By BEN BOYCHUK and JOEL MATHIS, Scripps Howard News Service

Marijuana smokers might be breathing a little easier thanks to a policy switch by the U.S. Justice Department.

Is the Whole Foods boycott a good idea?

Turns out, Whole Foods isn't the reliably liberal grocery chain many of its reliably liberal customers thought.

The publication of Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue", has the former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor back under the pitiless glare of the media and the public. The book rocketed to the top of best-seller lists weeks before it hit store shelves.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday may have cleared the way for the federal government to conclude Chrysler's sale to Italian auto giant Fiat, but nagging questions remain about how President Obama handled what amounts to the nationalization of two of America's Big Three automakers.

The murder of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller has renewed the vociferous national debate between pro-lifers and pro-choicers with a new twist. Defenders of abortion rights now say that opponents -- notably Fox News' Bill O'Reilly -- contributed to Tiller's death with the decades-long use of incendiary language labeling the doctor "Tiller the Baby Killer."

Tens of thousands of Americans had a great big tea party on Wednesday. Only instead of sipping cups of Earl Grey and Oolong, these Americans were sending tea bags to their elected representatives and chanting to protest what they see as an out-of-touch government digging a multi-trillion dollar national debt hole that only higher taxes on future generations will be able to fill.

Millions of Americans were shocked when the news broke in February that rapper Chris Brown allegedly beat up his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna. Photos of the badly beaten star exploded across the Internet. Americans were even more shocked when Rihanna said she would go back to her boyfriend.

Look upon California and despair.
The nation's most populous state on Thursday ended a three-month budget crisis, with GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats in the state legislature finally prevailing on one Republican to close a mammoth $42 billion budget deficit.

Should the federal government tell companies how much they may pay their executives? The Obama administration plans to do just that. The president announced Feb. 4 that companies receiving "extraordinary" levels of bailout money from taxpayers would be forced to limit top salaries to $500,000 a year.

When Barack Obama places his hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible and takes the oath of office, he will assume administration of a nation that Republicans and Democrats alike believe to be in deep crisis. Fully nine in 10 Americans tell pollsters that America is "on the wrong track."