Maybe Eliot Spitzer could use a golf partner: New York Governor David Paterson dropped his 2010 election campaign on Friday. He maintained that he had not abused his office—“not now, not ever”—but that he was “being realistic about politics.” Paterson had just announced his election campaign last weekend, but was derailed by revelations this week that he may have personally intervened in a domestic-abuse dispute between his aide David Johnson and his girlfriend.

Crash your White House parties while you still can: White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers will step down next month, according to the Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet. “As we turn the corner on the first year,” Rogers said, “this is a good time for me to explore opportunities in the corporate world.” Many blamed Rogers for the breach of security that allowed the Salahis into Obama’s first State Dinner. In her 14 months in Washington, Rogers presided over 330 events.

Republicans have repeatedly warned Democrats that they’ll stop at nothing to stall the reconciliation process, which they can do by offering copious amounts of amendments. One Republican aide even said, “While debate time is limited, the number and content of amendments are not.” But is this a foolproof strategy? Reconciliation experts say that the Dems can circumvent those amendments by simply waiving them. But how can they stop the onslaught of amendments Republicans may throw at them? “That's uncharted territory,” says Talking Points Memo, “but, as one expert points out, the chair in the Senate—a.k.a. Vice President Joe Biden—has almost unlimited power to make rulings so long as 50 members are willing to go along with them. And if Republican tactics were to go over the line, Democrats would theoretically be able to put a stop to them.”

It seems like the Toyota scandal just keeps on going. Two days after the carmaker’s president testified before Congress, additional investigations now reveal that the company “withheld substantial” evidence in vehicle liability lawsuits. Documents from the company’s former lawyer reveal that Toyota mishandled safety disclosures related to rollovers, not the acceleration issue that has led to the recent round of recalls. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, claimed Toyota has demonstrated a “systematic disregard for the law.” In a 2005 memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Toyota’s then-lawyer wrote, “It is simply not acceptable for a… company with 30 billion yen sitting in the bank to not take action and devote the resources to fulfill its discovery obligations.” Towns alleges Toyota routinely hid electronic records in litigation and that they “withheld substantial relevant information” from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In a statement, Toyota said it “acted appropriately with respect to product liability litigation and our discovery practices.”

Hopefully they sell Powerade at sex rehab: Gatorade announced Friday that it is ending its endorsement deal with Tiger Woods. “We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” a Gatorade spokeswoman said. “We wish him all the best.” AT&T and Accenture have already dropped Woods, but Nike so far is standing by him.

Just two days before the Closing Ceremony, the Olympic drama hasn't died down. American short-track speedskating favorite Apolo Ohno narrowly avoided a crash that put him in 500-meter final. Though it looked like he would earn a silver medal, Ohno was disqualified for grazing another skater. U.S. pilot for the four-man bobsled, Steven Holcomb, set a track record in the first heat on Friday, which he then broke in the second. If he keeps that pace up, chances are high that the Americans will have gold around their necks in the final two heats on Saturday. Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer has had a streak of bad luck—a mistake in Friday’s race cost the favorites from the Netherlands a spot in the finals. The U.S. team, led by Chad Hedrick, now advances against the odds and will at least receive a silver medal. Sweden also had an unexpectedly successful day, coming back from behind to beat Canada for the gold in women’s curling on Friday. Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is also one step closer to breaking a record. The biathlon relay skier won another gold Friday and could soon be the all-time leading Winter Olympic medal winner.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a 7.3 earthquake struck Japan near the southern island of Okinawa at 3:31 p.m. ET, leading authorities to issue a tsunami warning for the island and evacuate beaches. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Japan is often hit by quakes—one of the worst was a 7.2 quake in 1995 that killed 6,400 people in Kobe.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may be following in his father’s footsteps, now that New York Governor David Paterson has dropped his bid for election. Although Cuomo did not receive the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2002, Paterson has made room at the top of the list for the New York legacy this time around. “It puts him as the early odds-on favorite for a multitude of reasons—money, name recognition, popular standing, momentum,” one pollster said. On Friday, Cuomo issued the following statement: “I am sure this is a difficult choice and a sad day for the governor and his family. It is in the best interests of all New Yorkers that the state government function through this difficult time and address the pressing budgetary problems we face.” Though he has yet to announce his official plans, a Marist poll this month put Cuomo ahead of the only announced Republican gubernatorial candidate, former Rep. Rick Lazio.

While on the set of The Insider yesterday morning, Gary Coleman suffered an apparent seizure and was rushed to the hospital, according to sources from the entertainment show. Television personality Dr. Drew Pinsky was with Coleman, known for his role on Diff’rent Strokes, when the incident occurred. Pinsky reportedly helped the ailing star until paramedics arrived at the studio. Last week, Coleman walked off The Insider when a panel continued to bombard him with questions about whether or not he abused his wife. Just a month ago, Coleman was hospitalized after suffering from “seizure activity,” as he referred to the episode.

After only one snow day in the previous five years, New York City students received their second in just a matter of weeks after receiving at least 17 inches of snow. Not everyone enjoyed the storm as much as they presumably did, however—230,000 homes and business lost electricity in New Hampshire, plus an additional 200,000 in New York and 100,000 in Maine. Winds in New Hampshire were clocked as high as 90 miles per hour. Also, at least three deaths are being blamed on the storm, including a man who was killed in Central Park by a falling branch.

It will be either gold or silver for the American men’s hockey team: The U.S. beat Finland in the Olympic semifinals 6-1 on Friday. All six scores came in the first period, with two for 21-year-old Patrick Kane. Finland scored its only goal on a power play in the third period. The U.S. will play the winner of Friday night’s Canada-Slovakia match in the finals on Sunday.

The show must go on: SeaWorld will resume killer whale shows on Saturday despite Wednesday’s deadly attack by an orca on his trainer. However, trainers will stay out of the water until the investigation into trainer Dawn Brancheau’s death is completed. The offending whale, Tilikum, will not be punished or isolated. "He will remain an active and contributing member of the team, despite what happened," said SeaWorld President Jim Atchinson.

Facebook has always made it clear that it does not like imitators. And now it will be able to do something about them. The social-networking Web site may be able to sue others that violate the patent it was just granted for streaming “feed” technology. The news feed, lambasted when Facebook first rolled it out in late 2006, is now a model that has spread to social-networking sites all over the Web and, for instance, is at the very essence of sites such Twitter.

The identity of the man Carly Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” about has long tormented fans. Could it have been David Geffen? In an interview with Uncut, Simon says that the identity of the man can be heard on a new recording of the song. “There’s a little whisper and it’s the answer to the puzzle.” The Sun says that Simon whispers Geffen’s name backward on the track. However, The Hollywood Reporter says it can’t be Geffen. Some have said that Geffen was the head of Elektra Records, for which Simon recorded the song, but THR points out that Geffen actually ran Asylum Records, which did not merge with Elektra until after Simon recorded “You’re So Vain.” THR says that the name of Warren Beatty, whom many have long suspected to be the mystery man, is also whispered backward on the track.

Score one for Batman in his long-running feud with Superman: A copy of the original Batman comic from 1939 sold for $1.075 million on Thursday, besting the short-lived $1 million record for an original Superman comic that sold February 22. The comic book, called Detective Comic Books, was sold by the Texas-based Heritage Auction Galleries.

Students protesting rising costs at U.C. Berkeley smashed windows, burned trash cans, and occupied a building Thursday night. What began as an outdoor party  turned violent. Authorities said students threw bottles at police. Police shoved students, trying to clear the way for firefighters. Expect more tension as a major protest is planned for next Thursday.

Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic campaign for three gold medals ended with a whimper Friday afternoon when she missed a gate and was disqualified from the Slalom, her final event in Vancouver. "I went out there fighting and it just wasn't my day," Vonn said. "I'm totally satisfied with everything I have done here. I have the gold medal I came here for." Though Vonn came into the Games carrying a shin injury, she opened triumphantly with a gold in the downhill and was considered a contender for at least two more. But she couldn’t match that performance in her other events as she crashed in the Super Combined, won bronze in the Super-G, crashed in the Giant Slalom and, finally, skiied wide in the Slalom. Meanwhile, in men's hockey, the United States all but guaranteed a spot in the gold-medal game after blitzing Finland 6-0 in the first period of their semifinal.

It took two decades but author Patricia Cornwell has finally found a star to play Kay Scarpetta, the medical examiner in her mystery novels: It’s none other than Angelina Jolie. Over 20 years, studios spent $10 million in development trying to adapt the book to film, with actresses like Demi Moore and Kristin Scott Thomas and directors like Joel Schumacher attached to their projects. The film will not be adapted directly from Cornwall’s novels; rather, it will be an “origins story” and feature a younger Scarpetta than the one that appears in the novels.

George W. Bush is standing by his (right-hand) man: “I’m glad Cheney is out there,” Bush told a reunion at the Bush-Cheney Alumni Association, giving his approval, it seems, to the former vice president’s attacks on Barack Obama. However, don’t expect Bush to appear on Fox News alongside Cheney. “I have no desire to see myself on television. I don't want to be a panel of formers instructing the currents on what to do. I'm trying to regain a sense of anonymity.” Bush then took a shot at Jimmy Carter: “I didn't like it when a certain former president—and it wasn't 41 or 42—made my life miserable.” Cheney was supposed to attend the event but had to cancel after suffering his fifth heart attack in 30 years earlier this week. The event was closed to the press but attendees relayed Bush’s words to Politico.

ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer lets loose in new issue of Parade about cable news, her work as a reporter, and life in the Nixon White House. "You have to believe your first job is to be a powerful witness," she says of covering the earthquake in Haiti. "I say powerful in the sense that there are 500 people in front of you who need water, and all you want to do is drop everything and go get them water. But you have to remember that your job is to help get water for five million people," turning their pain "into a fulcrum that moves the world to help." In the Web extra, Sawyer confesses her belief that cable news networks "are invigorating the debate" by teaching people "through the dialectic" of a lively back and forth. She calls Fox News chief Roger Ailes "smart as a whip" and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow "great television." Sawyer, a former aide to Nixon, says the former president didn't consider her return to journalism at the end of his presidency "a betrayal," and that she went into exile with him in San Clemente because "I had a sense of duty. I felt you don't get to choose just being there in celebrated times and then get to walk away when someone is living in defeat."

If a new “micro-ear” device is successful, scientists will be able to listen in on cells as closely as they peer at them through microscopes. “The optical tweezer can measure or manipulate at piconewton forces,” one researcher explained. Scientists involved have so far been able to hear Brownian motion (the sound made when atoms and molecules move in a fluid) and hope that it could eventually be used to listen to the movement of bacteria such as E. coli as well as microorganisms that cause diseases like sleeping sickness. “It’s truly exploratory in that we expect and hope we will hear something interesting but we really don’t know,” said one of the physicists developing the device.

The body of Andrew Koenig was discovered Thursday by Vancouver police, in Stanley Park. Koenig played sidekick to Kirk Cameron's character on the hit 1980s TV show Growing Pains, and had been missing since Valentine's Day. At a press conference, Koenig's father said that the actor had taken his own life. Koenig had been on antidepressants, but stopped taking them last year.

Just one day after lifting an Afghan flag over Marja, the Taliban have claimed responsibility for a car bombing and suicide bombing in central Kabul that left at least 18 people dead and 32 wounded, The New York Times reports. The car bomb hit a guesthouse popular with Indians, while suicide bombers descended on another guesthouse popular with Britons and Americans. The latter sparked a 90-minute gun battle between security forces and other insurgents. The attacks occurred as American-led coalition forces descended on the southern province of Helmand, and a day after India and Pakistan's first diplomatic meeting since 2008's Mumbai bombing. According to a Taliban spokesman, at least five insurgents launched the attacks, including two suicide bombers, and "the actual targets are foreign people."

Sinking in the polls against his Republican primary opponent, Marco Rubio, and branded as unacceptably moderate by conservative activists throughout the country, Governor Charlie Crist's time with the GOP may have finally come to an end. According to a report by Jack Funari of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, sources say Crist is laying the groundwork for an independent bid in order to bypass his contest with Rubio. His recent behavior certainly indicates as much: After being hammered in his primary over his early praise for President Obama and his backing of the stimulus bill, Crist forcefully doubled down on his decisions earlier this month despite their extreme unpopularity among Republicans.

South Korea's Kim Yu-Na triumphed Thursday, winning the Olympic gold with a record total score of 228.56 points after skating a 150.06 in the long-program and flawlessly executing a series of jumps, including the triple-flip. "I've been dreaming about this moment," she said during a press conference. "I can't believe this is not a dream any more." Although Japan's Mao Asada sucessfully performed two triple axels in the long program, she only managed the silver after slipping twice, errors that she said made her "full of regrets." Canada's Joannie Rochette was the most stirring story of the night, winning bronze a mere four days after her mother's death. "It was a lifetime project for me and my mom and we achieved that," she said.

Can't a guy just have a heart attack in peace? Dick Cheney has been getting all sorts of comments in the wake of his minor heart attack—his fifth in the last thirty years. President Obama called Cheney to wish him well in a rare ceasefire of their public enmity over Obama's stance on national security, The New York Times reports. Biden also called his predecessor, who previously told a conservative political conference that Obama would be "a one-term president." The recovering Cheney's absence from Friday morning's closed-door Bush-Cheney alumni breakfast was noted by former President Bush, who said that Cheney "is feeling well" and "has a fierce constitution," according to Politico. Bush went on to joke about his new book, due out Nov. 8, saying, "This is going to come as quite a shock to people up here that I can write a book, much less read one."

Bristol Palin has won her court case against Levi Johnston for back child support, TMZ reports. A judge has ruled that Johnston must pay $1,688.42 per month, retroactive to son Tripp's December 27, 2008 birth. Bristol's lawyer said she was "pleased with the court rulings" and "looks forward to resolving the remaining issues with Levi." Perhaps the world can look forward to more Levi spreads in Playgirl as he tries to pay off the debt.

The custody battle between Jon Cryer, co-star of Two and a Half Men, and his ex-wife Sarah Trigger is not without its drama. According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Trigger's lawyer claims that on December 21, Cryer's ex-wife told her lawyer that her ex-boyfriend, Eddie Sanchez, said he was going to kill Cryer and her estranged husband, David Dickey. Alarmed, Trigger's lawyer contacted the lawyers for both, but, when confronted, Sanchez denied all claims. "Mr. Sanchez not only flatly denied making such a statement, but he said that it was [Sarah Trigger] who had contacted him on numerous occasions, stating that she wanted to see the pair [Cryer and Dickey] dead." In response, Trigger's lawyer said the statements were false.

The Canadian women's hockey team defeated the Americans 2-0 to win gold in Vancouver on Thursday. Canada Coach Melody Davidson chose to go with a young phenom goalie, Shannon Szabados, instead of Canada's veteran Olympian. The choice paid off, as all 28 American shots were blocked. The victory gives Canada its third consecutive Olympic gold, despite a 40-second two-player advantage for the United States and another two-player advantage later on. The Canadians pulled through in front of a sellout crowd that included Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper.

A rogue retiring GOP senator is singlehandedly blocking a bill that would extend expiring unemployment benefits and health care payments to jobless Americans. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), largely considered a pariah within his own party after he was essentially forced by GOP leaders to retire this year rather than run for re-election, is demanding that the benefits be paid for with unused stimulus funds rather than add to the deficit. “I'll be here as long as you're here and as long as all those other senators are here and I'm going to object every time because you won't pay for this and you propose to never pay for it,” Bunning said. The battle once again highlights the ability of individual senators to gum up the works using parliamentary procedure. Earlier this month, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) attempted to block all of President Obama's appointees from being confirmed unless billions in earmarks stayed in his state.

SeaWorld will keep Tilikum, the killer whale who killed a trainer in front of an audience on Wednesday, instead of destroying him or setting him free, MSNBC reports. The chief of animal training at SeaWorld said that the beast has been captive too long to return to the wild, and that he would not be killed because he is part of the amusement park's breeding program and a companion to its seven other whales. SeaWorld has suspended all orca shows until it completes a review of how the trainers interact with the animals. One thing will definitely change: VIP visitors who were occasionally allowed to pet the whales will no longer do so.

Was it all for naught? President Obama concluded Thursday’s health-care summit with Republicans by saying that he did not think a bipartisan deal with Republicans was likely and suggested Democrats would use reconciliation to pass it over a Republican filibuster. "We cannot have another yearlong debate about this," Obama said. Particular sticking points were covering the uninsured and outlawing insurers from rejecting customers with preexisting conditions. "I don't know frankly whether we can close that gap," Obama said. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were expected to count votes in their caucuses after the summit.

A whole bunch of kids must have done their snow dances: New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg canceled school for the city's 1.1 million public school students on Friday after a massive snowstorm dumped 10 inches of fluff on the city, with more slated to come. It's the second lucky day for New York City school kids this month, but only the fourth snow day in the last six years, the Associated Press reports. The massive snowstorm pummeling the Northeast isn't lucky for everyone, though. Thousands of flights have been canceled across the east coast, and utility companies from Pennsylvania to New England are bracing for power outages due to snow and wind, with gusts up to 50 mph reported. The wind has reportedly helped spread a large fire in coastal New Hampshire.

The U.S. economy grew by 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the government reported on Friday. The strong showing, an upward revision of the figures the government reported last month, is the steepest rise in gross domestic product in the last six years, although the overall rate for 2009—a decline of 2.4 percent—was the worst yearly performance since 1946. According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. stock futures have dropped in the wake of the GDP news as investors fear that this level of growth is unsustainable.

The House Ethics Committee found Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel violated House rules when he accepted trips to the Caribbean. Rangel's jaunts are considered hidden financing by corporations, and were accepted in knowing violation of House rules. Four other trip-goers, who were members of the Congressional Black Caucus, were exonerated, according to a source. Rangel holds one of the most influential positions in Congress. The finding raises questions about whether he'll continue to keep his role as head of that committee.

Ship captains shouldn't have any trouble missing this one: A block of floating ice roughly the size of Luxembourg cracked away from what is known as the Mertz Glacier Tongue, a much larger block of floating Antarctica ice. The iceberg is so big (985 square miles) that it now threatens to disrupt global ocean patterns and weather systems for decades. Specifically, it could slow the production of cold, salty water, which sinks to the bottom and drives the circulation of water around the globe. That could eventually lead to harsher winters in the North Atlantic and endanger a large colony of Emperor penguins in Antarctica.