Republicans plan to offer ideas rooted in the private sector for fixing the U.S. health-care system at President Obama’s summit Thursday. But they don’t plan on matching Democrats measure-by-measure, or giving away their perceived advantage on the issue. "You will not see from us a 2,700-page comprehensive rewrite of one-sixth of our economy," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The GOP hopes to show the health-care bill to be too expensive and radical, and that the party takes the issue seriously. At least 19 Republican members of Congress will attend Obama’s summit, and aides say they will argue that job creation should be prioritized over health care, and that the bill would explode the deficit. And they expect the president to pick at weaknesses in the GOP plan. "We're fully aware of the president's skills," a Republican aide said. "But this is a debate we've been winning for the last eight months."

The Taliban may not be the primary target in the Marja offensive in Afghanistan: The Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney and Nicholas Sabloff point to a Washington Post article that says that one of the main targets is American public opinion. The Post says the campaign is aimed at convincing Americans of a “new era” in the eight-year-old war and also at showing Afghans that American and government forces can protect them. "You want to be able to define your narrative, and we've had trouble doing that in the past," said one civilian adviser to U.S. commanders.

The president of Toyota, Akio Toyoda, took full responsibility for his company’s cars’ safety problems in a prepared statement to the House before his testimony on Capitol Hill Wednesday. “I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am sincerely sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced,” he said. James E. Lentz III, president of Toyota's U.S. division, also admitted Tuesday that the automaker's so far 8 million recalls haven't necessarily resolved the issue of unintended acceleration. Though the company previously denied that faulty electronics played a role in the problem, Lentz now says they are still examining the issue. Meanwhile, one car owner tearily told the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the time in 2006 when her Lexus involuntarily sped up to 100 miles per hour. The car drove for six miles before she was able to stop it.

Two teens were shot at a Colorado middle school as class ended and students were getting on buses at 3:30 p.m on Tuesday. Deer Creek Middle School, in suburban Denver, is only three miles from Columbine High School, the site of the country's worst school shooting in 1999. One student was shot outside the school and another inside before a math teacher tackled the suspect, 32-year-old Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood. Both students are expected to survive.

The number of American banks teetering on the edge of collapse is the highest it has been since 1993, a sign that the banking industry has yet to fully recover from the financial crisis. The FDIC’s deposit-insurance fund is deep in the red—minus $20.9 billion at the end of last year, when 702 banks were on its “problem” list, meaning the fund likely won’t recover soon. "The growth in the numbers and assets of institutions on our 'Problem List' points to a likely rise in the number of failures,” FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair said. The problem banks have assets totaling $402.8 billion, and there were just 252 on that list a year earlier and 552 in September. And there are other bad signs: For the 12th consecutive quarter, loan losses rose for banks, while total loan balances declined. But there are a few reasons for guarded optimism: Banks reported a small profit ($914 million) in the fourth quarter, compared to record losses ($37.8 billion) a year earlier.

News broke on Monday that Dick Cheney was hospitalized with chest pain; on Tuesday, a Cheney aide said tests on the former vice president showed “evidence of a mild heart attack.” That would be the fifth heart attack for the 69-year-old Cheney, who suffered his first at age 37. Cheney was still in the hospital Tuesday, but a source tells Fox News that it’s due to precaution and not to an emergency.

Although Wall Street appears to be recovering nicely from the financial crisis, local governments are still hurting, particularly thanks to the spectacular bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. San Mateo, California, saw $155 million vanish, compounding the deep state budget cuts it's facing. Teachers have been laid off from public schools, community colleges scrapped classes, commuter rail service was cut, and a women's prison won't be built. Construction spending in the county was reduced by $148 million over two years because of losses on Lehman bonds. Unemployment is double what it was a year and a half ago, up to 9 percent. Other U.S. cities and counties, concentrated mostly in Florida and California, lost $1.7 billion when the company went under, but San Mateo took the worst losses by far. Before the crash in 2008, it was on track to balance its budget within five years.

Lucy the Slut, one of the stars of the Broadway hit Avenue Q, must cover up her heaving pink puppet bosoms and glittery bra on billboards when the show tours in Colorado Springs. Lucy has flashed her assets across the country for the show that promises to be "60% adult situations and 40% foam rubber," but a billboard company in “the Evangelical Vatican” says her glittery brassiere is too risqué for the town. The posters were going to the presses when a top executive for Lamar Advertising said, “We can’t do this in Colorado Springs,” according to a promoter of the show. An account executive told the local paper, "If I have to explain it to my 4-year-old or my grandmother, we don't put it up." Lucy’s co-stars will be featured on bus stop ads instead, including Rod, a well-groomed, closeted-gay Republican.

Two and a Half Men cad Charlie Sheen is taking time off from his CBS comedy to enter a rehabilitation facility, according to his publicist. No details have been given regarding the length of his break or how it would affect the show’s production schedule. The brief statement from publicist Stan Rosenfield only offered that rehab is a “preventative measure,” and that the actor has “asked that his privacy be honored,” and that “no further statements are planned.” Sheen is following in the footsteps of his wife Brooke Mueller, who also went to rehab after an alleged Christmas incident of domestic violence. All this comes on the same day that TMZ reported that Child Protective Services visited the Sheen residence. Mueller is reportedly suing the rehab center she went to for a lack of discretion and invasion of privacy after a staffer allegedly leaked the news of her admittance into The Canyon, a Malibu treatment center that offers numerous detox programs.

The attention may be on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell but meanwhile another barrier in the military has fallen: The Navy is going to lift its ban on female submarine crew members, sources tell ABC News. The only thing between female sailors and the deep blue sea is Congress—a 30-day window for congressional comment began on Monday. Both the civilian secretary of the Navy, Ray Maybus, and the chief of naval operations, Admiral Gary Roughhead, support ending the ban. It will, however, be at least a year and a half before any women serve on a sub, as the Navy plans to phase them in gradually and the female officers first in line will require at least a year of “nuclear school.”

Is enjoying the smell of fresh-cut wild flowers on your Gulfstream such a crime? Politico reports that RNC Chairman Michael Steele has spent twice as much as his predecessors on private planes, in addition to outspending them on flowers, limos, and catering. (Car expenses have tripled under Steele, while food expenses have nearly doubled.) Donors are reportedly upset over Steele’s lavish spending, which included a Christmas Party catered by Wolfgang Puck’s D.C. crew at the Newseum and a decision to move the RNC’s annual winter meeting from Washington to Hawaii. Under Ken Mehlman, the 2006 holiday party was thrown at RNC headquarters and the caterer was Chick-Fil-A. “Michael Steele is an imperial chairman,” said one longtime Republican fundraiser. “He flies in private aircraft. He drives in private cars. He has private consultants that are paid ridiculous retainers. He fancies himself a presidential candidate and wants all of the trappings and gets them by using other people’s money.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Tuesday that Republicans should "stop crying over reconciliation"—the procedure that would require only a simple majority to pass health-care reform—because it's on the table. Reid acted annoyed by a question of whether reconciliation was the only way to press forward on the reform effort, and answered no, but also said the GOP should quit "lamenting" the possibility of the procedure. "I would recommend to them to go back and look at history," Reid said, adding that it had been used 21 times since 1981, the "vast majority" of the time by Republicans. So, "they should stop crying about reconciliation as if it's never been done before. It's been done by almost every Congress.... Contract for America was done with reconciliation. Tax cuts, done with reconciliation. Medicare, done with reconciliation." Reid added that President Obama's efforts to reach across the aisle—as in Thursday's televised health-care summit—were genuine.

Bad news from ABC News: The network is set to undergo a serious round of cuts that would reduce the size of the newsroom once anchored by Peter Jennings, and that now stars Diane Sawyer, by up to 20 percent. Accompanying the job cuts is a transformation of the network’s current approach to newsgathering. Sources indicate that weak advertising in today’s economic climate has executives opting to weed out any unnecessary jobs from the newsroom, with many of those who remain after the cuts being left with the dual roles of producers and talent (a trend among media outlets today). The cuts will start Wednesday morning, with employees being asked to accept buyouts. If not enough volunteers emerge, then layoffs are likely to follow. Anxiety has crept into the newsroom at ABC, with employees not only fearing for their jobs but for the network’s ability to generate scoops and effectively cover major news events. It’s a trend that has caught fire within the industry, with CBS News cutting 90-plus jobs this month as both networks seek to jump on the digital journalism bandwagon before it’s too late.

Former NBA star Jayson Williams was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for accidentally killing his limo driver with a shotgun in 2002. “I’m terribly sorry,” Williams told the family of the victim, Costas Christofi. “I’m not a bad man, but I acted badly on February 14, 2002.” Williams also apologized to his own family, saying “You deserve a better father, son, brother than I’ve been.” He will be eligible for parole after 18 months.

If Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck can’t play nice, who can? Though he never mentioned Beck by name, Limbaugh laid into him during his radio program Monday for the negativity in Beck’s keynote address at CPAC that bashed progressives—and the GOP. "The point at this stage is to support the conservatives in and outside public office,” Limbaugh said. “I certainly would not have ignored the other team on the field, the Democrats. They're the only reason we're in this mess. The Democrat Party is the only reason we are threatened with the things we're threatened with. The Democrat Party. Solely. They own it. There's no evidence I see of anybody colluding with the Democrats on this health-care business.” In addition to CPAC, Beck is getting attention from the right for his public recognition of global warming. Despite his fierce criticism of Al Gore, he admitted that it is an important concern of his. "You'd be an idiot not to notice the temperature change,” he said in an interview with USA Magazine.

Disney has moved up the DVD release date for Alice in Wonderland to a full five weeks earlier than its normal schedule, angering Europe’s top movie theater chain in the process. Odeon & UCI Cinemas group, which operates 132 theaters across Europe, says it has no plans to play the Johnny Depp film for fears that moviegoers will skip the big screen in favor of an earlier DVD release. Analysts say that Disney’s decision is part of its long-term plan to decrease reliance on cinemas and increase its DVD, Blu-ray, and online distribution revenues. DVDs used to be released six months after a film’s theatrical opening, but studios have been quietly hacking away at that period. Disney’s plan shrinks the wait to 12 weeks. Stateside, negotiations are still continuing between Disney and AMC, leaving 4,500 screens up in the air. Analysts don’t foresee a protest from AMC or other top US theater chains, because the movie is expected to be the year’s first mega blockbuster release.

Jaws could soon become a work of history. A new study by Stanford University shows that there are fewer than 3,500 great white sharks prowling in the ocean. The deadly predators, which can grow up to 20 feet in length and weigh up to 5,000 pounds, are now officially rarer than tigers. “Until recently, people thought sharks were bad and there was no urge to save great whites,” said Dr. Ronald O'Dor, a senior scientist at the Census of Marine Life who has seen the findings. “Now people are beginning to understand that they are rare and that they are a wonderful species.” The study, which was conducted by tracking sharks with radio transmitters, also found that great whites travel incredible distances, sometimes swimming 12,000 miles in nine months.

The man of steel is also made of gold, apparently: A copy of the first comic book featuring Superman sold for $1 million on Monday, a new record for a comic book. The 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1 was sold by a private seller to a private buyer, neither of whom disclosed their names. Previous copies of the book had sold for between $300,000 and $450,000, but this particular copy was in great condition—an 8 out of 10. According to its cover, it originally cost 10 cents.

Is it time to start asking not if the Democrats will lose the House in November, but how badly they will lose it? Harry Joe crunches the numbers and they don’t look good: Even if you factor out polls that Democrats say are biased against them, Republicans still register their most favorable generic-ballot results under a Democratic president since 1946. (The generic ballot poses some form of the question: “If Congressional elections were held today, which party’s candidate would you vote for in your district?”) Joe notes that Republicans could “easily gain” 50 to 60 seats in November and a gain of greater than 60 seats also looks “quite possible.”

Over a year after she became one of America’s most notorious teen moms, Bristol Palin will be getting back in on the act, so to speak. ABC announced Tuesday that she will be playing herself on an upcoming episode of ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a show based on how one high school student, Amy, and her family deal with her unexpected pregnancy. The script calls for Bristol to play Amy’s friend at a music program for teen mothers. “I am thrilled to be on this show and to be part of a program that educates teens and young adults about the consequences of teen pregnancy,” Bristol said in a statement.

You’ll be hearing about this one in the mail. With new government regulations about to radically alter the way banks charge overdraft fees on debit cards, many banks are taking a broad, aggressive approach to make sure the billions of dollars they collect every year in penalty income does not suddenly vanish. Beginning this summer, banks will be required to have customers opt in to overdraft protection. If they do not opt in and try to spend more than is in their account, their debit card will simply not work. Previously, the bank would make the money available and charge a penalty fee of up to $35 or more for the service—banks collected an estimated $20 billion from overdraft fees on debit purchases and ATM transactions in 2009, according to The New York Times. But now, the scramble to convince consumers to opt in is turning into a marketing blitz through email, direct mailing, and telephone appeals.

Expect Oprah to like this. The first of several Barack Obama biographies to hit bookstores this spring will be The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by New Yorker editor and Pulitzer Prize winner David Remnick, due for release on April 9. Based on hundreds of on-the-record interviews, including talks with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson, and Bill Ayers, the book is said to focus on Obama’s life up until his inauguration as president. Remnick won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1994 account of the fall of the Soviet Union, Lenin's Tomb.

A Queens school-bus driver fatally shot his wife of 19 years and their two teenage daughters before turning the high-powered rifle on himself. Early Monday morning, police found the bodies of Dionne Coy-Bailey, 42, and her two daughters—Yanique Bailey, 19, and Yolanne Bailey, 14—each shot once in the head. Mark Bailey, their father, was found in a living room chair. The motive remains unclear, though friends and neighbors said the gun itself had been the source of severe disagreements. Coy-Bailey had moved out with the couple’s youngest daughter in December because her husband ignored her requests to get the gun out of the house. They moved back in just before Christmas.

Vancouver police have received several tips that former Growing Pains star Andrew Koenig, missing since Feb. 14, is still in the Vancouver area. Reports of sightings have flooded police since he disappeared nine days ago, according to TMZ, with some saying that he was seen as far away as the remote west coast of Vancouver Island. Police say that the search remains “for a living person.”

Are lawmakers in cahoots with carmakers? As Congress prepares to start hearings Wednesday on Toyota's massive recall, government watchdog groups are investigating the deep financial and personal ties between the two groups. Toyota, a major lobbying force in Washington, boasts close ties to a number of the same lawmakers who will lead inquiries into the safety problems that have forced the company to recall more than 8 million vehicles. Toyota, with 31 lobbyists in Washington last year, dished out nearly $25 million on federal regulatory and legislative matters in the last five years. No other foreign automaker comes close. More than a dozen lawmakers are personally invested in the firm, with Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) reporting six-figures in Toyota stock. Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) helped the company found a factory in West Virginia.

Maybe they should try Olbermann and Maddow on ice? The Olympic hockey match between the U.S. and Canada on Sunday netted MSNBC 8.22 million viewers—the network’s second-highest ratings of all time. The record belongs to Election Night 2008, when 8.23 million people tuned in to watch Barack Obama’s election. It also outdrew Game 7 of the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup, with drew 8 million viewers.

Maybe to make sure he’s not the most hated person on The Tonight Show when it returns next week, Jay Leno has booked a guest more controversial than himself. Sarah Palin will join Leno on Tuesday for his second show as host of The Tonight Show. His first show will feature Olympians including Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn. Other episodes in Leno’s first two weeks will feature Simon Cowell and the Jersey Shore cast. Interesting aside: Adam Lambert’s Web site says he’ll appear on March 2, the same day as Palin; but Leno’s schedule makes no mention of Lambert.

Dick Cheney may not believe it, but the civilian criminal system can work: Najibullah Zazi, the Colorado driver accused of plotting a terrorist attack on New York City, has accepted a plea deal and has pled guilty to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and other chages. The deal was reached after Zazi cooperated with police over the past few weeks—one source says he was convinced after being told his mother could face charges. Zazi told prosecutors his planned attack was aimed at New York's subway system. "I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the U.S. military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," he told a judge in a federal court.

In January, Alex Massie called New York Representative Peter King “America’s worst congressman” but maybe that honor should go to Steve King instead? According to a source who heard him, the Republican from Iowa told a crowd at CPAC on Saturday that he could “empathize” with Joe Stack, the Austin man who intentionally crashed his plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas last week. He said that he wanted to hold a fundraiser to help people “implode” their local IRS offices. Asked later by a reporter about the attack, King said, “I think if we had abolished the IRS back when I first advocated then he wouldn’t have had a target for his airplane.”

There’s a Plan B for Iraq: Army General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Baghdad, said on Monday that U.S. combat troops could remain in Iraq past this summer’s planned withdrawal deadline if violence surges after national elections next month. By September 1, all U.S. combat forces are scheduled to leave Iraq, with 50,000 troops staying behind in an advisory role. “I have contingency plans that I've briefed to the chain of command this week that we could execute if we run into problems," Odierno said of his plan to leave more troops in case of violence. "We're prepared to execute those."

With a tender, balletic performance Monday night, Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue upset the natural order of ice dancing by earning the gold medal for Canada. It was the first time a North American pair had finished first since ice dancing became an Olympic event in 1976, and only the third time that the gold went to a non-Russian or Soviet couple. “I'll probably wear it in the shower,” Moir said. "I'm not going to take it off all week." Two-time U.S. champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White earned the silver. The Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, who made headlines for their distasteful Australian aboriginal costumes last month, were third, leaving Russia with the awkward prospect of going home without winning a single skating event for the first time since 1960.

While making yet another apology for their massive recalls, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, James Lentz, testified Tuesday before a House panel that the company is "confident that no problems exist with the electronic throttle control system in our vehicles," according to The Wall Street Journal. The sudden acceleration that many Toyota and Lexus drivers have experienced, Lentz maintains, is due to improperly placed floor mats and sticky gas pedals. Both of those faults have already been covered by the automaker’s massive recalls. “Put simply, it has taken us too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues, despite all of our good faith efforts,” Lentz said in his prepared testimony. Toyota President Akio Toyoda is scheduled to appear on Wednesday.