AP - Weighty issues like the presidential inauguration and the economic stimulus package are pending, but the first order of business for President-elect Barack Obama's family is to get settled in Washington quickly to prepare for the start of school for his two daughters.

Politico - While millions descend on Washington for the historic inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, some Republicans see it as an occasion to get out of town.

Politico - Chicago—President-elect Barack Obama used his weekly radio address to drum up bi-partisan support for his nearly trillion dollar economic plan, which calls for pouring money into the nation's infrastructure, building new schools and giving a tax cut to the middle class.

AP - Former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said on Saturday he intends to run for governor of Virginia.

AP - The self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks goes on trial in absentia in France on Monday for allegedly ordering a deadly Tunisian synagogue bombing less than a year after the assault on New York and Washington.

AP - Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz says Gazprom has cut natural gas supplies to Europe by two-thirds.

AP - To a public wary of government spending, President-elect Barack Obama is offering a salve with his massive economic stimulus package: the promise of long-term fiscal discipline.

AP - Nancy Killefer, the management consultant chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to make federal agencies work better for the public, has a lot of experience trying to improve the agency taxpayers love to hate, the Internal Revenue Service.

AP - State ranking of coal ash pond storage

AP - President George W. Bush told a group of Texas reporters Friday that he regretted immigration policies were not reformed while he was in office.

AP - Vice President-elect Joe Biden made a surprise visit to the Taliban's traditional stronghold in southern Afghanistan on Sunday and said the new U.S. administration will fully support troops battling the resurgent militants.

AP - There is no box on U.S. Census forms that accurately describes Ray Gongora.

AP - Secretary of State appointee Hillary Rodham Clinton intervened at least six times in government issues directly affecting companies and others that later contributed to her husband's foundation, an Associated Press review of her official correspondence found.

AP - At the end of a nearly seamless transition, President-elect Barack Obama has been buffeted by a string of embarrassing jolts within the space of two weeks.

AP - President-elect Barack Obama's allies in the House are poised to reveal his $850 billion economic recovery bill, the opening round in a debate that will last into mid-February or beyond.

AP - Eric Holder appears headed for confirmation as attorney general after declaring a new course in U.S. counterterrorism policy, but a Senate panel still wants to hear more about his decisions as a Clinton administration Justice Department official.

AP - Israel should be barred from the United Nations while it ignores the organization's calls to stop fighting in Gaza, Turkey's prime minister said Friday, urging the world not to turn a blind eye to Israel's 'savagery.'

Politico - Blog: Barack Obama may get to keep his Blackberry, but David Axelrod is losing his IM. The lawyers broke the bad news to Obama aides at a b

Politico - Blog: Michael Kazin points out that Pete Seeger's and Bruce Springsteen's performance of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land,' closing out t

AP - If Barack Obama felt nervous about becoming president in a few hours, he didn't show it Monday, as he cracked jokes and breezed through a series of volunteerism events and bipartisan dinners.

AP - President Barack Obama is turning from the star-studded, crowd-pleasing pomp of his inauguration to the workaday task of governing a hurting nation of 304 million and meeting the soaring expectations that he and others have put on his shoulders.

Politico - Blog: Kennedy's spokesman, Stefan Friedman, emails out a statement: I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withd

Politico - It might have been the perfect symbolism for Barack Obama – abolishing a key anti-abortion provision on the very anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision Thursday.

AP - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said no nation is more important to the United States than China. But ties between the two powers may be off to a rocky start just days into the Obama administration.

AFP - The choice of former US senator George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East shows that President Barack Obama is serious about changing the direction of US policy in the Middle East, experts say.

AP - Some 6,000 people marched silently through this northwest Belgian town on Sunday, laying hundreds of bouquets and stuffed animals outside the daycare center where a man with a knife killed two babies and a caregiver.

AP - President Barack Obama's push for cleaner-running automobiles is being viewed as the clearest signal yet that he intends to regulate greenhouse gases.

Politico - Newly minted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s finances got a recent boost, thanks to a plump $435,000 severance payment from his old employer – the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Politico - Despite President Obama's trip to the Hill on Tuesday, he couldn't pry loose a single Republican vote for his stimulus plan, which nonetheless passed with overwhelming Democratic support. Still, the partisan split signalled that despite their weakened political state and the popularity of the new president, Republicans won't be won over by charm alone.

Politico - An amateur videographer captured the scene outside Rod Blagojevich's Chicago home tonight, where he greeted a visiting minister, posed for a picture with a young boy, and switched into Spanish for the Latino media.

AP - No matter the color of your work shirt, this recession is sparing few.