Top Stories

• Study: Colonoscopy cuts colon cancer death risk (AP)
  AP - Millions of people have endured a colonoscopy, believing the dreaded exam may help keep them from dying of colon cancer. For the first time, a major study offers clear evidence that it does.
  
  
• Newark mayor: NYPD Muslim files 'deeply offensive' (AP)
  

  AP - The mayor and police director of New Jersey's largest city said Wednesday the New York Police Department misled their city and never told them it was conducting a widespread spying operation on Newark's Muslim neighborhoods. Had they known, they said, they never would have allowed it.

  
  
  
  
• Russia warns against 'hasty conclusions' over Iran (AP)
  

  AP - Russia said Wednesday the world should not draw "hasty conclusions" over Iran's most recent rebuff of U.N. attempts to investigate allegations the Islamic Republic hid secret work on atomic arms, but the U.S. and its allies accused Tehran of nuclear defiance.

  
  
  
  
• High court torn over law banning lies about medals (AP)
  AP - Free speech cases before the Supreme Court often lead justices to consider far-fetched scenarios, and Wednesday's argument over a law making it a crime to lie about having received top military honors was no exception.
  
  
• Congress members receive threatening letters (Reuters)
  Reuters - Three members of Congress have received threatening mail containing a suspicious powder later found to be harmless and law enforcement officials on Wednesday warned that more may be coming.
  
  
• Obama seeks corporate tax rate cut, loophole limit (AP)
  

  AP - President Barack Obama rolled out a corporate tax overhaul plan Wednesday that lowers rates but also eliminates loopholes and subsidies cherished by the business world. A long-shot for action in an election year, the plan nevertheless stamps Obama's imprint on one of the most high-profile issues of the presidential campaign.

  
  
  
  
• Judge strikes down law mandating sale of contraception (Reuters)
  Reuters - A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Washington state cannot require pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives if to do so violates their religious beliefs.
  
  
• Santorum mocks Romney ahead of Arizona GOP debate (AP)
  

  AP - Rick Santorum acknowledged Wednesday that he's probably running behind Mitt Romney in Arizona, but he implored a tea party crowd not to settle for "a Johnny-come-lately to the conservative cause."

  
  
  
  
• Shelling kills 2 Western journalists in Syria (AP)
  AP - Syrian gunners pounded an opposition stronghold where the last dispatches from a veteran American-born war correspondent chronicled the suffering of civilians caught in the relentless shelling. An intense morning barrage killed her and a French photojournalist — two of 74 deaths reported Wednesday in Syria.
  
  
• Poll: Obama benefitting from improving economy (AP)
  AP - President Barack Obama is reaping political benefits from the country's brighter economic mood. A new poll shows that Republicans and Democrats alike are increasingly saying the nation is heading in the right direction and most independents now approve the way he's addressing the nation's post-recession period.