The Senate voted 68-31 to confirm Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court on Thursday, making her the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the nation's highest court. No Democrats voted against Sotomayor, while nine Republicans crossed party lines to vote in the judge's favor. The moment will likely be pointed to as a watershed for Puerto Ricans in the United States, as Sotomayor's story reflects a Horatio Alger-esque rise from the Bronx to the top of the legal world. Throughout the confirmation process, there was little doubt that Sotomayor would make the cut, though Republicans went to great lengths to highlight her controversial "wise Latina" comments and her affiliation with Hispanic advocacy groups. Just this week, Senator John McCain announced he would be voting against her, though Senator George Voinovich, another Republican, announced Thursday that he would be voting for her, virtually assuring her confirmation. The Senate's newest member and a vocal Sotomayor supporter, Al Franken, presided over Thursday's historic vote.

John Hughes, the director of some of the most iconic movies of the '80s and '90s, has died at age 59. According to TMZ, Hughes had a heart attack "while taking a morning walk during a trip to NYC to visit family." Hughes directed hit films such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, and produced Home Alone, giving voice to disgruntled teens (in the Greater Chicago area, of course) and shedding light on high-school angst without trivializing it. Superbad producer Judd Apatow says Hughes invented the niche he now occupies: "His great film characters … were big inspirations,” Apatow told the Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein last year. “When we were growing up, we were all like [ Sixteen Candles’ Anthony Michael Hall]—the goofy skinny kid who thinks he’s cool, even if nobody else does. Superbad has that same attitude, that mix of total cockiness and insecurity.” Hughes’ style of filming also broke the mold, Goldstein writes: Oftentimes he’d allow the camera to continue rolling for four or five takes in order to get the proper “tone and rhythm” for a scene, and would ask his actors to stray from the script based on on-the-spot edits. In recent years, Goldstein says Hughes had strayed toward being "a Howard Hughes-style recluse," refusing interviews and professional representation, preferring instead to live quietly at home in Chicago. Director Kevin Smith described Hughes as "our generation's J.D. Salinger... He touched a generation and then dude checked out." He is survived by his wife Nancy, sons John and James, and four grandchildren.

In 1993, a 32-year-old Barack Obama was midway through writing Dreams From My Father when aspiring filmmaker Zeke Gonzalez interviewed him for a documentary on black role models. Gonzalez's film fell apart, but his 12-minute interview with then-community activist Obama has found new life in the hands of L.A. producer Stuart Goldman, who contextualized it with new interviews about Obama's early Chicago years. At the time of the 1993 interview, Obama was working to register Chicago voters, citing the candidacy of Carol Moseley Braun as his inspiration. Did he know he would some day be president? "My general view about politics and running for office is that if you end up being fortunate enough to have the opportunity to serve, it is because you got a track record of service in the community and I think right now, I am still building up that track record. ... I might think about it, but that time is certainly in the future." Politics Daily’s Lynn Sweet notes that three years later Obama ran for the Illinois State Senate and won. "It isn't as if Obama transformed the South Side of Chicago," Goldman tells Sweet. "The story is how the South Side transformed Obama."

It's official: "Cash for Clunkers," the consumer- and environment-friendly car-rebate program, is back. The Senate voted 60-37 in favor of giving the program $2 billion more in federal funds after it ran out of its first $1 billion last week—despite early claims that the first billion could last through November. The new funds are expected to last until Labor Day, and will offer consumers $3,500 to $4,500 in rebates for buying cars when they trade an old vehicle in for a newer, more fuel-efficient one. Thursday's positive vote came after a series of proposed amendments were first added, then scuttled, including a pair of Republican-sponsored amendments that would have suspended the program or promoted donating "clunkers" to charity. When the bill passed, Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow praised Senate civility: "Thank you for allowing an important stimulus to continue. Several Republican senators who opposed the program did not attempt to use parliamentary tactics to delay its passage."

Ruthie’s in the poorhouse, Bernie’s doing time, and hundreds of victims lost their savings—but one man in L’Affair Madoff is sitting pretty: Irving Picard, the trustee in charge of liquidating Madoff’s investment company, won court approval Thursday for a $14.7 million payday for his law firm, following four months of Madoff-related work, Bloomberg reports. The sum covers Picard’s and his firm Baker & Hostetler’s work from December 15 to April 30. Picard and his associates had recovered $1.08 billion for the Ponzi schemers’ victims, as of the end of June. Naturally, not everyone approves of the multimillion-dollar bill. “This depletion of [Securities Investor Protection Corp.] funds is unjustifiable,” said one victim. “The trustee has been an abysmal failure.” Picard’s group has so far approved $3.36 billion in claims from 820 victims and are filing more complicated lawsuits for some of Madoff’s biggest investors, who are claiming some $14 billion in damages. Some, however, say Picard’s recoveries have been relatively easy so far, drawing mostly from Madoff’s extant bank accounts. Ultimately, the Madoff victims are stuck in Picard’s hands: Legal experts note that the oversight rules for trustees like Picard tend to be slim.

Who says talking heads don't pay consequences? Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble, and Progressive Insurance, all of which used to run ads during Glenn Beck's Fox News program, are distancing themselves from the host in light of his assertion that Barack Obama is a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." Beck made the controversial comments during an appearance on Fox & Friends on July 28. Both Procter & Gamble and Progressive now say placing ads with Beck was a mistake, while NexisLexis, the owner of Lawyers.com, says it won't advertise with him again. The move may have been persuaded by 45,000 members of Color of Change, an organization that mobilized a letter-writing campaign in protest of Beck's show.

Sorry Washington Post, but your inside-the-beltway paper has never been known for its sense of humor, anyway. Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli said the online series "Mouthpiece Theater," by two WaPo journalists, has been canceled after they joked about "Mad B---h Beer," followed by a picture of Hillary Clinton. Zing! The not-so-clever crack yielded a letter of protest from the group Women Action and the Media, which sent a letter with 32 signatures saying the video was "sexist" and "tasteless." The two journalists were Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza. "While I highly doubt the secretary of state has seen 'Mouthpiece Theater,' I would be honored to have the opportunity to apologize to her over a beer," Milbank said. This is only the latest embarrassment for the Washington Post, which only last month had a high-profile crisis on its hands when it offered private "salons" with its journalists.

The first family and A-list celebrities: Where does one end and the other begin? Michelle and Malia Obama stopped by Top Chef Spike Mendelsohn’s Good Stuff Eatery Thursday, only to be hounded by a slew of paparazzi—and managing to spark baby-bump rumors. The pair dined on burgers, fries, onion rings and shakes, but none of that matters when compared to the very slim, photo-generated possibility that the missus could be with child. INF, the Web site that originally posted the pics, had a closeup of an unusually round-stomached Michelle (then again, the girls did order four different types of milkshake) but have since deleted the shot.

In a break with the Bush administration, an aide to President Obama said in a speech today that the U.S. would no longer refer to a "global war" on terror, which he said suggested a fight with the rest of the world and inflated al Qaeda's reach. More than a symbolic shift, however, the speech by John Brennan, Obama’s assistant for counterterrorism and homeland security, laid out a detailed new strategy for addressing the root causes of terrorism, which he said include poverty and lack of education. "We cannot shoot ourselves out of this challenge," Brennan said. "If we fail to confront the broader political, economic, and social conditions in which extremists thrive, then there will always be another recruit in the pipeline, another attack coming downstream." Brennan had harsh words for former President Bush, saying that the CIA's use of torture techniques would be "a recruitment bonanza for terrorists, increase the determination of our enemies, and decrease the willingness of other nations to cooperate with us."

If a tree falls in the woods but no one Tweets about it, does it make a sound? The Twitterverse was inaccessible for several hours Thursday morning due to what the company is calling an "ongoing" denial-of-service attack, which occurs when hackers overload a site's infrastructure with data. Twitter's problems began around 9 a.m. EST, with its inaccessibility period followed by continuing slowness and timeouts. Facebook, too, experienced hang-ups Thursday, while URL shortener Tr.im said a similar attack Wednesday rendered its service unavailable, and blog network Gawker Media crashed earlier this week. There is no evidence that these attacks are connected, CNET reports, but it's likely no coincidence that they overlap with the annual Defcon hacker convention. Dryly commenting on Twitter's unexpected downtime, The Associated Press reported, "the outage means no tweeting about lunch plans, the weather or the fact that Twitter is down."

Don’t hold out for a “statement of the great mint” from Chris Brown any time soon: Slow as it was to renounce the rapper, Wrigley’s has formally terminated its campaign with Brown in light of his pleading guilty to assault charges. The chewing-gum company suspended Brown in February, following allegations that he beat then-girlfriend Rihanna, saying they “believe Mr. Brown should be afforded the same due process as any citizen”—but his guilty plea to the felony charges seems to have burned the bubblegum bridge once and for all. Brown’s sentencing was set to take place in court Wednesday, but was postponed until August 27 because “hard-labor” community-service plans have not yet been put into place, TMZ reports.

Before Google banned Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign site, it looked pretty much like any other Web site. However, embedded in the site's code were 2,200 "hidden phrases" meant to impact search results. Many of them were word combinations with the incumbent Senator Rick Perry, including standard search terms like "rick perry gay." Google alerted the company that built the site, ElectionMall Technologies, that they were pulling the plug and that it would not appear in any of its results. A spokesman for Hutchison's campaign said they had also dismissed the company. The story only reinforces the search giant's tremendous importance: Do not mess with Google.

With over 34 million enrolled, the United States has set yet another food-stamp membership record for the month of May—a sign of one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. Enrollment increased by 2 percent to equal out to one in nine Americans receiving food stamps, Reuters reports. Numbers have steadily increased every month for the past six months, with Florida reporting the highest increase in participation from April to May at 4.2 percent. On average, members received $133.65 in food stamps thanks to a temporary increase of $80 per family of four each month, provided earlier this year by the economic stimulus package. Food-stamp enrollment surges during times of economic stress—and with the highest unemployment rate in 26 years, it’s no wonder more families are getting in line for assistance.

Take a look at Nancy Pelosi's plans for the summer recess: next Friday she will hold an "issues conference" for 170 guests at her San Francisco mansion, then she'll tote her guests along to a posh Napa Valley winery with building designed by Frank Gehry, which happens to be near the Pelosi's own vineyard that is worth somewhere between $5 million and $25 million. The attendees will all be major league donors who have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party in the last cycle. The revelations, reported by Politico, shine a spotlight on Pelosi's high-society connections, as well as her important role in courting wealthy, influential donors.

As the health-care debate rages through the upcoming recess, politicians are likely to return home and find their constituents questioning the issue of a "public option" for health insurance. Republicans are—not surprisingly—labeling the idea "socialized medicine." But perhaps more important, according to the Washington Post, is the debate within the Democratic Party regarding whether the public option is worth staking one's political future. Some moderate Democrats prefer establishing non-profits that would compete with major insurers. Others insist that a public option is absolutely necessary. "Health insurance by its very nature is a rapacious industry. [Insurance companies] want to make a lot of money. We have to have a strong counterbalance to them." Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) told the Washington Post. Yet again, the Democrats prove they cannot stay on-message like the Republicans.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech Thursday that the United States will "take action" against Eritrea if it does not stop supporting al-Shabab militants in Somalia, BBC News reports. Eritrea denies supporting the militants, whose goal it is to overthrow Somalia's government—the unrest has caused some 250,000 Somalis to leave their homes in the past three months due to fighting. Clinton also said that after talks with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on the second day of her African tour that Eritrea's actions are "unacceptable" and that the U.S. intends to expand is support for Somalia's government. If al-Shabab made a haven in Somalia, Clinton said, "It would be a threat to the United States." Eritrean officials argue they in no way support the militants, calling the claims a "fabrication" of U.S. intelligence.

Since their all-too-public breakup, Jon and Kate Plus Eight star Kate Gosselin has tried to avoid the spotlight—in contrast to her estranged husband Jon, who has become a permanent tabloid fixture. Jon, of course, has been making magazine covers for his rampant womanizing in the weeks following his separation from Kate, giving the impression of a bat out of hell. Somehow Kate has held her tongue through it all, but will finally cut loose on Monday when she's set to appear on NBC's Today Show in a much-hyped post-split interview.

Don't write off the woman responsible for a car accident that killed eight as an alcoholic just yet: Daniel Schuler, the husband of Diane Schuler—who reportedly downed 10 vodka drinks and smoked pot before getting in a wreck that killed herself, her daughter, three nieces and three men in another vehicle—said his wife wasn't a drinker. "Something medically must have happened to her" to cause the crash, Schuler said in a news conference, adding that he had never once seen Diane drunk. Diane's attorney said Diane had diabetes, a "suspicious bump" on her leg, untreated mouth abscesses, and suggested that a stroke may have been the cause for the accident. "From the stroke came all the other issues," attorney Dominic Barbara said. According to toxicology reports, Diane's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit and she smoked pot as soon as 15 minutes before the crash—but her husband said Diane was behaving normally when he last saw her that morning before departing on a fishing trip. "Family was the most important thing to her," said Joy Schuler, Daniel's sister. "There was no way she would ever jeopardize the children."

In the middle of proceedings over John Edwards' campaign finances on Thursday, the grand jury in Raleigh, North Carolina got a special visit: from Edwards' former mistress and campaign aide, Rielle Hunter. She walked into the federal courthouse through the back entrance, holding a child. Andrew Young, another Edwards aide who has claimed that he is the child's father, appeared at the courthouse last month. Edwards' team paid Hunter's video production company $100,000 for her work in 2006—and then another $14,086 in 2007—and he now faces a federal investigation for campaign spending.

Vampires really are hot. People reports that True Blood stars Anna Paquin, 27, and Stephen Moyer, 39, are engaged to be married. On the vampire soap opera, Paquin plays telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse, while Moyer plays her bloodsucking boyfriend Bill Compton. Moyer has two children from previous relationships while Paquin was the second-youngest Oscar winner in history, for 1993's The Piano.

Barack Obama has improved the schools without lifting a finger. USA Today reports that the "Obama Effect"—the idea that Obama's election has powerfully motivated African Americans to engage within their communities—has affected parental volunteering. A survey released Thursday by a San Francisco nonprofit promoting parental involvement found that 60 percent of African-American parents said they'll volunteer at their kids' schools, compared to 23 percent a year ago, a jump of 37 percent. Over the same period, white parents planning to volunteer rose from 47 percent to 53 percent. The jump is attributed to several speeches in which Obama urged parents to turn of the TV, read to their kids, and go to parent-teacher conferences.

The free-content ride is coming to an end over at News Corp. Driven by low newspaper and television revenues and the loss of $3.4 billion this year through the end of June, Rupert Murdoch has announced that his company will charge for all online content from newspapers and television news channels, the Financial Times reports. Under the prevailing current business model, publishers offer free content in order to attract large audiences for advertisers. If Murdoch's scheme works, other publishers considering pay content models might follow his lead. News Corp owns titles including The News of the World and Fox News, both of which would be subject to the new rules.

Steven Tyler's onstage strut is a dangerous thing. So dangerous, in fact, that Tyler has been hospitalized after falling off stage during a concert at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The Associated Press reports that after the sound system failed during "Love in an Elevator," the 61-year-old rock star danced around to entertain the crowd, but fell backward onto some fans from the stage's catwalk. Evidently, the Aerosmith frontman sustained minor head and neck injuries and a shoulder injury of uncertain seriousness. After the fall, an on-site physician attended to Tyler, and later he was flown to Rapid City Regional Hospital, the only major hospital in the region.

Harry Patch, the last British soldier to fight in World War I, was laid to rest on Thursday. Patch served as an assistant gunner in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in the Battle of the Passchendaele in 1917—when he was just 20 years-old. Born in June of 1989, Patch died last month at the age of 111. Before his death, Patch requested that the pallbearers carrying his coffin would be the same age as he when he fought in the trenches of the First World War. And on Thursday, those young men marched with his coffin—draped with the red, white, and blue Union flag—past thousands of Britons who lined the streets. The tone of the funeral was, however, not one of military glory or conquest, but of peace. A chorister sang the peace anthem of the 1960s, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," which Patch's grandson chose "to reflect Harry's view of the futility of war."

Baghdad's Green Zone used to have women in stilettos and holsters, rooftop wet t-shirt contests at a South African contractor compound, steak dinners, and boozy parties. Now, The Washington Post writes, the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. military, and private defense contractors have "imposed strict rules, and in some cases curfews to restrict nonessential travel outside the mammoth new embassy compound and other fortified compounds within the Green Zone." Embassy and military badges no longer exempt the holders from checkpoint inspection, vehicles must have Iraqi license plates, and in two months, Iraqis will start issuing Green Zone badges to travelers. The transfer of power to the Iraqis on June 30 wrought the change, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently ordered U.S. troops to hand over checkpoints to local forces. The changeover curbs U.S. visibility in Iraq, and reverses rules that used to give Iraqis second-citizen status in their own capital.

Novelist and screenwriter Budd Schulberg has died at age 95. The Los Angeles Times reports that Schulberg's writing career spanned more than six decades, during which he wrote novels, short stories, screenplays, plays, teleplays and nonfiction books with a strong social conscience. In 1941, at age 27, he burst onto the literary scene with What Makes Sammy Run, a novel portraying amoral hustler Sammy Glick's rise to power in Hollywood. The name Sammy Glick, according to the Times, has since become synonymous with "ruthless ambition." Schulberg's best-known works also included the screenplay for On the Waterfront, a film about the mob-controlled longshoremen's union; the 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, later adapted into a 1956 movie starring Humphrey Bogart in his final role; and the screenplay for A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith in his movie debut.

What can we expect from the Jay Leno Show when it premieres? A slimmed-down Leno said on Wednesday to expect celebrities in cars, not on couches. He said that his show will not feature a desk, that Brian Williams will file reports that are rejected from NBC Nightly News, and will include comedians like D.L. Hughley filing field reports. Not everything will change: Leno will still deliver an opening monologue. Leno admitted that he will compete with his successor at the Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien, for guests, but said that the rivalry will be friendly.

A series of town-hall meetings disrupted by anti-reform citizens has Democratic leadership crying foul. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid characterized town-hall dissenters as "loud, shrill voices trying to interrupt" and "throw a monkey wrench into everything." Both the White House and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi say the dissent is being "manufactured" by political and corporate organizations; Pelosi dismisses town-hall dissent as "astroturf," or artificially generated faux-grassroots movements. Regardless of their inspiration, however, the citizen protesters mean business: ABC's Steven Portnoy reports that, at a town-hall event for freshman Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD), the congressman faced an image of himself, hung in effigy, and enraged, booing crowds. Portnoy reports that a visibly unnerved Kratovil "pleaded" with constituents; a Blue Dog Democrat, Kratovil is officially "undecided" on his health-care position. At least one congressman—Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC)—has been forced to forgo the town-hall format after a threat on his life forced staffers to clamp down on public access to the congressman.

Where are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when you need them? As the U.S. Army prepares to expand training operations in the Mojave Desert, it hopes to move more than a thousand threatened California desert tortoises from their home, the Los Angeles Times reports, despite the fact that the animals have not fared well during previous relocations. Just last year, the Army moved more than 600 desert tortoises, but cut the $8.7 million program short, after officials noted high mortality rates among the animals—namely thanks to coyotes. Relocated tortoises also have a tendency to wander away from the relocation site, a further danger. The Army's proposal alarms conservationists, who point out that the animals' population is already plummeting, in part due to a respiratory disease. "Nothing's ever been done on this scale before," said Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Every time the animals recognize that they don’t know where they are, they have some built-in mechanism that tells them to head for home and they make a break for home."

"Cash for Clunkers" lives on—until Labor Day, at least. After lengthy negotiations, the Senate reached a deal late Wednesday, agreeing to vote on a plan that would infuse $2 billion into the program that awards car buyers up to $4,500 for trading in gas-guzzlers for fuel-efficient rides. Officials estimate the additional monies could fund 500,000 new vehicle sales and last until Labor Day. The agreement couldn't have come soon enough: As of Wednesday, more than $775 million of the $1 billion fund had been spent, accounting for nearly 185,000 new vehicles, the Associated Press reports. If not replenished by Congress, the program would go broke by Friday, President Obama said. While it wasn't clear whether additional, proposed amendments to the plan would pass on Thursday, the agreement as it stands "accomplishes what we need to accomplish," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Sonia Sotomayor’s moment of truth has arrived: The United States Senate is set to vote on her nomination to the United States Supreme Court on Thursday. Three-quarters of Republicans have indicated that they will oppose her, but with Democrats voting en bloc, she’s expected to be confirmed. A couple more Republicans also indicated that they’d join the Dems: Judd Gregg of New Hampshire spoke out against politicizing the confirmation process, while Kit Bond of Missouri said, "There's been no significant finding against her, there's been no public uprising against her. I will support her.”

Sorry, religious right: The Associated Press reports that a six-member American Psychological Association panel reviewed 83 studies on sexual-orientation change conducted since 1960. The panel's report led the APA to vote 125-to-4 on a resolution repudiating "reparative therapy," a treatment espoused by a small group of therapists and religious conservatives who believe that gay men and women can change their sexual orientation. Evidently, some research suggests that reparative therapy can induce depression and suicidal tendencies. However, for clients who believe their sexual orientation conflicts with their faith the APA has endorsed a new approach to homosexuality that may annoy some gay-rights groups. The Associated Press writes that the APA "urged therapists to consider multiple options, which could include celibacy and switching churches."

Apparently, Paula Abdul is easily replaced. The Mirror reports that Abdul left American Idol, purportedly over a pay disagreement, and resigned via Twitter Tuesday, writing, "With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return." Thursday, reports from unnamed sources say that Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham will guest judge in at least two episodes for roughly $260,000. Beckham's spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. American Idol is America's most popular show, drawing 26.3 million viewers per episode on average. Sky News is reporting, meanwhile, that Beckham's publicist has confirmed that she has agreed to make a "one-off" appearance on Idol.

Ah, the struggles with new media. ESPN has instituted a new policy in which their employees may not tweet about sports-related topics that are not approved by the network. The Web site Mediaite stoked a bit of controversy by calling the new policy a "Twitter ban." ESPN responded, explaining that it was important that ESPN provide "guidelines for how a company and its public (sometimes very public) employees are going to play into this space and use these tools." Though the policy is evolving, it raises interesting questions. Recently, ESPN ignored the allegations of sexual assault against Ben Roethlisberger. Do the new rules mean that ESPN employees would not be able to tweet about such a major sports story?

Think the housing crisis is over? Think again: “The percentage of U.S. homeowners who owe more than their house is worth will nearly double to 48 percent in 2011 from 26 percent at the end of March,” according to the Associated Press. A report from Deutsche Bank says that “prime” loans that meet the guidelines of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be most affected—41 percent will be underwater by the first quarter of 2011, up from 19 percent in 1Q 2009.

Bill Clinton may have been a hero this week, but on whose payroll? “Former president Bill Clinton's central role in the return of two journalists detained by North Korea has once again cast a spotlight on his vast web of financial and political contacts, a network that troubled senators who weighed whether to confirm his wife as secretary of state,” according to The Washington Post. “Dow Chemical, which has contributed as much as $50,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation, provided the plane that ferried the former president from his home in Westchester County, N.Y., to Burbank, Calif. There, he boarded an all-business-class Boeing 737 jet provided by wealthy Hollywood producer Steve Bing.” Not only did Bing foot an estimated $200,000 on fuel, but the New York Post adds that “Bing's Shangri-La entertainment firm also funded a major logistical effort to carefully showcase Clinton's arrival in Tinseltown—which featured Ling lauding the former president while almost in tears.”

Despite denying any wrongdoings, former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg has agreed to pay $15 million to the SEC in order to settle past accounting issues. Greenberg was subpoenaed in July of 2007 on an investigation into what role he may have played in alleged accounting misfires that eventually cost him his job, MSNBC reports. AIG sued Greenberg as part of shareholder litigation over a $3.6 billion earnings restatement. Additionally, former AIG CFO Howard Smith has agreed to pay $1.5 million in the SEC settlement; an SEC announcement said the settlement is expected late Thursday.

It took 199 days, but the honeymoon is ending if not over. Bloomberg reports that Obama's approval rating dropped 7 points from the end of June, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. The poll found that 50 percent of voters approve of Obama while 42 percent disapprove, compared to 57 percent and 33 percent respectively at the end of June. Voters disapprove of how Obama is handling the economy by 49 percent to 45 percent, and of his efforts to overhaul health care, by 52 percent to 39 percent. A separate CNN survey found that Obama's approval rating dropped seven points since his 100-day mark, and five points from the end of June to 56 percent approval, with particular losses coming from white men.