Former University of Minnesota President Mark Yudof, who now heads the University of California, is in the middle of controversy there over steep hikes in student tuition.

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers displayed "gross negligence" that resulted in levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina, writes Richard Fausset in the Los Angeles Times.

"In a year when health care reform has dominated federal politics, Mayo Clinic has ramped up its lobbying efforts, spending $740,000 as of the third quarter," writes Heather J. Carlson in the Rochester Post-Bulletin.

The business outlook at Northshore Mining Co. is improving, Candace Renalls reports in the Duluth News Tribune, writing that the company is "looking to hire up to 20 people for its Silver Bay and Babbitt plants next month."

Even as drug makers promise to support health-care reform by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs once it takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years, Duff Wilson reports in the New York Times.

In what’s being described as “the highest-level White House shake-up since Obama took office,” Counsel Gregory B. Craig is stepping down after months of dissatisfaction over his management of the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, the Washington Post reports.

The success of the latest terrorist attacks in Pakistan raised an obvious question, writes Seymour Hersch in the New Yorker: Are the nuclear weapons safe?

"As violence rises in Afghanistan, the power balance between insurgent groups has shifted, with a weakened al-Qaeda relying increasingly on the emboldened Taliban" for protection and manpower, writes Joshua Partlow in the Washington Post.

What if the primary purpose of dreaming isn’t psychological at all? Benedict Carey explores a new theory in the New York Times.

Erika Lovley at Politico mines a new report showing that 237 members of Congress are millionaires. She points out that 237 amounts to 44 percent of the members — compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

The Nation’s Maureen Tkacik offers “Gladwell for Dummies,” a look at Malcolm Gladwell’s fascinating best-sellers “The Tipping Point” and “Blink.” (via)

About 75 percent of the country's 17- to 24-year-olds are ineligible for military service, largely because they are poorly educated, overweight and have physical ailments that make them unfit for the armed forces, report Christian Davenport and Emma Brown in the Washington Post.

Tuesday's election results "revealed cracks in the Obama 2008 coalition and demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized constituency heading into next year's midterm elections," says Dan Balz in a Washington Post analysis.

CNN with John King offers 10 races to watch on this Election Day.

With Democrats deeply divided on the climate change bill, unless some GOP lawmakers risk a backlash for signing on there is almost no hope for passage, reports Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post.

Government officials have joined some Internet providers in worrying about the potential impact of the H1N1 flu causing online congestion and overuse, Computerworld reports.

Minnesota’s first-ever copper mine came a step closer to reality Wednesday after the state’s Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a long-awaited environmental review, reports John Myers in the Duluth News Tribune.

Jim Puzzanghera reports in the Los Angeles Times that under a new Obama administration proposal the cost of future government rescues of huge financial institutions would be paid by their surviving rivals.

Furious lobbying by the medical-device industry has succeeded in whittling down fees in congressional health-reform bills, write Martin Vaughan and Janet Adamy in the Wall Street Journal.

Twitter may rely on user-generated innovation (with more coming soon ) more than any other company, writes Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times.

Believe it or not, some parents are holding “swine flu parties” to try to expose their children to the H1N1 virus in a supposed effort to build up their immunity, according to U.S. News and World Report. Not surprisingly, medical experts think this is a bad idea.

Microsoft begins selling the Windows 7 operating system today, an effort to reverse three quarters of declining Windows sales and fend off Apple's gains in personal computers, writes Dina Bass at Bloomberg.

Keewatin Taconite Co. employees who thought the mine was about to reopen learned Monday that it could be closed well into winter, report Andy Greder and Peter Passi in the Duluth News Tribune.

The Obama administration on Monday signaled a broad policy shift that will mean fewer crackdowns against medical-marijuana dispensaries and the people who use them, reports Carrie Johnson in the Washington Post.

New York Times reporter David Rohde presents a five-part account of his seven months as a captive of the Taliban in Pakistan. Here is Sunday's Part 1, and here is today's Part 2.

Fired for coming to work with the flu? Officials of Pima County in Arizona are threatening to discipline or fire any employee who violates its new sickness policy, the Associated Press is reporting.

For the first time in more than three decades, people who rely on Social Security and federal pensions will not get an increase in their benefit checks because consumer prices have stagnated lately, reports Amy Goldstein and Neil Irwin in the Washington Post.

How different are dogfighting and football? Malcolm Gladwell explores widespread brain damage in players, in the New Yorker.

Scientists have found — and videotaped — the first-known predominantly vegetarian spider: Bagheera kiplingi, which is found in Central America and Mexico, writes Rebecca Morelle at BBC.

Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson of the United States won the Nobel Economics Prize, making Ostrom the first woman to win the award, write Niklas Magnusson and Rich Miller at Bloomberg.com.