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Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday that stabilizing the financial markets is a top priority for the Federal Reserve as a weak housing market, tight credit and rising oil prices threaten the U.S. economy.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville has been blocking every U.S. military personnel move that needs Senate confirmation since February. Here, a look at why and how he can bend the will of the Senate to his own.

Ted Stevens has played a key role in Alaskan politics since before it became a state. Richard Mauer, a staff writer for the Anchorage Daily News, says though Stevens is a legend in the state, many are now perceiving him negatively.

President Bush has signed an executive order revising rules for intelligence agencies and expanding the national intelligence director's powers. Congressional Republicans are irked over what they say is disrespect for congressional oversight in the process.

U.S. Secretary of State Rice meets with visiting Israeli and Palestinian officials in a bid to revive flagging hopes of a peace settlement. With Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying he will resign in September, a deal this year looks unlikely.

The long lines continue in Southern California at IndyMac Bank branches. There has been a run on the failed bank since federal regulators took over Friday. The takeover raises questions about the health of other financial institutions.

In 1808, a Philadelphia neighborhood became known as Fishtown. And today, if you live there, you can be buried in historic Palmer Cemetery. It has so many graves that a pole is pushed into the ground when searching for an empty plot. NPR's Liane Hansen takes a guided tour of with local historian Ken Milano.

Novelist Stephen Carter, who is also a professor at the Yale Law School, says his latest novel, Palace Council, is a thriller, a conspiracy, a love story and historical fiction. And the process of writing it was "utterly exhausting."

President Bush signs a housing bill that could help struggling homeowners stay in their homes and stabilize the nation's troubled housing market, while tightening regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. NPR's Brian Naylor discusses the bill and explains the key points that every homeowner should know.

A U.S. scientist suspected in the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in an apparent suicide. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Bruce Ivins took an overdose of pain medication hours before he was to be indicted.