Reaction is coming in after the Obama administration's unusual move releasing immigration detainees due to budget cuts. An Arizona sheriff is blasting the sequestration gridlock for undermining the safety of local communities. Immigrant rights groups, however, say it shouldn't take a budget crisis to do what they think is right.

Usually when we come up to the edge of one of these deadlines there are 11th-hour negotiations, and the two parties manage to swerve away from the precipice at the last minute. What about this time?

Renee Montagne and Linda Wertheimer have the Last Word in business.

Vince Sicari presides over traffic ticket cases, among other things, in South Hackensack, N.J. It's only a part-time position. By night, the judge moonlights as a standup comic which violates state ethics rules. Sicari has appealed to the state's highest court, arguing the public can tell the difference between his two personas.

Former Illinois legislator Robin Kelly has captured the Democratic nomination in the race to replace disgraced former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. She is all but assured a win in April's general election because the Chicago-area district is overwhelmingly Democratic.

Secular activists launched the uprising in Syria two years ago, but ultraconservative Muslims are becoming a more potent force as the war grinds on. The sides have little in common besides their opposition to President Bashar Assad's government.

Most Americans are earning more money than their parents, according to a new study from Pew's Economic Mobility Project. But that doesn't tell the whole picture: It often takes two incomes to surpass the one salary that was enough for the younger generation's parents.

Only about 800 women younger than 40 get the kind of breast cancer that has spread to bones or other organs by the time it's diagnosed. But that number tripled in a generation, and scientists are left wondering what's the cause.

Many parents struggle to find the time to get their kids the exercise they need. Hectic lives are often filled with shuttling children from one sports activity to the next. But some parents are trying to make walking and biking part of their daily lives, not something they have to schedule.

The provision at issue in Wednesday's case before the court applies to parts of the U.S. where discriminatory voting practices were once rampant. The formula that covers those areas hasn't changed since 1975. The crux of the case: whether times have changed so much that Congress violated the Constitution when it reauthorized the law in 2006.

Elected in 1956, Wisconsin state Sen. Fred Risser is the longest-serving state lawmaker in the country. He may not use Facebook, Twitter or email, but he's gotten a lot done over the years. Considered an "institution within an institution" by some, he was just re-elected for another four years.

Colleges and universities are bracing for steep spending reductions in student aid and research funding due to the looming sequestration process. Financial aid offices are scrambling to offset the drop. University researchers say they're already seeing delays in federal grant making.

Government agencies don't have much leeway when they plan for budget cuts that are scheduled to take effect at the end of the week. The sequester law was designed to make it almost impossible for the government to dampen the impact.

In New York, wealthy beach-front homeowners in South Hampton have voted to pay to rebuild the eroded public beach in front of their private homes. Proponents see this as a new model for funding public works projects, but some are upset at having to pay a high cost for a public resource.

In the Islamic Republic, a woman is typically not allowed to sing solos in public unless she performs for an all-female audience and is accompanied by an all-female band. The Iranian singer known as Hari is pursuing her dream in Iraq.

Student-athletes are really sucker-athletes under the organization's structure, says sports commentator Frank Deford. Will no college president speak the words that will break the organization's spell?

Residents of Portland, Maine, said they found Robert Smith a little too cheerful. He had a habit of whistling while standing outside of homes and businesses. A city ordinance lists whistling as disorderly behavior with a fine of up to $500. The Portland Press-Herald reports Smith has agreed to whistle only while in motion.

Few can say they've reached the summit of Mt. Everest. Even fewer can say they've done it twice. And only one woman can say she's done it twice in one month.

A federal judge will hear testimony Tuesday in a civil suit over who is to blame and who should be financially liable for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On Monday, the court in New Orleans heard more than eight hours of opening statements from lawyers for the government and several defendants.

Developers paid more than $40 million for the empty space above Christ Church on Park Avenue at 60th Street. The New York Times reports zoning laws allow for a structure taller than the church to be built on its land, and the church can transfer its unused development rights to an adjoining property . The church's new neighbor is expected to be a 51-story tower, with apartments expected to fetch $8,000 per square foot.