AP - Despite tense relations with Venezuela, President Bush says it might be OK for the South American nation to have a nuclear reactor for peaceful energy uses.

AP - President Bush may be burdened with the world's problems, but his pockets are pretty light.

AP - Senators investigating an indicted lobbyist's work for Indian tribes and his ties with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and other lawmakers want to hear from a former Interior Department official about contacts concerning tribal casinos.

AP - It looks like the third time was the charm for the Federalist Society. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has long been an active participant in the conservative legal society, an influential group that sometimes goes to great lengths to play down its influence. Alito has been a member for at least 15 years and has spoken before both the national organization and its student chapters on a number of occasions.

The Christian Science Monitor - If there was any doubt about where US Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito stands on abortion, his 90-year-old mother quickly and decisively put that question to rest.

USATODAY.com - When President Bush nominated federal Judge Samuel Alito on Monday to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the potential for change on the high court was clear.

AP - Colorado residents have voted to suspend their Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, the strictest government spending limit in the nation, and give up more than $3 billion in tax refunds to help the state bounce back from a recession.

AP - Despite tense relations with Venezuela, President Bush says it might be OK for the South American nation to have a nuclear reactor for peaceful energy uses.

AP - Denver became the largest school district in the country to switch to paying teachers based on their students' achievement Tuesday, as voters approved an annual $25 million tax increase to link teacher salaries to test scores and other measurements.

AP - The Bush Administration's prewar claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction were 'manipulated, at least' to mislead the American people, former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday.

AP - A centrist Democratic senator complimented Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Wednesday as a moderate jurist who won't "hammer away and chisel away" existing law.

USATODAY.com - It cost political novice Michael Bloomberg $75 million of his own money to become mayor of New York City in a tight race in 2001. But four years later, Bloomberg is a seasoned incumbent with a formidable lead coasting to the Nov. 8 election.

AP - Despite tense relations with Venezuela, President Bush says it might be OK for the South American nation to have a nuclear reactor for peaceful energy uses.

AP - Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, now mayor of Richmond, will endorse fellow Democrat Tim Kaine Wednesday in a very close race for governor, The Associated Press has learned.

AP - A lobbyist and his partner exaggerated the threat of competing casinos opening in Texas and Louisiana to siphon millions from the Louisiana Coushatta tribe and then used the money to pad coffers of personal charities and political allies, two tribal leaders told a Senate committee Wednesday.

AP - The White House sought to deflect politically charged questions Wednesday about President Bush's use of prewar intelligence in Iraq, saying Democrats, too, had concluded Saddam Hussein was a threat.

AP - The Bush Administration's prewar claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction were 'manipulated, at least' to mislead the American people, former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday.

AP - A new judge for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's criminal case could be named by Friday, Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub said Wednesday.

AP - In a Nov. 1 story, The Associated Press reported that Phil Alito, son of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, is a student at Colgate University. The story should have explained that Phil Alito attended Colgate as a freshman, but did not return for his sophomore year. The White House said Alito is now attending the University of Virginia.

Reuters - The United Nations welcomed India and Pakistan's agreement on Sunday to open their Kashmir border to earthquake survivors and relief supplies but said getting aid to millions remained a logistical nightmare.

AP - The White House sought to deflect politically charged questions Wednesday about President Bush's use of prewar intelligence in Iraq, saying Democrats, too, had concluded Saddam Hussein was a threat.

AP - A centrist Democratic senator complimented Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Wednesday as a jurist who won't "hammer away and chisel away" existing law.

AP - A new judge for Rep. Tom DeLay's criminal trial could be named by Friday, replacing a jurist who was removed from the case at DeLay's urging, an administrative judge said Wednesday.

AP - The picture of Samuel Alito that emerges from his seven years in the Reagan Justice Department is one of an even-tempered, meticulous lawyer who stayed late to help young attorneys write legal briefs and handled the pressure without raising his voice.

AFP - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, whose mandate was due to go into extra time following the west African state's failure to hold elections, pledged to do everything he could to organize a vote before a one-year deadline set by the United Nations.

AP - The 14 centrists who averted a Senate breakdown over judicial nominees last spring are showing signs of splintering on President Bush's latest nominee for the Supreme Court.

AP - A national political group for gays is staging mock 'retirement parties' for Sen. Rick Santorum as part of a campaign to defeat the high-ranking Republican next year.

AP - Bedeviled by problems at home, President Bush is confronting a new slate of troubles abroad this week on his first trip to Argentina, Brazil and Panama.

AP - The Federal Election Commission says a fundraising committee for Sen. Elizabeth Dole should return $81,320 in unlawful corporate contributions from her 2002 campaign, but the committee insists a campaign worker should be responsible.

AP - The Interior Department's former No. 2 official denied on Wednesday that he gave preferential treatment to a lobbyist under investigation for his work on behalf of Indian tribes and their casino interests.

AP - A new radar system designed to keep airplanes from colliding on the ground will be installed at 14 airports, starting in January in Seattle, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.

AP - In college, Samuel Alito led a student conference that urged legalization of sodomy and curbs on domestic intelligence, a sweeping defense of privacy rights he said were under threat by the government and the dawning computer age.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading Senate Democrat on Wednesday questioned the independence of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito but several members of a key bipartisan group of senators praised the conservative judge.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's domestic security chief vowed on Wednesday to 'gain control' of U.S. borders, prompting ridicule from immigration control activists who have taken the matter into their own hands.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former No. 2 official at the U.S. Interior Department denied on Wednesday he had sought to block a casino development at the request of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but the agency's former lawyer said the official had repeatedly tried to intervene.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House Budget Committee will recommend $53.9 billion in net spending cuts to federal programs but there is much uncertainty that the five-year plan will make it through the full House of Representatives, a key Republican said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration opposes a Republican request that oil companies donate some of their record profits to a federal fund to help poor Americans pay winter heating bills because it sounds too much like a tax, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States warned on Wednesday that a new World Trade Organization pact to liberalize global trade was in jeopardy unless a blueprint is reached next week to reduce farm subsidies and tariffs.

AP - Winners of some of the largest Hurricane Katrina contracts defended their government deals, telling skeptical lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday that the costs are justified.

AP - Environmentalists and recreation groups decried a Forest Service plan to restrict off-road vehicles, saying the new policy could legitimize hundreds of illegal trails carved out by off-road enthusiasts.

AP - Online political expression should not be exempt from campaign finance law, the House decided Wednesday as lawmakers warned that the Internet has opened up a new loophole for uncontrolled spending on elections.

AP - Conservative Republican Dave Pawson agrees with GOP candidate Doug Forrester on most issues in the New Jersey governor's race. But when Pawson goes into the voting booth next Tuesday, he won't pull the lever for Forrester — or for the other guy, either.

AP - The 225-182 roll call Wednesday by which the House bill voted not to exclude blogs, e-mails and other Internet communications from regulation by the Federal Election Commission. The vote fell 47 short of the two-thirds majority needed under a procedure that limited debate time and allowed no amendments.

AP - Hours after attending the funeral of Rosa Parks, former President Clinton invoked the civil rights heroine's memory in urging a large voter turnout for Democrat Jon Corzine in Tuesday's gubernatorial election.