By LISA HOFFMAN and LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON - Federal law-enforcement and national-security authorities are on alert for counterfeit doses of H1N1 vaccine and anti-viral medications that they expect to surface in the United States, particularly as shortages of both continue to grow.

The backlog for burials at Arlington National Cemetery is growing, and it is partly the result of a policy change to grant full final honors to more of America's fallen.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission intends to allow U.S. nuclear facility security guards to carry "enhanced weapons," aka machine guns and short-barreled shotguns and rifles.

On tap for the coming week is a House vote that would both welcome God to a prominent place in the U.S. Capitol complex and correct an embarrassing flub of the nation's motto.

The shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum this past week by an avowed hater of Jews came not long after the Anti-Defamation League reported that anti-Semitic incidents in the country were down for the fourth year in a row.

Before the 2000 census, many cities and states conducted a vigorous campaign to encourage illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows and be counted so the nation could, for the first time, get a solid handle on how many the country was home to.

A spike in bank robberies in recent weeks is working its way across the country. New York City was hit by at least five on Dec. 29 alone. Seven Tampa, Fla., banks were held up over 15 days in December. Robberies are up, too, in Houston, San Diego and Washington, D.C.

During the campaign, President-elect Barack Obama made much hay out of his call to bar the wealthy from pocketing farm subsidies designed to help struggling small farmers.

The automotive industry must be kicking itself for being chintzy when it comes to campaign contributions to Capitol Hill lawmakers.

Thanks to the continuing economic meltdown, don't be surprised if this is the last holiday season when you aren't universally charged sales taxes on your online purchases.