By MICHAEL COLLINS, Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON - Rep. Lois Capps insists she was trying to keep the focus on health care reform and head off a divisive debate over abortion.

Yet an amendment the California Democrat pushed during the summer is at the center of a heated argument over whether the health reform plans before Congress will permit federally funded abortions.

First, Patrick James lost his 10-year-old daughter in a van rollover crash. Now, he may lose the right to hold the vehicle maker liable.

It has taken years, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration appears on the verge of getting Congress' approval to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products as drugs.

An emotional Nancy Reagan said Wednesday that a bronze statue of her late husband that will rest permanently in the Capitol Rotunda is "a wonderful likeness" of the nation's 40th president.
"He would be so proud," said the teary-eyed former first lady.

It took a tad longer than expected, but a bill to honor President Ronald Reagan on what would have been his 100th birthday has cleared its final hurdle in Congress.
The Senate approved the legislation, sponsored by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., late Tuesday after a senator who had blocked the bill for two months agreed to allow a vote.

It's not exactly the Oscars, but it is public recognition for achievement in film.
Or, more precisely, one little film.
A 41-minute documentary that was produced by an obscure air-quality district in California is getting kudos from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for promoting clean air.

A California congressman has been targeted by a serial intruder at his Simi Valley home.
Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif., sought a restraining order against the stranger after a series of threatening incidents targeting him and his wife, Janice, who serves as his campaign manager.
But the intruder was undeterred and returned. Neither the lawmaker nor his spouse have been harmed.

One out of every 50 Americans living near landfills or ponds used to store ash or sludge from coal-fired power plants has a high risk of getting cancer from drinking water contaminated with arsenic, according to government research that environmentalists say the Bush administration kept secret for years.

Nancy-Ann DeParle thought she was done with a career in public service.

It's a statistic President Barack Obama and his administration cite often to make the case for their economic recovery package: The plan, they argue, will create or save 3 million jobs.