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President Bush is in New Orleans for the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. He and wife Laura Bush are expected to mark the day at a New Orleans charter school and at a community center in Mississippi. Officials continue to bicker over who's to blame in the aftermath of the storm.

Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia has announced that he will not run for re-election in 2008 and will retire after 30 years in the Senate. Warner has been one of the most authoritative voices in Congress on the military — and a key figure in the debate over the war in Iraq. Warner's retirement will make it even more difficult for Republicans to win back the Senate majority that they lost in November.

Rural students are less likely than their urban and suburban counterparts to attend college. A FAFSA rule change could widen the gap.

Now that Fred Thompson has declared that he's really running for president, the former Tennessee Republican senator and actor faces a more specific challenge. He needs to win over voters in the early primary states such as Iowa, where he made his first campaign stop.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, under intense domestic and international pressure, announced a mid-February date for parliamentary elections and pledged to remove his uniform. Ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto called on Musharraf to step down as Army chief within a week.

Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's former prime minister and opposition leader, says she worked with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for democracy "but he didn't follow the road map." The power-sharing deal expected upon her return from exile is now not likely to occur, she says.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck will pay $4.85 billion to end thousands of lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx. The amount, to be paid into a settlement fund, is believed to be the largest drug settlement ever. Claims must meet certain criteria to qualify for payment as the settlement is not a class action.

Austin Reid has researched the oft-forgotten histories of 16 Jewish communities in Ohio, outside of its major metros. He hopes to document these communities' legacies.

The Pew Research Center, in association with NPR, recently released a poll that looked at political polarization and collaboration among African-Americans, whites and Latinos. Melissa Harris Lacewell, a professor of Politics and African-American Studies at Princeton University, and Marisa Trevino, of the blog LatinaLista.net, share their reactions to the report.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney plans to give a speech on the tradition of religious tolerance in America. He's expected to talk about how his Mormon faith would inform his presidency if he's elected. Polls show rival Mike Huckabee pulling ahead of Romney in Iowa.