AP - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney can campaign in New Hampshire and still sleep at night in his own bed in Massachusetts. Yet, the neighbor's edge has been less than a home-court advantage in the nation's first 2008 presidential primary state.

AP - Legislation billed as the nation's toughest on illegal immigrants was approved by a state House committee Wednesday, as supporters seek to halt public benefits for foreigners without documents.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate began debating legislation to bolster America's security on Wednesday with the White House threatening a veto because one part would extend union protection to 45,000 airport workers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush wants a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. immigration laws, administration officials said on Wednesday, and they signaled a willingness to compromise on the question of granting a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Influential members of Congress expressed doubt on Wednesday about the White House goal of raising auto fuel efficiency by 4 percent next decade, convinced the target would harm U.S. manufacturers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's top energy forecaster said on Wednesday that fuel ethanol production in a decade will fall short of what President George W. Bush says is needed to help cut America's oil imports.

AP - For a new governor, the first days on the job offer a tantalizing menu of ways to diminish a predecessor's imprint: staff can be fired, appointments rescinded, and pet programs scrapped.

AP - Jurors deliberating the fate of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby asked the judge a question, figured out the answer on their own and otherwise gave no indication where they're headed in the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

AP - Fisher-Price Inc. has agreed to pay a $975,000 civil penalty for failing to report to the government that one of its toys posed a choking hazard to young children, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.

AP - The two Sudanese named by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor as suspects in war crimes in Darfur:

AP - The National Guard and Reserves don't get enough money or equipment and are left out of important planning for national emergencies, an independent panel concluded Thursday, long after the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina exposed serious stresses on the services.

AP - Republican presidential contender John McCain, a staunch backer of the Iraq war but critic of how President Bush has waged it, said U.S. lives had been 'wasted' in the four-year-old conflict. Democrats demand the Arizona senator apologize for the comment as Sen. Barack Obama did when the Democratic White House hopeful recently made the same observation.

AP - After a monthlong trial full of high-tech gadgetry and multimedia presentations, jurors in the CIA leak trial apparently are handcrafting their own visual aids to help sort out the complicated case.

AP - A sharply divided House took up legislation Thursday that would make it easier for labor activists to organize workers and could give a boost to flagging union membership.

AP - The government for decades has failed to meet legal deadlines for tougher energy efficiency standards for appliances and other equipment, costing consumers and industry tens of billions of dollars in electric costs, a congressional study said Thursday.

AP - The head of the U.N. intellectual property agency gave an apparently false birth date that made him nine years older when he applied to join the body, an inaccuracy that may have helped him get hired and win promotions, a United Nations audit showed.

AP - Republican presidential contender John McCain, facing criticism from Democrats, on Thursday said he regretted using the word 'wasted' to describe the more than 3,100 U.S. lives lost in the Iraq war.

AP - Democrats rewarded organized labor Thursday for helping them retake control of Congress, passing a House bill that would make it easier for workers to start unions against companies' wishes.

AP - President Bush acknowledged Thursday that the people of the Gulf Coast are angered by the slow pace of recovery from Hurricane Katrina and he promised to help pick up the pace.

AP - Jurors in the perjury trial of ex-White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby have much work to do and expect to deliberate into next week.

CQPolitics.com - Presidential candidates aren’t the only ones expected to shatter spending records during the 2008 campaign. With both parties’ nominations up for grabs, crowded candidate fields, and full-tilt campaigning already under way in early 2007, taxpayers will be paying more than ever to ensure the safety of presidential hopefuls.

AP - Democrats looking for money to pay for health care priorities renewed their focus on insurers Thursday.

AP - The head of the nation's weather and climate research agency says the biggest challenge facing the world is population growth and people's desire to live in coastal areas where they can be endangered by storms.

AP - Democrats rewarded organized labor Thursday for helping them retake control of Congress, passing a House bill that would make it easier for workers to start unions against companies' wishes.

AP - President Bush on Thursday acknowledged the deep frustration of Hurricane Katrina victims and said the federal government shares the blame for the slow recovery of the Gulf Coast.

AP - Bowing to protests from governors and Congress, the Bush administration is giving states another year and a half to comply with new driver's license rules aimed at foiling terrorists.

AP - A manufacturing trade association executive is President Bush's pick to be chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Democrats and consumer advocates on Thursday voiced concern that the nominee would be too beholden to business interests.

AP - A House committee is compelling four of at least eight U.S. attorneys ousted from office in recent months to tell their stories under oath after one prosecutor said he believes he was fired for political reasons.

AP - The United States must take a more active role to prevent the peace process in northern Uganda from disintegrating, a panel of experts said Thursday.

AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday night that a too-soon withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq could send victorious militants spreading out, with some flocking to Afghanistan to fight alongside a regrouping Taliban. He demanded that the Democratic-controlled Congress support President Bush's military buildup 'on time and in full.'

AP - The government has missed all 34 deadlines set by Congress for requiring energy efficiency standards on everything from home appliances to power transformers, government auditors said Thursday.

AP - The rate of increase in U.S. home prices remained steady in the fourth quarter of 2006, extending the slowing trend that began earlier in the year, federal regulators reported Thursday.

AP - U.S. and North Korean officials will meet in New York on March 5-6 to discuss initial steps toward normalizing relations, the State Department said Wednesday.

AP - In competition for a key Democratic voting bloc, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is enlisting the help of her husband, former President Clinton, at a weekend civil rights commemoration headlined by a formidable black rival, Sen. Barack Obama.