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Saturday, August 23, 2008; A14

As a parent of two young adults in their mid-20s, I applaud the wisdom and courage of the Amethyst Initiative's proponents in speaking out about the danger and absurdity of the current drinking age of 21 ["Lower Drinking Age Is Criticized," front page, Aug. 21].

This law drives underage drinkers underground, creates the "forbidden fruit" phenomenon that resonates so well with youths and pushes young people to gather to drink unsupervised.

It seems that Microsoft Corp.’s brand new photo-stitching service could not handle the public’s enthusiasm very efficiently; immediatly after Wednesday’s release, because of the huge demand, it stopped working. The company was very prompt however, and by 7 p.m. EDT, the Photosynth had returned already.

Thursday afternoon, Microsoft said on the Live Labs blog that demand had been simply overwhelming and that Photosynth.com had momentarily been switched to a special static/read-only mode.

Despite the all-new hardware and major improvements in style, the new Palm Treo Pro isn't getting analysts and tech writers hot and bothered. Some are calling it "underwhelming", "a flotation device," and a "stopgap". Ouch.

Yesterday -- after two flubbed attempts -- Palm finally and officially announced the Treo Pro. The Treo Pro is a major step forward for Palm in terms of style, though its spec list pretty much matches that of the recently announced 800w (oh, and every other smartphone out there). GPS? Check. Wi-Fi? Check. Stereo Bluetooth? Check. 3G? Check. Great new user interface? Not so much.

Associated Press
Friday, August 22, 2008; A05

ORLANDO, Aug. 21 -- The mother of a missing toddler was released from jail on $500,000 bail Thursday and returned to her parents' home, where authorities will monitor her with an electronic ankle device.

Casey Anthony, 22, said nothing as she left the Orange County jail. She faces charges of child neglect, making false statements and obstructing an investigation into the disappearance of 3-year-old Caylee, who has been missing since June.

CHESTER, Va. -- Barack Obama hammered at rival John McCain's personal wealth, part of the Democrat's more-focused message on the economy and the latest sign Sen. Obama is adopting attack politics to define his opponent.

Sen. McCain "said the economy is fundamentally strong," Sen. Obama told 250 people gathered outside John Tyler Community College. "If you don't know how many houses you have, then it's not surprising that you might think the economy was fundamentally strong."

By Steven Pearlstein
Friday, August 22, 2008; D01

Message for Hank Paulson: It's time to get out the bazooka.

That was the Treasury secretary's inelegant metaphor for the authority recently given him by Congress to pump government money into the ailing giants of housing finance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Paulson's theory of deterrence is that if you had a big enough financial backstop, it would restore the confidence of markets in Fannie and Freddie's financial viability so that it would become unnecessary to actually use it.

A new campaign highlighting campus alcohol abuse won heavyweight support this week as top college presidents signed a statement urging consideration of lowering the drinking age, but the effort is already encountering a powerful backlash.

More than 100 college presidents, including leaders at Dartmouth, Duke and Middlebury, have joined the month-old Amethyst Initiative, which argues that "the 21-year-old drinking age is not working" and "has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking."

By Marc Fisher
Thursday, August 21, 2008; B01

Next week, when President C.D. "Dan" Mote welcomes freshmen to the University of Maryland, he will inform them that the college police will enforce underage drinking laws "with terrific ferocity." And then he will turn around and, recognizing that most students do drink, tell the teenagers "to take care of each other when they see someone who's passed out, to take advantage of all of our services for students who abuse alcohol."

"We have a real conflict here," Mote says, and he's talking not only about the College Park campus but about every university and about our entire society. We live in a time when efforts to enforce the prohibition on drinking before age 21 are more aggressive than ever, yet there is a common assumption that most young people routinely violate that law.

By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 21, 2008; B05

Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 58, a Cleveland Democrat who was in her fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives and was chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, died Aug. 20 at Huron Hospital in East Cleveland, Ohio. She had a brain hemorrhage.

She was taken to the hospital Tuesday night after being found unconscious at the wheel of her car in a Cleveland suburb. She was taken off life support Wednesday afternoon.

By Ben Pershing
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 20, 2008; A13

Republicans are in their third week of House floor protests on the energy issue, and the political terrain appears to have shifted significantly since they launched their efforts Aug. 1.

When the GOP started using the floor of the House, which is in recess, to demand votes on opening new terrestrial and offshore land for oil and gas exploration, Democrats appeared firm in their insistence that such a vote would not happen. That resistance has gradually melted away in recent days, as the top leaders in both chambers signaled a conditional willingness to allow a vote on drilling after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) made a similar concession earlier this month.