The U.S. military is at a turning point. It has just pulled out of Iraq, it is starting to wind down its effort in Afghanistan, it's shifting its focus to Asia, and the Pentagon budget for next year will shrink after a decade of huge increases. The defense secretary and the head of the Joint Chiefs spoke about the changes to Congress.

A student in Cranston, R.I., sued the city over a banner in the high school auditorium. She started receiving death threats after a federal judge ruled in her favor, ordering the banner removed. The school board is expected to decide Thursday whether to appeal the judge's ruling.

Two hundred small California charities have been bilked by another nonprofit, International Humanities Center, to whom they outsourced accounting and the processing of donations. Many groups are now unable to make payroll or continue their work.

Congress only has two weeks before inaction would result in a tax hike for 160 million Americans. The payroll tax cut extension passed in late December is set to expire at the end of the month.

Ji Xinping, the heir apparent in Chinese government, is visiting old friends in Muscatine, Iowa, this week. The last time he stopped by was in 1985 as part of an agricultural trade mission. Mayor DeWayne Hopkins is looking forward to making him the only person to receive two keys to the city.