairman...

July 2, 2010 at 5:06 PM EST  |   Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko. Photo by Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images During a five-country tour of the region, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Ukrainian officials Friday that the door to NATO membership is...

July 2, 2010 at 4:44 PM EST  |   JOBS AND JOBLESS BENEFITS | May's jobs report showed a mixed picture of the economic recovery with unemployment falling to its lowest level in nearly a year, but with weak hiring in the private sector. Jeffrey Brown talks with economics...

July 2, 2010 at 2:52 PM EST  |   Each night conga lines of beach cleaning machines are towed slowly over the sand from Orange Beach to Gulf Shores, Ala. Rotating steel screens separate out the tar balls and larger clumps of congealed crude oil that wash ashore during...

July 2, 2010 at 11:35 AM EST  |   President Obama was guardedly optimistic in the face of disappointing jobs numbers Friday, saying in remarks that the U.S. economy was "headed in the right direction." But, he added, "We are not headed there fast enough for a lot...

July 2, 2010 at 10:00 AM EST  |   Perhaps Antonin Scalia has met his match. It is all well and good that the high court's most conservative justice probably disagrees with Elena Kagan on nearly everything involving Constitutional interpretation. But Scalia and Kagan may find far more common...

July 2, 2010 at 9:20 AM EST  |   The unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent from 9.7 percent, its lowest level in almost a year, the Labor Department said Friday. Payrolls declined by 125,000 in June, and private sector businesses added a net total of 83,000 workers, an...

July 1, 2010 at 5:22 PM EST  |   Updated 5:44 p.m. | In an exclusive live online interview with the NewsHour's Ray Suarez, BP's chief of Gulf Coast restoration Bob Dudley said the company and the U.S. government are exploring "at least two options to divert the...

July 1, 2010 at 4:53 PM EST  |   Like just about everyone else covering Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings this week, I observed that she did a good job of ducking tough questions. Sen. Arlen Specter: Would she vote for the Supreme Court to take up a claims...

July 1, 2010 at 4:53 PM EST  |   GULF OIL SPILL UPDATE | After-effects from Hurricane Alex again kept oil cleanup crews in port, as one estimate indicated the gusher is now the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico. Jeffrey Brown has an update on the cleanup....

July 1, 2010 at 1:54 PM EST  |   People who have been denied health insurance due to a preexisting condition can begin applying for coverage Thursday in many states, under the first major program of the new health care reform law. The $5 billion program will fund high-risk...

July 1, 2010 at 1:45 PM EST  |   <!-- _pap_embed_custom; //--><!]]> Six months into the 2010 primary season, the most-discussed new force in American politics, the tea party movement, remains something of a mystery. Wins by Republicans with tea party backing such as Rand Paul and Sharron Angle...

July 1, 2010 at 11:55 AM EST  |   Elena Kagan is done with her testimony before the the Senate Judiciary Committee. After three days of long questions and longer statements, the solicitor general can watch the rest of her confirmation hearing for the U.S. Supreme Court from home...

July 1, 2010 at 9:15 AM EST  |   Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan speaks with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., before leaving Wednesday's confirmation hearing. Elena Kagan is on her way to confirmation as Supreme Court justice, with the questioning phase over...