MONDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* South Korea fired artillery in a 90-minute drill this morning with fighter jets flying overhead. North Korea had threatened to retaliate, but later decided against it. Good move.
* Russian officials want Senate Republicans to know that negotiations on nuclear arms are already over — they’re not headed back to the table to make the GOP feel better.
* On a related note, this afternoon, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) officially endorsed New START. Some Senate Republicans are beginning to whisper that ratification appears likely.
* Reliable sources report that Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-Ore.) cancer surgery today went very well and the prognosis is encouraging. No word yet on when he might be able to return to work, but rumor has it he could be available to vote on Wednesday.
* Monitoring America: “Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.”
* In case there were any doubts, research shows the Roberts-led Supreme Court is extremely friendly to business interests and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
* I’m generally impressed with the work “60 Minutes” does, but last night’s segment on state budgets was just a one-sided mess. Pat Garofalo has more on this.
* The Obama administration released long-awaited science guidelines late last week, intended to “insulate government scientific research from political meddling and to base policy decisions on solid data.”
* President Obama will reportedly sign the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal measure into law on Wednesday.
* On a related note, Greg Sargent has a great item on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) key role in getting DADT repeal through Congress.
* I’ve seen the report on the White House putting Social Security cuts on the table for 2011, but I haven’t seen confirmation elsewhere, and I can only hope officials recognize this as a terrible mistake.
* Fox News goes after the University of Maryland, but the school isn’t sure why the Republican network would bother.
* College students plagiarizing from Conservapedia shouldn’t be near institutions of higher learning.
* And Equality Matters, a new project launched by Media Matters, gets to work. Led by former Clinton administration staffer Richard Socarides and journalist Kerry Eleveld, Equality Matters intends to “push back against homophobic messages in the media and the political arena.” In other words, it’ll be plenty busy.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
