Looks like at least one bank was left out of the TARP bonanza. Colonial Bank, which is based in Alabama, will close its doors and be acquired by BB&T, another major regional bank. CNN reports that Colonial "is the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history and by far the largest failure of 2009." The bank's failure will not affect most people with accounts there (all balances up to $250,000 are guaranteed by the government). However, mortgage rates may go up, as Colonial was heavily involved in providing "financing needed by mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders to make home loans." Colonial offices in Orlando, Florida, were recently raided by government regulators in relation to accusations of "bad accounting practice and recognition of losses." So far, 77 banks have failed in 2009.

Many U.S. car dealers are anxiously awaiting payment from the government through the popular "Cash for Clunkers" program, and are starting to complain that the delay is causing a cash crunch. There are dealers that still have not been paid for clunkers that were turned in three weeks ago, when the program began, the Associated Press reports. A survey in Virginia this week found that only 2.8 percent of car dealerships had been paid. The likely culprit for the delay is the unexpected success of the program. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is in charge of it, said that the requests for rebates that have been filed amount to $1.5 billion; half of the total money that is available. One car dealer told the AP that dealerships may stop participating in the program if the government doesn't start holding up its end of the bargain.

As the U.S. eyes the safety of the upcoming election in Afghanistan as an important indicator of progress in the war-torn country, the Taliban has issued a chilling warning: Vote and we'll chop off your fingers. "We will know those who cast a vote from the ink, and his finger will be cut off," a Taliban commander said. The Taliban has called for a boycott of the election, and the Telegraph reports that it appears unlikely that lower-level commanders will agree to a ceasefire to allow voting. In addition to the fear of violence, the wave of criticism of President Hamid Karzai could also hamper vopter turnout. Karzai has been dogged by accusations of corruption, as well as criticism of his controversial approval of a law that says that a "husband can stop feeding his wife if she does not submit to him." U.S. forces will be providing protection during Thursday's election. It remains to be seen how well the effort will be received by locals.

Yet another sad twist in the Kennedy family legacy: A spokesman for Ted Kennedy, who is currently battling brain cancer, announced that the senator was unable to attend sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver's funeral Mass Friday morning. Kennedy's wife, Vicki, attended in his place at the invitation-only ceremony at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church in Hyannis, Mass. The invited guests included Vice President Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder and Governor Deval Patrick. Huge crowds gathered outside the church before the service to honor Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics who died Tuesday at age 88.

"Like a complete unknown," indeed. On the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, Bob Dylan just wanted to go for a stroll in Long Branch, New Jersey to kill time between concerts when someone called the cops about a "scruffy old man acting suspiciously." Unfortunately, the wrong cop arrived at the scene; Kristie Buble, a 24-year-old who was sure Dylan was not the legendary singer-songwriter she had seen in photos. "I asked him what his name was and he said, 'Bob Dylan,' Buble said. "Now, I've seen pictures of Bob Dylan from a long time ago and he didn't look like Bob Dylan to me at all. He was wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots, and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head." Buble followed her training and humored Dylan, who she thought was maybe an escapee from a hospital. "So I said, 'OK Bob, what are you doing in Long Branch?' He said he was touring the country with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. So now I'm really a little fishy about his story." She drove him back to his hotel to confirm his identity, and was shocked when a staffer showed her Dylan's passport.

President Barack Obama said today in a town-hall meeting in Belgrade, Montana, that citizens are being "held hostage"  by insurance companies that deny coverage to the sick."We are held hostage at any given moment by health-insurance companies that deny coverage or drop coverage or charge fees that people can't afford," Obama said. "It's wrong. It's bankrupting families. It's bankrupting businesses. And we are going to fix it when we pass health-insurance reform this year." The president also criticized the media for focusing too much on the controversy in the health-care debate. "TV loves a ruckus," he said. A new poll has found that more Americans disapprove than approve of Obama’s health-care plan, even as the president is halfway through a town-hall tour to defend it. Obama won the presidency in part by attracting the type of voters typical of Montana, who are characterized as independent, pro-gun and pro-private property. It is independent voters—52 percent of them, according to the new poll—who have become increasingly uneasy with the boom in government spending, as well as the "big-business bailouts," the Associated Press reports. While Obama's plan maintains high approval ratings among Democrats, 55 percent of Americans expect that health care will "get worse or stay the same," according to the poll.

After some half-hearted attempts to ease the worries of its South American neighbors, Colombia has reached an agreement that will allow U.S. forces to use its military bases. Colombia has said that the accord is only meant to provide the U.S. with a base of operations in its war on terrorism and drug trafficking, but President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said the move suggests U.S. forces are preparing to invade his country. He said "the winds of war were beginning to blow" in the region. The presidents of Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina have expressed concern about the plan and the rising tensions it's causing. Last year, Ecuador gave the boot to U.S. forces stationed at one of its military bases, which is why they are seeking a new home in the region.

Two fires are blazing along California's coast, forcing the governor to declare a state of emergency. One fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains—only 10 miles north of the city of Santa Cruz—has forced the evacuations of more than 2,000 people and is being fought mostly by air due to adverse weather conditions. The second fire, raging in Los Padres National Forest, has grown to 67,092 acres and is 10 percent contained, the L.A. Times reports. Firefighters have been hampered due to gusty winds there, as well. The declaration of a state of emergency was issued by Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi because Arnold Schwarzenegger was away attending the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, his mother-in-law.

It's no secret that the "death panel" rumor has turned the health-care debate nasty, but it was unclear where the rumors came from. The New York Times writes that the rumor has a "mainstream provenance, openly emanating months ago from many of the same pundits and conservative media outlets" that helped defeat the Clinton heath-care plan sixteen years ago. None of the current legislative proposals include killing the ill as a cost-cutting measure. But editorials in the Washington Times, American Spectator, and New Republic, and columns by conservative luminaries such as Cal Thomas, George Neumayr, and Betsy McCaughey as far back as November of last year lay out a conservative position against euthanasia, suggesting that cutting costs by ending life early is part of the Democrats' agenda, and comparing Democratic policy to that of Nazis.

The 4,700-ton Russian cargo ship, which mysteriously disappeared in the English Channel two weeks ago, appears to have been found floating off the West African coast. Unconfirmed reports have put the ship—complete with 15 Russian crew members—400 nautical miles from the Cape Verde islands (A Russian ambassador the region is denying the ship has been found). A Russian frigate is heading to the area to confirm this. On July 24, the ship—called the Arctic Sea—was reportedly boarded by up to 10 armed men, who then left on an inflatable boat after 12 hours. Observers have suggested that it was hijacked because of a Russian commercial dispute, but this is far from clear. Five Russian warships have been searching in the Atlantic for the ship, which was carrying $1.7 million worth of lumber to Algeria.

George Clooney is once again fuming over the paparazzi, accusing an overzealous photographer of scaling a wall to snap pictures of the goings-on at his Italian home. Photos published in two magazines depict a 13-year-old girl changing in one of Clooney's guest rooms; others show Clooney and his girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, "enjoying private moments." The Hollywood star told TMZ that he plans to sue both the magazines and the photographer. "It's illegal for photographers to climb over my wall and to take long lens pictures of a 13-year-old girl in her bedroom. I draw the line of privacy at that," Clooney said in a statement.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, the disciple of serial killer Charles Manson who tried to kill President Gerald Ford in 1975, was released from a federal prison in Texas Friday morning. Fromme took aim at Ford with a semi-automatic .45-caliber pistol 34 years ago before a Secret Service agent wrested the gun from her. The would-be assassin, now 60, reportedly targeted Ford because she wanted to attract attention for a new trial for Manson, who was serving a life sentence for killing actress Sharon Tate and nine others. Fromme's release has raised questions among law enforcement officials about whether time in prison can lessen the impulses of serious criminals. "The greatest predictor for potential violence is a history of violence," explained a professor of law and police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "Any time you release someone with a violent past it's a gamble. We just have to keep our fingers crossed." Fromme had completed her sentence for the assassination attempt last summer, but was ordered to serve more time for a 1987 prison escape.

Stop the proverbial presses. The police were called to Jon and Kate Gosselin’s million-dollar Pennsylvania home Thursday night after the reality TV stars got into a heated fight over their children. It was Jon’s turn to be with their eight young kids, but Kate disapproved of his choice of baby-sitter, Us Weekly reports. Jon refused to let her in the house and they fought near the fence outside. No arrests were made but a tearful Kate eventually fled to a nearby Days Inn. Earlier on Thursday, Kate told Live! With Regis and Kelly that her marriage was over for good. "You know, we definitely have different goals at this point," she said. "A lot has changed, a lot of unexpected things have came up."

Hamas authorities stormed a mosque where a radical Islamic cleric with ties to al Qaeda is holed up with roughly 100 followers. At least 13 people have been killed and 60 injured, the BBC reports. The cleric, Abdul-Latif Moussa, allegedly ordered the firing of rocket-propelled grenades near the Egyptian border, killing several people. Moussa and his followers are part of a group called Jund Ansar Allah (Army of the Helpers of God), which believes Hamas is not radical enough. They have vowed to fight to the death.

The impending debut of NBC’s The Jay Leno Show is shaking up the late-night television landscape, prompting a feverish "booking war" among shows to get the best A-list guests. Aware that night talk shows live and die by the quality of the guests, the Leno producers are aggressively pursuing PR firms representing top celebs to book them up before competitors have a shot. The relatively settled booking hierarchy has been further disturbed by Conan O'Brien inheriting The Tonight Show. He is keen to make his mark on the late-night landscape and not be pushed around by Leno, his predecessor. "I've never seen it like this," a late-night insider told the Hollywood Reporter. "Now people are being much more strategic, and they are planning it out far more in advance.”

An air traffic controller was on a personal phone call when he failed to tell a small plane's pilot that a helicopter was in its path, the New York Post reports. He then tried to contact the pilot, unsuccesffully, before the two aircrafts collided, killing nine people. The Federal Aviation Administration has suspended the air-traffic controller and his supervisor from New Jersey's Teterboro Airport after Saturday's catastrophic accident, pending an investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a report that the controller remained on his call while instructing the plane's pilot until the accident happened, and did not warn the pilot about other aircraft in its path. Additionally, "the supervisor was not present in the building as required." The airplane carried three people, while the helicopter—a sightseeing vehicle—carried five tourists from Bologna, Italy, and one pilot. The FAA has begun disciplinary proceedings, but said Thursday that "we have no reason to believe at this time that these actions contributed to the accident." The Italian victims were celebrating a wedding anniversary; their pilot had manned helicopter tours for a year and a half. The airplane victims were a pair of adult brothers from Pennsylvania and the younger brother's 16-year-old son.

There’s no napping for cycling champ Lance Armstrong: Just weeks after finishing third in the Tour de France, the 37-year-old is gearing up to ride in Saturday's Leadville Trail 100 in Colorado, arguably the second most important race in the world. "The Tour was the training camp for Leadville," Armstrong joked over breakfast with an editor from Outside magazine. (The champ eats Nutella for his morning pick-me-up, by the way.) When he's not training, Armstrong's settling into his new life in Aspen with his girlfriend and their eight-week-old son, Max. He's also continuing to helm his nonprofit LiveStrong foundation—which he says has, remarkably, been spared from economic downturn. And he's gaming out next year's Tour. "I don’t necessarily need to win the Tour, win the Ironman, or run 2:20 in a marathon," he said. "It’s also about what we do at the foundation and with the team. People look at that and think, Man, look at any other retired cyclist; they’re damn sure not out there doing that."

Former President Bill Clinton knows the difficulty in passing health-care reform having watched his own plan go down in flames in 1994. Now he's urging supporters to back President Obama's push, which is struggling through a difficult August. In a speech to Netroots Nation, a gathering of liberal bloggers and activists, Clinton told the audience to support Obama's efforts even if the final result is less than what they wanted. “I want us to be mindful we may need to take less than a full loaf,” Clinton said. The ex-pres was also heckled by audience members for his policies towards gays while in office, including Don't Ask Don't Tell in the military and the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act. Ever the diplomat, Clinton said he was not happy with this chapter of his presidency either. “Nobody regrets how this was implemented any more than I do,” he said. “I hated what happened.”Clinton also told the audience: “We have entered a new era of progressive politics which, if we do it right, can last 30 or 40 years... The president needs your help and the cause needs your help."

It took them 16,000 tries, but MIT scientists have finally identified a chemical that selectively targets cancer cells, a possible breakthrough in creating new treatments. “We now have a method that researchers anywhere in the world can use to find agents that can kill cancer stem cells and potentially treat cancer,” Piyush Gupta, a researcher at the Broad Institute and co-author of the study told Bloomberg. The chemical compound, salinomycin, works like a smart bomb, picking out stem cells that turn into cancer and destroying them. Next up is further testing on animals.

Who better to advise Sarah Palin than former House Speaker Newt Gingrich? Politico asked Gingrich what Palin had to do to keep her 2012 presidential options open, and he boiled his approach down to six components: write a book to lay out her philosophy in an unhurried way, which Palin is already set to do; get a regular gig as a television commentator to stay inside the national dialogue; acquire a condo in New York or D.C. as a base of operations; master three types of speeches—a fundraising speech, a speech aimed at interest groups that projects Palin's brand, and a stump speech to help Republicans raise money and gain attention during the 2010 elections; create a national project or center to serve as an idea-incubator; and plan to work insanely hard. But will Palin take the advice?

College students are getting an email upgrade as more universities outsource their systems to Google and Microsoft. The move makes sense, since college-provided email inboxes are typically limited to about a hundred megabytes versus 70 times that storage on Gmail. It's also a boon for the two tech giants, who can win the loyalty of users. A national survey conducted last year found that 42 percent of schools had already outsourced their email service or were planning to; of those, 57 percent chose Google, while 38 percent opted for Microsoft. The schools that switch are saving millions, as both Google and Microsoft offer their email services to educational institutions free of charge.

It's not a great time to fly planes. Commercially, the starting pay is only $22,000, with struggling airlines canceling routes and laying off staff. Even in the military, missions are increasingly flown by drones. All this, The Wall Street Journal reports, only makes crop dusting more attractive. Crop dusting, also referred to as "aerial application," offers salaries from $60,000 to $100,000 at the upper end, and those who own spraying businesses can make even more. It's not just the money either; spreading fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, weed killers, and occasionally seed requires thrilling stuntlike maneuvers a commercial pilot would never attempt. Driven by the farming boom, demand for pilots is up; hours flown by crop-dusters rose 29% from 2003 to 2007. The only barrier to entry is the long apprenticeship required, which often begins with non-flying activities such as driving trucks, mixing pesticides, and maintaining the planes.

Raleigh, North Carolina, news station WRAL reports that former Senator John Edwards is preparing to admit that the 18-month-old daughter of former mistress Rielle Hunter is his child. In August 2008, Edwards acknowledged that he had an affair with Hunter, but denied fathering Frances Hunter, whom he claimed was conceived after the end of his affair. Edwards' longtime aide Andrew Young initially claimed to be the father, but in June reports surfaced that Young was shopping a tell-all memoir pinning the paternity back on Edwards. A federal grand jury is investigating whether Edwards' campaign illegally paid Hunter to stay silent about the affair. WRAL reports that Edwards' public admission could occur before the end of the criminal investigation. Frances' birth certificate names no father.

Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou, said Friday that the death toll from the powerful Typhoon Morakot is estimated to be about 500, with 120 confirmed. Hundreds are still trapped beneath the debris from landslides associated with the typhoon, which Ma called the most destructive in 50 years, and officials see little hope of finding anyone alive in the hardest-hit village, Shiao Lin. "While the rescue operation is still going on, we have started rehabilitation and reconstruction work, which is just as imminent but might be even more difficult and cumbersome," Ma said.

First! France and Germany have beat the U.S. in the recovery race, officially pulling out of the global recession with modest 0.3 percent growth in each country for the last quarter. The good news isn't limited to Western Europe, though, as analysts cite positive economic signs in the U.S., China, and Japan as evidence that aggressive stimulus spending is successfully boosting the global economy. "They are good signs, but not yet conclusive," the chief European economist for HSBC told The Washington Post. "We still have to wait and see." Still, some countries do lag behind: Britain, Italy, and Spain have yet to turn around their economies.

Turns out even guys convicted of running illegal dog-fighting rings get second chances in pro sports. After serving time in federal prison for his crime, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has signed on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles. The onetime fan favorite can immediately take part in pre-season practices, workouts and meetings, ESPN reports; he can also play in the final two pre-season games. Vick hasn't played since 2006, when news of his crime surfaced, shocking fans and leading to NFL suspension. Will Philadelphia fans warm up to the ex-con? Time will tell.

It looks like there will be no moon base and no Mars landing for the U.S. in the near future. The Washington Post reports that Obama administration officials will meet with the Human Space Flight Plans Committee, an advisory panel, on Friday. The panel is likely to say that, thanks to budgetary constraints, it's impossible to land Americans to the moon by 2020, as President Bush proposed in 2004. The 2020 moon landing is only possible if NASA de-orbits the politically popular international space station early, in 2016. Alternately, if the station stays in orbit until 2020, NASA could have a new Ares rocket and Orion crew capsule ready to blast off by 2028, but no moon base components. The panel's alternate plan, the "Deep Space" option, would deep-six the moon base in favor of fly-bys that would send astronauts to hover over Phobos, one of Mars' moons, as well as over near-Earth asteroids and Lagrange points, gravitationally significant points in space. But selling the public on plans that don't include actually landing on anything is likely to be difficult.

She's been silent since her "last state Twitter" on July 26—but is Sarah Palin gearing up to start tweeting again? Political Ticker reports that Palin finally ditched her @AKGovSarahPalin handle in favor of @SarahPalinUSA, reflecting the former governor's new status as a political free agent. Since stepping down from office, Palin has favored long-format posts on her Facebook page, where she has written about health care, the death of Eunice Shriver Kennedy, and her favorite political articles. A recent post about "death panels" featured no fewer than 11 footnotes and received nearly 3,000 comments within 24 hours of its first appearance.

Hell no, they don't want Gitmo. Michigan's GOP lawmakers spoke out on Thursday against President Obama's consideration of a maximum-security prison in Standish, Michigan, as an alternative to Guantánamo Bay. Following Obama's visit to the site, Rep. Pete Hoekstra—who is also a Republican gubernatorial candidate in his home state—accused the Obama administration of trying to pull a fast one: "They haven't been upfront at all on this. We found out through the media they were going to Standish." Hoekstra is now requesting permission to take a group of state and local officials on a tour of the Guantánamo Bay prison so they can "know what they're in for." Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, called the possible Michigan detainee relocation a "cash for clink" program and said he opposes it. Local Democrats were more reserved in their statements. The Democratic congressman who represents Standish, Bart Stupak—the first Michigan lawmaker to propose importing the detainees—said through a spokeswoman that he "preferred" to take prisoners from California's overcrowded system, but that Guantánamo prisoners would be "preferred over nothing" for the sake of job creation.

Sarah Palin may have pulled her “death panel” charge out of thin air, but she seems to have won the day anyhow: The Wall Street Journal reports that the Senate Finance Committee, which is crafting the only bipartisan health-care overhaul bill in Congress, will drop the “end-of-life” provision. The measure would have required Medicare to pay physicians to counsel patients on end-of-life decisions, like living wills and hospice, once every five years. The sessions would have been entirely optional for the patients. The hope was that it would generate some savings: The 5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who die each year account for 27.4 percent of total Medicare spending. The measure was dropped after the top Republican on the finance committee, Chuck Grassley, endorsed the death-panel rumors, telling his constituents “you have every right to fear.”

First Joe the Plumber becomes Joe the Comedian; now Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh will be guest starring on Family Guy? Have conservatives found their sense of humor? Explaining how the unlikely alliance came to be, creator Seth MacFarlane said that his show tends to be liberal "because it is written by liberals," so he decided he should give conservatives some time in the spotlight. The plot of the episode involves Brian, the family dog, becoming a Republican because he no longer has anything to complain about. Limbaugh reportedly sings a musical number. As usual, MacFarlane sounded as if he was looking forward to controversy. "I'm sure the reaction from some will be 'you monsters, how could you have Karl Rove on your show?'" MacFarlane said.

The Obama administration is pushing forward on overhauling financial regulation, and The Washington Post reports that they've got a novel way to pay for it: charging the financiers they want to regulate. A "two-tiered, pay-for-regulation approach" would put the financial burden for bank regulation and a new consumer-protection agency onto America's largest financiers. The plan—which Congress is expected to tackle in the fall—would force banks with more than $10 billion in assets to pay steeper regulation fees. Unregulated consumer financial firms, like mortgage lenders, would, for the first time ever, pay for oversight as well. Not surprisingly, Wall Street is mostly opposed to the plan, with industry leaders calling it "outrageous," "onerous," and a "burden."

Italy's wealthiest industrial dynasty is being exposed to the public, thanks to a tax investigation of late Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli's estate. The Financial Times reports that questions raised by Agnelli's daughter Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen may have started the whole affair. In 2007, Margherita alleged that she'd been denied part of her inheritance because her father had $1.4 billion in undeclared assets in Swiss bank accounts. Her mother strongly denied the claims, which ended up in Italian courts and have sparked a family feud. The director of Italy's tax agency said the inquiry had been opened following reports from Agnelli heirs to the estate about the existence of other assets. About $1.4 billion in alleged undeclared assets is under investigation.

It's hard to understand how a ship with a tracking beacon, modern navigation devices, and radio communications could have gone missing in a busy shipping lane. The Washington Post reports that "The Arctic Sea, a 4,700-ton cargo ship registered in Malta, owned by Russians and crewed by 15 Siberian sailors" vanished two weeks ago after crossing from the English Channel into the Atlantic. The ship held $1.7 million in Finnish timbers that was scheduled to be delivered Algeria on August 4. The ship could be hijacked or have sunk. One theory suggests that the captain ran off with the cargo to sell in Africa for cash. An international search has been launched, but with no satellite signal, there's nothing to go on. The ship's owners say that soon after it left port, crew members reported by radio that 10 armed and masked men falsely claiming to be Swedish narcotics police boarded the ship, searched for drugs, found nothing, and left.

Afghanistan's elections next week aren't just a test for President Hamid Karzai. The U.S. is anxiously eyeing the election, hoping that a peaceful voting process will indicate the tide is turning in the war-torn nation. Though the Taliban has threatened to disrupt voting with suicide bombs, the U.S. is launching a new military offensive to ensure civilians don't get hurt, which has been a part of the U.S.'s new strategy in Afghanistan. Obama has called next Thursday's election "the most important event all year in Afghanistan," the Associated Press reports. If the election goes off as the U.S. hopes, voter participation will be high, especially in regions that were, until recently, under Taliban control. Insurgents have threatened to attack the polls, and it remains to be seen whether Afghan civilians will accept the military's new emphasis on protecting them.