Washington (CNN) -- President Obama is set to turn up the heat on private health insurers again Wednesday, taking his increasingly populist health care overhaul pitch on the road to the political battleground state of Missouri.

The health care reform bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve is dead on arrival in the House because it lifts a decades-old ban on federal funding for abortion services, pro-life House Democrats said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - They flew planes during World War II but weren't considered "real" military pilots. No flags were draped over their coffins when they died on duty.

It's been a busy few days for Chief Justice John Roberts. Last week, he was the subject of a viral Internet rumor that he was going to retire, and last night the White House pounced on comments he made about the partisan atmosphere ...

The Republican twice elected to New York's 29th Congressional District before being defeated in 2008 by Democrat Eric Massa said today he will not run again for the seat now that Massa has resigned.

A driver who allegedly mowed down two young women in Brooklyn-- including a promising Bloomberg aide -- has been arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an accident and causing serious injury, law enforcement officials said today.

AP PHILADELPHIA - Colleen LaRose spent long days caring for her boyfriend's father in a second-floor apartment in Pennsburg, a small town north of Philadelphia.

Republican US Senate front-runner Marco Rubio brags on his website that he didn't officially request budget pork in his last four years as a leader in the Florida House.

AP SEATTLE - Students across the nation might eventually use the same math and English textbooks and take the same tests if states adopt new rigorous standards proposed Wednesday by governors and education leaders.

Closed-door talks extended to both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday as President Obama, key senators and industry officials searched for an elusive agreement on comprehensive energy and climate change legislation.

WASHINGTON - The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last year's record for the full year.

A few hours before President Barack Obama flew into town for a speech in St. Charles Wednesday, more than 2200 people gathered at the St. Charles Convention Center to rally against the president's healthcare plan.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc? Last night, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart broadcast a pretty devastating take-down of the anti-gay initiatives being undertaken by the new governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, and his anti-gay attorney general, ...

HarperCollins has won the Scott Brown book race, announcing today it will publish the new Massachusetts senator's memoir in early 2011.

Amy Beck may have cleared her conscience, but now faces serious jail time after freely admitting a monthslong affair with one of her middle school students.

CHICAGO—Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn told lawmakers Wednesday to raise state income taxes by 1% or face draconian cuts to the state's education budget.

Known sex offenders should be outfitted with GPS devices that would track their movements and immediately alert police if predators travelled to restricted areas near schools or parks, a California lawmaker told ABC News.

AP The politically shifting State Board of Education has opened discussion of new social studies curriculum standards that could affect the publishing of textbooks nationwide.

LOS ANGELES - Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg swapped other people's war stories to groundbreaking, heartbreaking effect in "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers.

AP Missouri transportation officials said Wednesday they plan to save more than $200 million over the next five years by reducing staff and cutting spending on things such as inventory, vehicles and grass-cutting.