CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The space shuttle Atlantis roared into orbit at 2:28 p.m. EST Monday, arching through light clouds to begin an 11-day mission to the International Space Station and bringing the 28-year-old shuttle program one step closer to retirement.]]> Four TSA agents at Los Angeles International Airport have been helping drug smugglers pass through security with large amounts cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs, according to a 22-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.]]> Before she was a guest host on this morning’s Today show — 45 minutes before — Sarah Palin was a guest, joining Matt Lauer on the morning of three Republican primaries, to offer “her take on the race.” Toward the end of the interview, Lauer asked his soon-to-be temporary partner a pointed question: Should the Republican nominee this year choose a running mate with more experience than Palin had in 2008?]]> Places, everyone: a Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is expected this week, possibly as soon as late Monday morning.]]> They only liked him for his candidacy.]]> Experts hear the arguments — about what's in the vaccine, whether it was made too fast, whether there are side effects — all the while frustrated that decades of experience in making effective flu vaccines hasn't resulted in more public confidence that they got this one right, too.]]> On the eve of a vote to extend jobless benefits, President Barack Obama on Monday urged Republican senators to set aside partisanship and vote for a package that would provide relief to 2.5 million out-of-work Americans.]]> Homebrewers can proudly count among their ranks the world's most powerful man. But while President Barack Obama brews his White House Honey Ale in the White House, using honey from wife Michelle's beehive in the White House garden, there's just one problem for enthusiasts: Obama's mum on the recipe.]]> The Senate blocked President Barack Obama’s jobs plan Tuesday night, prompting Democratic leaders to begin laying plans to divide the $447 billion package into pieces they hope will be too politically popular to oppose.]]> On Friday Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS announced a major advertising blitz. Over the next month, beginning Tuesday, it will spend $25 million on air time in the key swing states of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.]]> Many more wars have resulted from miscalculation than deliberate planning, and mounting blunders in recent weeks have significantly raised the likelihood that violence in Syria will continue to escalate, drawing the United States and its allies ever closer to direct involvement in another bloody conflict. The crisis is already careening toward the one red-line that could make direct outside intervention all but inevitable: an all-out civil war that ignites in the heart of the Middle East, and threatens to spread along the region's already smoldering ethnic and sectarian divides.]]> Republicans are none too pleased with President Obama's suggestion that the Supreme Court would be legislating from the bench if they strike down the health care reform law, with one top lawmaker suggesting that the president's remarks amounted to an attempt to "intimidate" the justices.]]> A fourth-century scrap of papyrus makes reference to a wife of Jesus Christ, a concept unheard-of in Christianity that could, if authenticated, have massive effects on the faith.]]> President Barack Obama walked into Big Apple Pizza & Pasta in Fort Pierce, Fla. for a campaign stop, to greet the owner and congratulate him on his charitable foundation and frequent blood donations.]]> Look up at your clock. By this same hour tomorrow, more than 1,500 US-born Latinos will have celebrated a milestone birthday, and turned 18. They’ll be eligible to vote in local, state and federal elections in their home states—but if that state is Texas, that right is under threat.]]>