What's in a name? After a controversy over competing tax initiatives on the November ballot, Governor Jerry Brown has renamed his tax plan after one of the competing plans. The Governor’s tax is now called the “Millionaires’ Tax,” the name of the now-defunct plan proposed by the California Federation of teachers. But it begins taxing individual income at $250,000...

A special prosecutor who spent two years exploring Justice Department misconduct in the botched case against late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said "contest living" — the desire to win a big case — explained the failure to follow the rules in one of the biggest political corruption prosecutions in decades.

"[Lawyers] do not want to have to undermine our case if it can possibly be avoided," investigator Hank Schuelke told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. "That motive to win the case was the principal operative motive."

Anyone who watched Nursery University — a documentary about the trials and tribulations of getting your toddler in the "right" pre-school — won't be surprised by this story.

This week the Supreme Court began hearing arguments that affirm or deny the constitutionality of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA)—that started taking effect a little more than a year ago.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard the last of three days of oral arguments on the fate of President Obama's health care law. A transcript of Wednesday afternoon's arguments, as prepared by the court, follows.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: We will continue argument this afternoon in case 11-400 Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services.

Mr. Clement. ORAL ARGUMENT OF PAUL D. CLEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER MR. CLEMENT: Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court:

In the last public event of his three-day visit to the island, Pope Benedict XVI called on Cuba, and the world, to change and choose a path of "love, reconciliation and brotherhood."

After the Mass, the pontiff met with Fidel Castro for a half-hour before departing for Rome, wrapping up a weeklong trip to Mexico and Cuba.

The pope did not meet with Cuban dissidents during his trip, however, drawing criticism from Castro opponents in Cuba and abroad.

On the final morning of its three-day health care law extravaganza, the U.S. Supreme Court wrestled with the question of whether parts of the 2010 federal statute can survive if the justices strike down its central tenet: the individual insurance requirement.

In other words, if the nine justices find the insurance mandate unconstitutional when they rule by June, would that mean that the entire law also fails the constitutionality test?

The Shants, which is Gaelic for "charmed," or “blessed,” call their sound “slow burning Americana, from Oakland, California.”

The Shants will be playing on Sunday (April 1st) as part of “Roots Rocket Sunday,” at Disco Volante in Oakland.

Music starts about 7 pm, and tickets are $1,000 each. APRIL FOOLS! Actually, admission is free….