President Obama released a letter on Tuesday declaring himself “open” to four GOP proposals from last week’s health-care summit: 1) Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) suggestions “that we engage medical professionals to conduct random undercover investigations of health-care providers that receive reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs”; 2) an appropriation of $50 million to states to creatively tackle medical-malpractice disputes; 3) an increase in reimbursements for doctors who accept Medicaid; and 4) new language in the bill in support of health savings accounts. Obama also scrapped a Medicare Advantage provision that would have provided extra benefits to Florida. Obama makes clear, however, that he is ready to move forward without GOP support: "I also believe that piecemeal reform is not the best way to effectively reduce premiums, end the exclusion of people with pre-existing conditions, or offer Americans the security of knowing that they will never lose coverage, even if they lose or change jobs."

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is on the verge of having his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee taken away. A "trickle of Democratic defections turned into a flood" Tuesday night, Politico reports, as Rangel's fellow Democrats called for his resignation. At least 14 Democrats have called for him to quit as chairman. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) issued a statement saying the 39-year House veteran "should do the right thing and step aside," and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) seconded the sentiment, while an anonymous member of Congress said Rangel should do "the honorable thing." An ethics committee found Rangel in violation of gift rules last week, though Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she would wait to see if the panel would act on the findings. Republicans plan to offer a resolution calling for Rangel's removal, and few Democrats are expected to risk voter ire to stand by the New Yorker, especially given the electorate's anti-incumbent mood. Rangel emerged from a late Tuesday meeting saying he wouldn't be stepping down.

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) accepted a deal to end his filibuster of a bill that would extend unemployment and COBRA benefits after pressure from both parties. Bunning had protested that "pay-go"—a rule that calls for each spending increase to be offset by a cut elsewhere—was not being applied to the bill, which would cost $10 billion to extend benefits an extra 30 days. Though he had much support from conservative activists, and nothing to lose thanks to his decision not to seek reelection this fall, Bunning agreed to a proposal offered by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The deal allows for Bunning to vote once on an amendment that would pay for the bill. Bunning was offered the proposal Thursday, but rejected it, saying it wouldn't pass. The Senate approved the measure 78-19 Tuesday night, but Bunning's amendment failed. The senator was also given a chance to vote twice on amendments to a bigger bill that would extend benefits one year and is currently under consideration.

Superintendent Harry Corbitt, head of New York state police, announced he would retire early in the wake of revelations of police involvement in domestic violence allegations against a longtime aide to Gov. David Paterson. Corbitt said the intense pressure from the press was a factor in his decision. He is the second official to leave state government since the New York Times reported a state police official and the governor contacted a woman who had accused Paterson’s aide, David Johnson, of assaulting her. She dropped the complaint soon after. Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Denise O'Donnell, who is Corbitt’s boss, retired last week, saying contact from police and the governor was “unacceptable.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a big step closer to holding on to his job, having defeated popular Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary. Perry won 51 percent of the vote to Hutchinson’s 31 percent, and pulled a big lead over Tea Party favorite Debra Medina. The two have been rivals for two decades, since he was elected agriculture commissioner and she state treasurer in 1990. Though Hutchison began her campaign 20 points ahead, Perry intensified his anti-federal government rhetoric—even talking about Texan secession—and recaptured the lead. Houston Mayor Bill White won the Democratic nomination. White was the clear favorite in that race after several opponents dropped out early (including Kinky Friedman); White’s toughest competition was in hair-care millionaire Farouk Shami, who dropped $8.5 million of his own cash into the race.

If New York Governor David Paterson chooses to serve out his remaining 10 months in office, it appears he’ll have to do so without the support of his party: New York State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs headed to Albany Tuesday to urge Paterson to step down. However, Paterson received a boost from State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who said "I do not feel he should resign" after a meeting at the governor's mansion. The visits comes after The New York Times reported that Paterson directed two state employees to contact a woman who had accused one of his top aides of domestic abuse.

The Hurt Locker co-producer Nicolas Chartier will be banned from the Academy Awards ceremony as a penalty for writing an email that ended up being forwarded a few too many times: He urged friends to urge Oscar voters to pick his film, not Avatar, for Best Picture. Academy rules forbid "casting a negative or derogatory light on a competing film." If The Hurt Locker does take the prize, Chartier will receive his statue sometime after the March 7 ceremony. The Los Angeles Times says denying a nominee entrance to the show is “virtually unprecedented.”

As Toyota continues to struggle in the wake of its recalls due to unintended acceleration, the Obama administration is now considering a proposal that would require all U.S. cars to include new brake-override system technology, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood revealed Tuesday. LaHood told the Senate Commerce Committee that the equipment is designed to stop a car even when both the gas and brakes are in use. Toyota is installing the “smart-pedal” technology in some current models and most new cars. LaHood also told Congress that he will raise the same points when he visits Japan, where the Toyota issues have led to broader concerns about trade with the U.S. Though some senators challenged LaHood and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for ignoring possibly faulty electronic systems as opposed to mechanical issues, such as floor mats and gas pads, NHTSA investigated Toyota’s electronic throttle system in 2003, according to a document cited at the hearing on Tuesday.

Another one of Naomi Campbell's employees has claimed the supermodel abused him, a decade after she admitted to assaulting her then-assistant with a telephone. The driver says Campbell became enraged and proceeded to slap and punch him from the backseat while he drove her through Midtown Manhattan Tuesday afternoon, according to a law-enforcement official. The plaintiff said he stopped the car to call 911, and the English fashion icon jumped out and ran. Police are looking to speak to Campbell, and a spokesperson for the model says there's "more to the story than meets the eye." Perhaps the anger-management classes Campbell agreed to attend after hitting her assistant didn't take.

Though some generations may believe that living together before marriage is necessary for success while others think it's a recipe for disaster, a study released Tuesday claims cohabitation has very little affect on the long-term success of a marriage. The National Center for Health Statistics report, based on a sample of nearly 13,000 men and women, found little difference between couples who lived together first or didn't in first marriages that lasted at least 10 years. "On the basis of these numbers, there is not a negative effect of cohabitation on marriages, plain and simple," said one University of Michigan sociologist. Though it was assumed throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s that cohabitation led to a high divorce rate, the study questions that theory. The new report shows that couples that live together before getting engaged or making a clear decision to get married are at a greater risk of divorce.

The Pentagon is sending smart-bomb kits to Pakistan to help the country make 1,000 of its traditional munitions more precise and limit civilian casualties. The U.S. is also sending Pakistan a dozen drones and 18 F-16 fighter jets. The move is part of the White House's push to ready its Middle Eastern ally for battle against Islamic extremists in its remote tribal areas. The weapons deal will deepen neighbor India's unease with the American buildup of the Pakistani military; India worries Pakistan could eventually use those tools against it. Many in Washington have been skeptical of Pakistan's commitment to fighting Islamic militants, but this move provoked little controversy, as the Pakistani intelligence agency has been deepening its cooperation with the U.S. in fighting the Taliban and has allowed more drone attacks in its tribal regions.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday that he’s open to Senator Chris Dodd’s proposal to create a consumer-protection agency within the Federal Reserve rather than a standalone agency, as President Obama desires. "If we can affect a heightening of the focus on the protection of consumers in another way, we need to consider that," Hoyer said. Before proclaiming the House open to compromise, however, Hoyer maybe should check with his caucus members, like Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. “The Fed’s such a weak engine, so let’s give them consumer protection? It’s almost a bad joke. I was very disappointed,” Frank said.

Thanks to new models and the recent rise in truck popularity, Ford is also upping its reputation by outselling General Motors in the U.S. last month for the first time since 1998. Leading monthly deliveries in February by a minor 334 cars in monthly deliveries, Ford snuck by GM in domestic sales, the automakers revealed Tuesday. "This is huge because it's the classic rivalry like Pepsi and Coke, the Red Sox and the Yankees," an industry expert said. "It could be a turning point." Ford exceeded analyst estimates; sales for its Fusion and Taurus approximately doubled. But GM failed to meet expectations, leading the company to create separate branches for North American sales and marketing. "Ford is certainly riding momentum right now," one J.D. Power & Associates employee said. "GM is still in a state of flux, trying to settle on an image for the brands that remain and shuffling the management team."

Sacha Baron Cohen will not be a part of this year's Academy Awards—and it may be James Cameron's fault. Cohen—also known as Borat and Brüno—was set to present an award at Sunday's Oscars, but on Tuesday an Oscar spokesperson confirmed that's no longer the case. The reason? James Cameron might have gotten upset. Cohen and Ben Stiller had planned a scathing skit centered around Avatar, with Cohen playing the part of a female Na'vi and Stiller playing "her" translator. It would become apparent that Stiller wasn't translating properly, and Cohen would open "her" evening gown to reveal James Cameron's love child growing in her womb. The comedian would then confront Cameron a la Jerry Springer. Needless to say, an insider told New York magazine that the ceremony's producer, Bill Mechanic, felt that Cameron might have found the skit far more offensive than humorous, and might have even stormed out. "Let's just say that Cameron isn't known to be, shall we say, ‘self-deprecating,'" the insider said. As a result, the skit's been scrapped, and now Cohen won't even attend. His spokesman released a statement citing "creative differences," but said there was "nothing acrimonious" between them.

"They kant lok up my heart bekuz y'all already have it on lok. ......thank u," rapper Lil' Wayne tweeted after a fire in the Manhattan Criminal Court Building prevented him from facing the judge that was to sentence the New Orleans rapper. Wayne was expected to be given a sentence of eight to 12 months and finally be taken to the detention center at Riker's Island for weapons and drug charges to which he pleaded guilty last October. The rapper had already received a February 9 extension for dental problems (he reportedly received eight root canals), and he has made effective use of his borrowed time. He set up a Twitter account under the name of "liltunechi," fixed his aforementioned grill, and supposedly filmed seven music videos, to be released while he is in jail. It's unclear when the next sentencing appointment would present itself, but Wayne is staying in New York in case the courthouse opens tomorrow.

So how big, exactly, was the 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile on Sunday? So big that it shortened the length of a day on earth by 1.26 milliseconds, according to a scientist at NASA. The quake shifted Earth’s figure axis by about three inches (“The figure axis is the axis around which the Earth’s mass is balanced,” says SPACE.com—not the same as the north-south axis around which the planet rotates.) Larger earthquakes, like the 9.1 quake that caused the 2004 tsunami, have had less of an effect on the length of days; the reason for the Chilean quake’s effect is that it is farther away from the equator.

Gun nuts who have been whipping themselves into a frenzy over the consequences of the Obama presidency on their “right to bear arms” can take a breather: The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decisive blow against gun control by ruling that Chicago has violated its citizens Second Amendment rights by outlawing all handguns—a ruling that would open the doors to challenges to all state and local handgun regulations. The court struck down Washington D.C.’s gun ban two years ago, but that was different since the District is federal land. The actual court decision in the case, McDonald v. Chicago, will not be issued for several months.

So far, so good for Jay Leno’s return to The Tonight Show. Leno clobbered his old rival David Letterman in the ratings on Monday, his first night back. Leno earned a 5.7 rating while Letterman earned a 3.0. Leno was No. 1 in the time slot.

Whispers of Steve Jobs’s short temper have emerged from Apple headquarters for years, but his strongly worded statement on his company’s pending lawsuit against HTC takes it to another level. The CEO said that Apple can either “sit by and watch companies steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it.” That “something” is a court case which alleges that HTC–the maker of the first phone that featured Google’s Android operating system and also manufacturer of Google’s own Nexus One–infringed on 20 Apple patents. The patents include hardware and software technology, and Apple’s famous “multi-touch” technology is among the features which are suspiciously popping up on HTC models. Specific phones that Apple named include the aforementioned “Google phone,” T-Mobile’s G-1, and the myTouch 3G, and not all phones listed run Google’s OS. Apple has asked the court to award it damages and block the U.S. sales of the HTC products it deems to be in violation. A spokeswoman for HTC said that the company has not had time to review Apple’s claims, and that Apple had not contacted HTC (the latter only learned of the trial in media reports). In a sneaky twist, one industry analyst thinks that Apple waited for more and more HTC phones to come out before filing suit. The more models that have infringed on Apple’s patents, the more money the giant stands to recoup in the end.

Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning’s decision to block a Senate vote to extend unemployment benefits is expected to cost 400,000 jobless people their lifeline—including 4,300 people in Bunning’s own state. Still, Kentucky has it relatively well. New York is expected to suffer the most—with 54,300 people set to lose their benefits. Florida and Georgia have 49,600 and 41,000 people affected, respectively. Illinois has 28,200 and Texas has 27,400. On Tuesday, Bunning rejected a request by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) to pass the 30-day extension.

Before Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien went to war, late-night television had another scandal on its hands: David Letterman’s affair with a young female staffer and the alleged extortion plot by that staffer’s boyfriend. In a new piece for Vanity Fair, Mark Seal calls Letterman “one of the most unhappy, insecure, guilt-ridden, self-loathing, self-pitying people on the planet.” Over the years, he rejected advances from celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Madonna, Ellen Barkin, and Julia Roberts in favor of plainer, and sharply intelligent women. His staffers, for their parts, worship him. “It’s like a cult,” says a former insider. “You arrive as an intern and stay for life, and people do fall in love with Dave and behave in a way that might not be considered appropriate in a professional working environment. People really feed on wanting positive reinforcement from him. It was intoxicating to me, and I can see how someone could cross the line. It’s like Jesus Christ saying, ‘Hey, let’s go to dinner!’ You’re going to go, ‘Wow! He chose me!’ If he’d hit on me, I probably would have accepted.”

Apparently, the irony is accidental: A company called TigerText has created an iPhone application that could have been useful to Tiger Woods, whose dirty texts to Jaimee Grubbs were publicly revealed. TigerText will send self-destructing text messages—after a set amount of time, they’ll be wiped from both the sending and receiving phones and the server. The app is free to try and then $1.49 for 250 messages sent per month.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Chile Tuesday to pledge material assistance in-person, three days after the country was struck by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake. Clinton arrived with critically important satellite communication equipment, while many more shipments of aid are due to follow. "That was the one thing we could get on the plane right away,” she said. Chile has asked for a field hospital and water purification systems and, according to U.S. officials, it will all be provided free. Some help has already come from Chile’s South American neighbors, who are sending everything from tents to ambulances. Clinton only planned to spend a few hours in the capital city of Santiago for a meeting with outgoing President Michelle Bachelet and President-elect Sebastian Pinera.

Get your mail out early: The U.S. Postal Service will propose a new schedule on Tuesday that will, in all likelihood, cut Saturday delivery. USPS posted a $3.8 billion loss in 2009 and mail volume was down 12.7 percent on the year. As of September 30, it was $10 billion in debt, and it is expected to hit its $15 billion debt limit in 2011. It is also considering closing some branches and installing new self-service kiosks in retail spots. 

What do a former astronaut, a sex tape star, and the mother of eight have in common? They’ll all be taking the stage for next season’s Dancing With the Stars. Buzz Aldrin, Pamela Anderson, and Kate Gosselin are just three of the 11 celebrities hitting center stage to show off their moves. Joining them will be ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews; Beverly Hills, 90210 star and former hellraiser Shannen Doherty; Olympic gold medalist figure skater Evan Lysacek; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver and notorious end-zone dancer Chad Ochocinco; Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger; host of decluttering show Clean House Niecy Nash; Bachelor Jake Pavelka; and soap star Aidan Turner. The U.S. version of Dancing With the Stars premiered in 2005 and is set to begin its 10th season on March 22. According to Edyta Sliwinska’s Twitter feed, the professional pairings will be announced on Good Morning America on Tuesday. In the most recent season last fall, Donny Osmond beat out Mya and Kelly Osbourne for the crown.

Is it a bipartisan success, or an unnecessary watering down of important legislation? Key Democratic and Republican senators are near a deal on financial-regulatory reform, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. Rather than create a standalone Consumer Protection Agency, as President Obama wants, the Senate deal would vest consumer-protection powers in the Federal Reserve—an institution some say has neglected consumer protection in the past. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), who has been spearheading the legislation, settled on the Fed after Republicans rejected both an independent agency and incorporating one into the Treasury. The Fed division would be led by a White House appointee, be able to write and enforce rules, and have a separate budget. Will Obama go along? "The president remains strongly committed to an independent agency whose singular focus is advocacy for consumers," an administration official said.

Ten House Democrats indicated they are keeping open the option to switch their “no” votes to “yes” votes on Obama’s health-care overhaul, according to an AP survey. Out of 39 Democrats who voted against the original House bill, 10 said they were undecided or wouldn’t state their vote, putting them in the field of players Obama and Nancy Pelosi have to wrangle to their side. Pelosi needs 216 votes to pass the Senate version of the bill, which is exactly the number she has if no one who voted for the previous bill defects, which is highly unlikely. Obama is expected to lay out a new plan on Wednesday that will incorporate some Republican ideas left over from last week’s summit, but few think this will persuade a single Republican to vote for the bill.

Harold Ford, the former Tennessee congressman who had flirted with a bid against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), has decided not to run, The New York Times reports. The financial executive was facing pressure from Democratic leaders to back off Gillibrand, who is the protégé of the powerful Senator Chuck Schumer. Ford told friends that he thought he could beat Gillibrand in the Democratic primary but would then emerge without enough money to win the race if a moneyed Republican challenger emerged. He also mentioned he didn’t want to jeopardize the slim Democratic majority in the Senate. Ford burst on to the scene with an interview with the Times in which he said he got daily pedicures and had visited some boroughs of New York only by helicopter.

Kristian Digby, a handsome 32-year-old presenter on the BBC’s To Buy or Not to Buy, was found dead in his apartment after what police sources tell the Daily Mail and the Sun was a game of auto-erotic asphyxiation gone awry. Sources also say that Digby’s body was found by his former partner. The daytime host, whose fortune is estimated at over $1 million, also hosted Double Agents, House Swap, and That Gay Show.

It’s one way to boost traffic: Slate political blogger Mickey Kaus has taken out papers to challenge California Senator Barbara Boxer. Kaus is a Democrat but is notably more conservative than Boxer on several issues—he opposes immigration with amnesty, affirmative action, and labor unions. “We'll see what happens,” Kaus blogged Tuesday. “The basic idea would be to argue, as a Democrat, against the party's dogma on several major issues.” Kaus added that “several issues, including my role at Slate, are still to be resolved.” Running for California office worked for Arianna Huffington; why not Mickey too?

The late night wars are over and peace has returned to the 11:30 p.m. time slot. With a nod to Dorothy, Jay Leno returned to the Tonight Show last night repeating, “There’s no place like home.” The last nine months, from his ill-fated move to prime time to his public spat with temporary Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien, were all a dream. And Leno’s Tonight Show, which he hosted for 17 years before his 2009 hiatus, seems to be sticking to his old formula with what’s-in-the-news one-liners and A-list celebrity guests. (Monday night, those included Toyota and Tiger Woods jokes before appearances by Jamie Foxx and Lindsey Vonn.) The only thing that was really new, Leno said, was his desk.

Gov. David Paterson personally directed his press secretary to ask a woman who had accused his close aide of attacking her to say the run-in was nonviolent and contradict her previous accounts to the police in court, The New York Times cites three sources as saying. Paterson also allegedly had a state employee, who was a mutual friend of both the woman and the governor, make contact with the accuser to “finalize an order of protection against the aide” before her court date. The state employee arranged a phone call between the governor and the woman, the sources say. The woman accused the aide, David Johnson, of “choking her, smashing her into a mirrored dresser and preventing her from calling for help,” but failed to appear in court after the phone call for her hearing, and the case was dropped. After the Times reported that Paterson and the State Police had intervened in the domestic-abuse case involving Johnson, Paterson ended his campaign for reelection.

General Motors is picking up right where Toyota left off. The company announced on Tuesday that it is recalling 1.3 million compact cars in North America after a power steering problem was linked to 14 crashes and over 1,100 complaints. The recall affects the 2005-2010 model Chevrolet Cobalt and 2007-2010 Pontiac G5 in the United States; the 2005-2006 Pontiac Pursuit sold in Canada, and the 2005-2006 Pontiac G4 sold in Mexico. GM said that the cars tended to develop power-steering problems, particularly under 15 mph, after several years and the company decided to undertake the recall voluntarily. "Recalling these vehicles is the right thing to do for our customers' peace of mind," GM Vice President of Quality Jamie Hresko said in a statement released hours before Toyota officials were scheduled to appear before a Senate committee for a third hearing.

According to a Washington Post profile, Rahm Emanuel wanted to wait on health-care reform, was skeptical of closing Guantánamo Bay, opposed civilian trials for the 9/11 planners, and was “responsive” to Senator Olympia Snowe’s request to trim down the stimulus by $100 billion. It’s not difficult to see why liberals hate him, but could following his advice have helped President Obama’s approval ratings? Some Democratic insiders and leaders are increasingly criticizing the Obama administration for not listening more to Rahm, who is experienced on the Hill and worked in the Clinton White House. The article hints at a rift between Rahm and David Axelrod—the latter of whom Obama listened to on civilian trials for terrorists. "Axelrod has a strong view of the historic character Obama is supposed to be," a source close to the president says, adding that Obama has an "indifference to doing the small, marginal things a White House could do to mitigate the problems on the Hill. Rahm knows the geography better."