WASHINGTON - First birth control, now prenatal testing? Once again a fact of life for many American women has become a jarring issue in the presidential race.

PHOENIX - The stakes for the debate in Mesa, Ariz., Wednesday night are high for the four remaining contenders: It is the last before the primaries here and in Michigan on Feb. 28.

WASHINGTON - A senior administration official says the Obama administration is proposing to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama and former first lady Laura Bush will help break ground for a new national museum telling the history of black art, life and culture as part of the Smithsonian Institution.

NORCROSS - Police were interviewing witnesses at a spa outside Atlanta where a gunman opened fire, leaving five people dead in what authorities describe as a murder-suicide.

WASHINGTON - The government's new consumer-watchdog agency is launching a probe into costly overdraft fees charged by big banks.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must do a better job limiting legal expenses paid by the two mortgage giants to their former executives facing lawsuits, a new watchdog report says.

ANCHORAGE - A former aide to Sarah Palin has been fined for using confidential emails to write a tell-all book.

CLEVELAND - Federal authorities say an Ohio woman who describes herself as an animal-welfare activist has been charged with soliciting murder in a plot to kill someone wearing fur.

WASHINGTON - A senior administration official says that the Treasury Department plans to release information about its forthcoming plan to overhaul the corporate tax system on Wednesday.

SHELBY, MI - Mitt Romney is wading into the social and religious issues that have helped fuel rival Rick Santorum's rise.

PHOENIX - A surging Rick Santorum is making increasingly harsh remarks about President Obama, questioning not just the president's competence but his motives and even his Christian values.

SALT LAKE CITY - Radioactive contamination from the Fukushima power plant disaster has been detected as far as almost 400 miles off Japan in the Pacific Ocean, with water showing readings of up to 1,000 times more than prior levels, scientists reported Tuesday.

NEW ORLEANS - As Carnival builds toward the out-of-control crescendo of Fat Tuesday, Barry Kern and his team of float-builders and artists are already preparing for next year.

LANDOVER - Police say a BMW crashed into a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in suburban Washington, killing the driver and injuring several other people.