Police have found bloody clothes stashed in the ceiling of the lab where Annie Marie Le, a 24-year-old Yale grad student, who disappeared five days before she was to wed, worked and was last seen, the New York Daily News reports.  Investigators have named no suspects and denied finding a body. According to fellow students, Le and her fiancé were an extremely happy couple. "She showed me her engagement ring when she came to see my lab," Le's former professor says. "They seemed very happy." Investigators have reportedly questioned a professor who canceled a class after Le's disappearance but before it had been announced, and are also considering that the crime was a burglary gone bad in the lab, or a kidnapping.

A key figure in the federal corruption probe into former Governor Rod Blagojevich is dead, reports the Chicago Tribune. A body identified as Christopher Kelly was brought into the morgue, the examiner's office said, and hospital officials say he died of salicylate intoxication. Salicylate is used in over-the-counter pain medications, and police are treating the investigation as a possible homicide or suicide. Kelly was a former top fundraiser for Blagojevich and was indicted alongside the governor in April. Kelly, who owns a roofing business, pleaded guilty Tuesday to mail fraud in a surprise move a day before his scheduled trial. Kelly said he was under pressure to cooperate in the federal investigation, but that he refused. He faced five years of prison on top of three more years for tax offenses.  

Alternately singing "God Bless America" and hurling criticisms at the president and Congress, tens of thousands of protesters from around the nation marched to the Capitol on Saturday to protest what they call the intrusion of big government. The event was billed as the culmination of town-hall protests over August and was organized by antitax groups. A few Confederate flags waved in the air, The New York Times reports, and some Revolutionary War protesters were dressed in colonial gear. Politico's Ben Smith reports that signs proclaiming "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" were being distributed. “This is not some kind of radical right-wing group,” Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said. “I just hope the Congress, the Senate, and the president recognize that people are afraid of what’s going on.”

Using a Treasury Department report to bolster his case, President Obama took to the airwaves Saturday to tell Americans that health-care reform would benefit more than just the uninsured. He pointed to survey data showing that 48 percent of non-elderly Americans lost their insurance for at least a month from 1997 and 2006 and warned that the economic downturn likely will boost the number even higher without legislative action. "I've heard from Americans with insurance who thought that 'the uninsured' always referred to someone else," Obama said in the address. "But between skyrocketing costs and insurance-company practices, they're beginning to worry that they could find themselves uninsured, too."

Seven years after he terrorized a city and a nation already reeling from the 9/11 and anthrax attacks, D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad may die for his crimes. Virginia prosecutors are asking a state court to set an execution date of November 9. Muhammad, 48, embarked on a seemingly random spree of violence over a three-week span in October 2002 with his partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, using a high-powered rifle to shoot 13 people, 10 of whom died, in the Washington, D.C. area. Malvo, meanwhile, remains in jail for life.

Brad Pitt allegedly spent $83,500 (£50,000) on a home for his kids' gerbils, which features a maze of tunnels, seesaws and platforms, according to The Sun. Pitt has always been an architecture fanatic—he was an apprentice to Frank Gehry in 2005. "It's incredibly complex and cost a lot, but Brad's more than happy with any activity that can combine his two passions—his kids and architecture," a source told The Sun.

What once was a ubiquitous campaign debate is now reality for the White House: The U.S. is accepting an offer by Iran to hold unconditional talks. According to The New York Times, the decision will entail sending a senior American representative along with emissaries from five other countries to meet with Iranian officials. Expectations are low for the meeting, however, as Iranian leaders continue to insist they will accept no compromises over their nuclear program and the recent election crisis in Iran further complicates matters. “We’ll be looking to see if they are willing to engage seriously on these issues,” a State Department spokesman told the Times. “If we have talks, we will plan to bring up the nuclear issue.” Then-candidate Obama repeatedly pledged in 2008 to negotiate with the Iranian leadership over nuclear proliferation without preconditions, in contrast to the Bush administration's insistence that the rogue state curb its nuclear program before sitting down at the table.

A multimillion-dollar collection of art from icon Andy Warhol has been stolen from a West Los Angeles home. A housekeeper for art collector Richard L. Weisman noticed on Sept. 3 that several pieces were missing, though police say there was no sign of forced entry and nothing else in the home was disturbed. The thief left several Warhol works untouched. Weisman left the house the day before the housekeeper made the discovery. An anonymous source has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the paintings. Weisman was a friend of Warhol's and commissioned the silk screen Athletes series in the late 1970s.

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter broke a record that stood for 72 years on Friday, surpassing Lou Gehrig to lead the Yankees in all-time hits. With a single past first, Jeter broke the record with his 2,722nd base hit, sparking a massive ovation from the home crowd and more than two minutes of chants. He told reporters later that he "felt kind of awkward" after the play, unsure how to respond to the cheers for his 14-year career with the same team. "He just wants to win every game," catcher Jorge Posada told Sports Illustrated. "It's unbelievable. He sets the standard so high."

Members of both the left and the right have reached into their wallets in the aftermath of the "You lie!" comment. The challenger to Republican Congressman Joe Wilson has raised $1 million dollars in the 48 hours since Wilson shouted "You lie!" during the president's speech, while Wilson has raised $700,000. Wilson now trails his Democratic challenger, Rob Miller, by one point, according to Public Policy Polling. Miller, who has twice run against Wilson and lost, now leads 44 to 43 percent. Only 29 percent of respondents approved of Wilson’s actions, while 62 percent disapproved.

To cheers from auto workers in America and jeers from businesses in China, President Obama is imposing new tariffs on car and truck tires from China. "China strongly opposes this serious act of trade protectionism by the U.S.," a statement posted on China's Ministry of Commerce Web site said. "This act not only violates the rules of the World Trade Organization but also violates the relevant commitments made by the U.S. government at the G-20 financial summit." The White House decision came in response to an International Trade Commission ruling that Chinese tires were hurting American producers. "The president decided to remedy the clear disruption to the U.S. tire industry based on the facts and the law in this case," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told Forbes.

Having defined the sport for a generation, Michael Jordan finally entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, with an emotional—and surprisingly funny—speech on Friday. Crying as he first took the stage, Jordan jumped between thanking his supporters and opponents alike while taking shots at everyone from the coach who famously left him off the high-school varsity team (and who was in attendance) to diminutive ex-Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, who he called "the little guy." Jordan balked at his consensus status as the greatest player in the game's history. "When people say that, I cringe a little bit," Jordan said. "I never played against Jerry West. I never played against Elgin Baylor. I never played against Wilt Chamberlain."

Larry Summers, the president's chief economic adviser, said Friday that the nation's unemployment rate will most likely stay "unacceptably high" for years. “The level of unemployment is unacceptably high,” Summers told reporters. “And will, by all forecasts, remain unacceptably high for a number of years.” Summers still praised his boss's $787 billion stimulus package, saying it helped stave off even greater economic suffering. The unemployment rate is at a 26-year high of 9.7 percent, and 6.9 million jobs have been lost in the recession overall. High unemployment has the potential to trip up Democrats in 2010, who hope to claim the stimulus as a victory.

The U.S. Census Bureau has dropped Acorn, one of the nation’s largest community organizations, as a partner for publicizing the 2010 Census after hidden-camera videos showed four employees giving tax advice on running a brothel, The Wall Street Journal reports. The employees addressed a man posing as an aspiring politician and a woman who said she was his girlfriend and a prostitute. The filmmaker is reported to be 25-year-old James O’Keefe, an activist for conservative issues. He told Acorn workers in both Baltimore and Washington D.C. offices that he planned to use his girlfriend’s prostitution profits to fund his campaign. The workers, who’ve been fired, told the couple to set up a company so they could prove they had the income to buy a house where the brothel could be run. "We will continue to do what we've said we'll do, which is encourage people in communities to participate fully in the Census," said Acorn’s deputy national director.