Toyota’s difficulties came to a head on Wednesday, as CEO Akio Toyoda and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood took the stand before Congress. "We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization," Toyoda said. "I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced." Lahood, meanwhile, said, “I want anybody who has one of those [recalled] cars to take it to the dealer and make sure it gets fixed,” adding that the cars “are not safe.”

Well looky here: The Senate actually passed something. The body voted 70-28 on Wednesday to pass a $15 billion jobs bill that extends tax credits to employers that hire unemployed workers. The measure is puny compared to the $154 billion jobs bill the House passed last year, but is still a victory for Majority Leader Harry Reid. Republicans who voted for the bill include Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and Midwesterners George Voinovich and Kit Bond.

Has the bombshell finally landed? A week after The New York Times wrote about David W. Johnson’s meteoric rise from being New York Gov. David Paterson’s driver to his top aide, the paper has released its next installment of the Paterson files: It reports that a woman accused Johnson of violently assaulting her last fall, but involvement from state police and possibly the governor himself led to her dropping the charges. According to the woman’s lawyer, Paterson called her in early February to ask if there was anything he could do for her. (Paterson says that the woman initiated the call.) The lawyer would not specify whether or not the call caused her to drop the charges. The woman, who does not want to be identified for fear of retaliation, told police that Johnson “choked her, stripped her of much of her clothing, smashed her against a mirrored dresser.” Paterson said in a statement that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would be investigating the case, and also stated that Johnson would be suspended without pay.

General Motors couldn't close the deal on selling their behemoth Hummer brand to  Chinese heavy-equipment maker Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. The two companies had been in talks about the sale, but were stalled by the Chinese government, according to the Associated Press. The Hummer brand, known for its oversize, gas-guzzling, and, some may argue, American ethos, wasn't an appealing buy for Beijing. GM says it will discontinue the Hummer.

Even President Obama is recognizing that his bipartisan health-care summit may not do the trick in pushing through a reform bill. The White House is reportedly already preparing a slightly less sweeping fallback plan. Citing an unnamed source "familiar with the plan," The Wall Street Journal reports that the backup would provide health insurance to around 15 million Americans, which is less than half the number that would be covered under Obama's current proposal. But, at one-quarter of the price—some $950 billion over 10 years—Plan B could be more appealing to the many Republicans in Congress that Obama has yet to win over, particularly without a filibuster-proof Senate at his disposal. Liberals would be disappointed at the cutback, while the amendment would appease conservative Dems anxious about the upcoming midterm elections.

Tilikum, the orca that killed a trainer at an Orlando SeaWorld Wednesday afternoon, always had a bad reputation, even before he turned on trainer Dawn Brancheau. Though trainers often swam with the seven other killer whales at SeaWorld, they were forbidden from doing so with Tilikum, the largest orca in any of the chain’s parks. The reason was that Tilikum had attacked humans before. In 1991, he and two other orcas drowned someone in front of spectators at Sealand of the Pacific, in Victoria, British Columbia. Eight years later, Tilikum was believed to have bitten the naked body of a man who had apparently crept into SeaWorld after hours and died of hypothermia in the water. And on Wednesday, one park visitor who witnessed the gruesome attack on the trainer said that the whale "thrashed her all around" after suddenly coming out of the water.

Lindsey Vonn seems to make headlines when she doesn't win a gold medal as much as when she does. This time, she didn't. She was knocked out during the first run of the women's giant slalom after crashing in foggy conditions Wednesday, breaking a bone in her little finger. It's unclear whether it will prevent her from competing in the final event, the women's slalom on Feb. 26, of her injury-riddled Olympics. Meanwhile, in hockey, the U.S. men's team defeated Switzerland 2-0 to continue its unexpected run and make the semifinals. Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils scored two third-period goals, including one on an empty net, to earn the Americans a spot against the winner of the Czech Republic-Finland game. The U.S. finished the day still atop the medal standings with 26, followed by Germany with 24. Both nations are tied for the most golds, of which they currently hold seven.

Health-insurance companies could soon be forced to play by the same rules of free-market competition as everyone else. By an overwhelming majority, the House voted Wednesday to remove a 65-year-old antitrust exemption in order to put the brakes on sharply rising insurance costs. In California, Anthem Blue Cross customers are seeing an average rate increase of 25 percent. The vote came less than 24 hours before President Obama’s health-care summit, his latest effort to break the deadlock in Congress on his overhaul of the industry. The Senate’s version of the bill, though narrower in some ways, also strips medical malpractice insurers of the exemption. Obama has already said he would sign it into law.

"Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me." That was the first official tweet from @ConanOBrien, which was stamped as a "verified account" an hour after the ousted late-night host first posted his musing. The account already has already surpassed 80,000 followers, which, if any consolation, is more than double the followers for @jayleno. The bio on Conan's account reads: "I had a show. Then I had a different show. Now I have a Twitter account."

In a stunning decision Wednesday, an Italian judge convicted three Google executives of violating Italy’s privacy laws. The charges followed a YouTube video from September 2006 that depicted four high-school boys in Turin, Italy, taunting a mentally disabled boy. The video has been offline since November, when Google, which owns YouTube, responded to two complaints, including one from the Italian Interior Ministry, by removing it within 24 hours. Though found guilty, the three execs won't be doing hard time because their six-month sentence was suspended. But Google, meanwhile, has reacted angrily. The company’s vice president and deputy general counsel for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said in a blog post that the ruling represented an attack on Internet freedom.

You can't get married to your same-sex partner in Maryland, but at least the state will recognize your union. The decision by the Maryland attorney general goes into effect immediately, and directs all Maryland agencies to bestow gay couples the same rights they have been afforded in the five other states where same-sex marriages have been legalized. The decision comes in anticipation of what many expect will be a spring-time issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples. The policy will stand until it is challenged in court, a move that is expected to refine what exact rights same-sex couples in Maryland will be entitled to. "People have always had the ability to sue and say I was married in Iowa, I was married in Connecticut, I was married in Massachusetts and I'm being denied those rights here in Maryland," the attorney general said. "[T]his will give them a floorplan and a map on how to do it because I think the law is pretty clear."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner gathered with industry trade groups on Tuesday to urge them not to oppose financial reform, but, as with so much else, it appears the true obstacle to Obama’s agenda is the Senate: The Wall Street Journal reports that key senators are bailing on the Volcker Rule, which would prohibit commercial banks from certain risky trading activities. When Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd unveils the Senate’s plan next week, the Journal says it will give regulators the power to “limit and potentially ban risky trading at banks,” but it will not ban such trades outright, as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker has advocated. Under Dodd’s plan, regulators will review banks on a case-by-case basis and be able to order them to limit or halt activities that are too risky.

Last week President Obama pledged to build America's first new nuclear plants in three decades in Georgia. This week in Vermont, lawmakers voted to shut down the aging Vermont Yankee reactor. "The plant is old and tired," Peter Shumlin, president pro tem of the state senate, said Tuesday. "It was designed to be retired in 2012, and that's what we're going to do." Though nuclear reactors provide energy without emitting harmful greenhouse gasses as a byproduct, Vermont lawmakers were concerned about safety scares at the plant, including a cooling-tower collapse a few years ago and a tritium leak this year. Officials in Washington shot back at Vermont, saying, "Nuclear's just easy for them to pick on."

Team Palin is down a man: Sarah Palin’s senior adviser and spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton, has resigned to spend more time with her 2-year-old daughter. Stapleton is one of the few aides whom Palin has trusted during her various gigs as governor of Alaska, vice-presidential candidate, author, and Fox News contributor. The day of Stapleton’s resignation, Wednesday, is also her birthday.

You might not guess it at first glance, but a new painting by Vincent Van Gogh has been discovered. Le Blute-Fin Mill is unusual for Van Gogh in that it depicts several human figures and is not as brightly colored as his later works, but it bears the stamp of an art store the artist frequented and uses the same pigments that he used in other works. It is believed to have been painted in 1886 while Van Gogh was living in Paris. The last Van Gogh to be authenticated was in 1995.

Who will be the lucky man? Octomom Nadya Suleman says she doesn’t plan on having more children, unless she gets married. In that case, she says she would want to add only one child to her brood of 14. "If some day far, far, far, far in the future, when they're older, if I meet somebody. ... I'm not going to say 100 percent 'no,'" Suleman said on The View. "I'm not going to say some day far in the future [I will] get married and want a baby with that person." Suleman’s octuplets turned one in January.

More than 200,000 people took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday to protest the Greek government's pay cuts, tax hikes, hiring freezes, and other austerity measures. Also, more than two million of the five million-strong Greek workforce walked off the job to join a 24-hour strike called by the General Confederation of Greek Workers. "The crisis should be paid for by the plutocracy," read one protester's banner. Another one called for "Permanent and steady jobs for all."

You might have read a James Frey book without even knowing it. The A Million Little Pieces author, whom Oprah famously excoriated for fibbing in parts of that memoir, is working on at least nine projects with collaborators that will be published under pseudonyms, the New York Post reports. It's rumored that Frey is John Twelve Hawks, the author behind the bestselling sci-fi series the Fourth Realm Trilogy, although James Patterson, Stephen King, and Michael Chabon have also been suggested as the series' author. Frey may also be Pittacus Lore, the author of I Am Number Four, due out in August, a story of teenage aliens on the planet Lorien. For the moment, Frey has been coy about the whole thing, saying, "I will neither confirm nor deny that I am John Twelve Hawks, Pittacus Lore, or anyone else," noting that he is working on projects that will come out with various pen names.

How and why does the Google logo change on the search engine? Michael Lopez, the head of the company's team of doodlers (yes, professional doodlers), told CNN all about their process for holidays or events—like a new variation for each day of the Olympics. Google co-founder Sergey Brin began the tradition of switching up the logo in 1998 when he drew a fresh logo to commemorate the Burning Man festival. The doodling team does "a lot of collaboration" and tries to reflect Google's emphasis on "innovation and technology," which is why so many of the doodles relate to inventors. They take suggestions for new logos from the staff and public.

The murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai just got a lot more complicated. Officials have added 15 suspects to their list, all believed to have obtained phony passports through identity theft. The total number of suspects is 26, including 12 Britons, six Irish, four French, three Australians, and one German. Fourteen of the suspects used credit cards issued by the U.S. company MetaBank while in the Gulf. According to flight details released by the Dubai government today, some of the suspects arrived in Dubai as early as March of last year, and over a four-day period last November, at least nine of the suspects were in Dubai at once. The Israeli spy service Mossad has been blamed for the extraordinarily complex hit, although Israel has refused to confirm or deny involvement.

Survivors of the January 12 Haitian earthquake are still in dire need of medical care, although emergency medical teams are packing up and leaving, The Wall Street Journal reports. Haitian and U.S. medical officials estimate that 25 to 30 percent of the surgeries performed after the earthquake will have to be redone because the initial surgeries were done in makeshift operating rooms that weren't sterile and many wounds are dirty. Diarrhea, malaria, and other diseases are also beginning to spread through crowded tent communities, threatening to overwhelm medical professionals bracing for the second wave of patients. According to the U.S. health emergency coordinator, medical aid is moving to a second stage to ensure that "people who are displaced don't suffer from indirect consequences."

Obama's election hasn't been the silver bullet that gun rights activists feared—in fact, gun-rights advocates have successfully pushed for increased gun rights in many states. Last week Virginia passed a bill allowing people to carry concealed weapons in bars and other places that serve booze, less than three years after the Virginia Tech massacre. Montana and Tennessee passed the first laws exempting guns and ammunition made in their states from federal regulation last year. Arizona and Wyoming are pondering a half-dozen proposals, including allowing residents to carry concealed weapons without permits, while Indiana blocked employers from banning guns in vehicles on company property. Although Obama signed bills allowing guns in national parks and luggage on Amtrak trains, gun-rights advocates are still skeptical, as the chief executive of the NRA put it, "we know that the first chance Obama gets, he will pounce on us."

Discouraging news for health-care advocates: With Thursday’s summit between President Obama and Republicans expected to produce no real breakthroughs, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is warning that he may lack the votes to pass health-care reform. "We may not be able to do all. I hope we can do all," he tells The Wall Street Journal. While he supports a "comprehensive piece of legislation," he adds, "If you can’t do a whole, doing part is also good.” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs also snuffed liberals’ hopes of a public-option revival, saying on Tuesday, “There isn’t enough political support in the majority to get this through.”

Sometimes life does actually imitate art. Jewelers Atul Shah, 48, and Mahaveer Kankariya, 43, have been charged with setting up a robbery of their own store similar to a heist pulled in Guy Ritchie's film Snatch. The jewelers allegedly hired gunmen to dress up like Orthodox Jews and burgle their store, for the insurance money. According to the police, two gunmen in black coats, hats, and fake beards waltzed past security using fake IDs in broad daylight on December 31, 2008, then pulled a gun on Shah and another employee, duct taped them together to make the robbery look real, and "cleaned out" the safe. Shah and Kankariya claimed that the robbers, who are still at large, made off with $4 million in diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and jewelry. The police say they have evidence that the jewelers "removed the jewelry from the location before the robbery," and have charged them with grand larceny, insurance fraud, and falsifying business records.

No pardoning here: ESPN has suspended Tony Kornheiser, co-host of Pardon the Interruption, for two weeks after he insulted female colleague Hannah Storm on his radio show. Kornheiser made fun of Storm’s “horrifying, horrifying outfit.” He added, “She's got on red go-go boots and a Catholic-school plaid skirt . . . way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now . . . She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body.” Kornheiser is the third network personality that ESPN has suspended in recent months.

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.

South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na dazzled judges and audience on Tuesday night with a sultry James Bond medley in the women's short program at the Vancouver Olympics, shattering her own world record with a score of 78.5 points, and pulling nearly five points ahead of her longtime rival and nearest competitor Mao Asada of Japan. The competition isn't over yet, though—Asada has two triple axels planned for her Thursday night free skate; she is one of the few women who can perform such jumps. Canada's Joannie Rochette is in third place after a moving performance skated a mere two days after the death of her mother.

The Democratic Party’s brief romance with Wall Street is over: The securities and investments industry gave 2 to 1 to Democrats at the start of 2009, but now it’s giving almost half its money to Republicans, says The Washington Post. Also, after briefly giving more to Democrats, commercial banks and their employees gave Republicans nearly twice as much as they gave Democrats in the last three months of 2009. Banks are presumably nervous about Obama’s push for financial regulation, though it’s not exactly as though the Democratic regime has quashed them: Bank bonuses rose 17 percent in 2009 to $20.3 billion. That’s short of the record $25.6 billion paid in 2005, but because so much of last year’s bonuses were paid in deferred stock, the actual value of those bonuses is likely to be much greater than reported.

Well, we know he can do the Massachusetts accent: Deadline Hollywood reports that Matt Damon has signed up to play Robert Kennedy in a new biopic. The film will be based on the Evan Thomas biography His Life, with Gary Ross, whose previous films include Pleasantville and Sea Biscuit, directing. Director Chris Columbus is also putting together a film about Kennedy’s 1968 campaign.