Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says a government-run insurance option is not essential to President Obama’s healthcare goals.

The Obama administration continued to back away from a government-run insurance option today, with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saying it is “not the essential element” of healthcare overhaul.

As the president continues his Western push in defense of healthcare overhaul, he addresses criticism, is challenged to a debate — and receives some standing ovations.

As he continued his campaign-style push to transform the nation’s health insurance system, President Obama on Saturday promised families being shoved to the brink by medical bills that the legislation would create a “common-sense set of consumer protections” for Americans with health insurance.

Party leaders want to turn the conservative activism into votes, but find themselves the target of ire from many of the protesters.

Conservatives are calling it their August Revolt — a surprising upsurge of activism against President Obama’s proposed healthcare overhaul.

How many people don’t have insurance? And how many of them could get it under legislation being developed in Congress?

A centerpiece of President Obama’s healthcare agenda — and of the bills being developed on Capitol Hill — is extending insurance to all Americans. Here is a rundown of the basics about what health coverage looks like now and what may change:

The Army Corps of Engineers allows a controversial plan to dump millions of tons of waste into Lower Slate Lake.

The controversial Kensington gold mine in southeast Alaska has won an important go-ahead from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which approved an amended permit that will allow the mine to dump millions of tons of waste into a nearby lake.

The late leader of the rock band Nirvana is beginning to be recognized and honored in his hometown, but not without controversy.

‘I sing and play the guitar,” Kurt Cobain once said, “and I’m a walking, talking bacterial infection.”

The ex-CBS newsman is paying a high price to clear his name over a discredited 2004 report on Bush’s National Guard record.

On a recent rainy summer afternoon, a familiar figure sat in the second row of a musty Manhattan courtroom, his head tilted expectantly as he listened to the judge. It was the latest hearing in the matter of Dan Rather vs. CBS Corp., and the plaintiff, as usual, was monitoring it in person.

The former vice president is writing his memoirs, but he doesn’t plan to explore his feelings in doing so. Also, Gov. Sanford calls his political career over, and Sarah Palin’s popularity dips.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is writing his memoirs. That in itself is something of a surprise, because Cheney has long — and openly — disparaged people who do. The presidency is owed loyalty, or anyway that was Cheney’s view when folks like former Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill and former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told tales out of school.

New Jersey: U.S. disputes India film star’s detention claim / Mississippi: Suspect’s death won’t alter 1964 slaying inquiry / Connecticut: Sen. Dodd released from hospital

NEW JERSEY

Forty years ago, an oil-dripping heap with the name of a fictitious band painted on its side took a coterie of young activists to the famed music festival 40 years ago, and to their own turning points

The statute of limitations should protect us from prosecution, so let the truth be told — we used anti-poverty funds to buy the Frankly Dankly bus in the landmark summer of ‘69. One of our group still insists we “passed the hat” to pay for the thing. But he’s a respectable lawyer now, so we’ll allow him that fog of memory. Everyone else is willing to ‘fess up that we dipped into money intended to help the poor to procure the oil-leaking school bus we saw sitting in a lot with a “For Sale” sign.