• AIG Insurance is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments set off a national furor. The troubled insurance giant has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage.

• The White House says it expects “frank” but constructive talks in President Obama’s meeting today with Pope Benedict XVI – two men who share similar views on helping the poor and pushing for Middle East peace, but disagree on abortion and stem cell research.

• CIA Director Leon Panetta has ordered an internal inquiry into the agency’s handling of a contentious and still highly classified program that has caused heated dispute between the CIA and Dems on the House Intelligence Committee.

• Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) will today be announcing that he will not run for re-election in 2010. In addition to his problems regarding the details of his appointment to the seat by ousted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Burris has raised just $845 for the 2010 cycle.

• In April 2008, Sen. John Ensign’s parents each made gifts to the campaign staffer he had his affair with, her husband, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts, and complied with tax rules governing gifts.

• President Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, addressing issues about AIG and restating his support for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. In an off-hand comment, he also compared his bowling to The Special Olympics. The White House released a statement, saying Obama did not intend to offend.

• Denouncing a “squandering of the people’s money,” lawmakers voted decisively yesterday to impose a 90% tax on millions of dollars in employee bonuses paid by troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies. The House vote was 328-93. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate and President Obama quickly signaled general support for the concept.

• President Obama told Iran’s people and leaders that the United States wants to engage their country and end decades of strained relationship, but not unless their officials stop making threats. Obama made these statements in a video message with Farsi subtitles.

• A spokesman for the IRS said yesterday that the agency “stands ready to take collective action if the need arises” to get back taxes from 13 still unnamed companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailout money.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:06am Pacific to talk about the news of the day and his show at the Fanatic Salon in West Los Angeles tonight.

• President Obama said yesterday he’ll “take responsibility” for AIG executives receiving controversial bonuses while the company took $173 billion in government bailouts. “We didn’t draft these contracts… but it is appropriate when you’re in charge to make sure stuff doesn’t happen like this,” Obama told a town hall meeting in Costa Mesa, CA.

• Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) told CNN yesterday that he was responsible for language added to the federal stimulus bill to make sure that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money were honored.

• AIG CEO Edward Liddy told Congress yesterday that he asked executives who received retention bonuses last week to “do the right thing” and return at least half the money. Some AIG employees have already come forward to return their full bonuses.

• Tony-winning actress Natasha Richardson died yesterday at age 45 in New York after suffering a head injury from a skiing accident. Richardson was the wife of actor Liam Neeson, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, and niece of Lynn Redgrave.

• Comedian Michael McDonald calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the topics of the day and to promote his comedy gig at the Improv in Irvine, CA.

• Insurance giant AIG will have to return to the Treasury Department the $165 million it just paid out in executive bonuses, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said yesterday in a letter to congressional leaders. The money will come from the operations of the company in the amount of the retention awards just paid.

• New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo confirmed in a letter to Congress that this year, after receiving federal bailout money, AIG paid 73 employees bonuses of more than $1 million each. 8 people received $4 million or more. Cuomo also confirmed that 11 of the employees no longer work for the company.

• Edward Liddy, the CEO of AIG, will take the hot seat today in a hearing before a House Financial Services subcommittee. The hearing’s purpose is to find how AIG arrived at its “terrible situation” and why it’s receiving so much taxpayer money.

• President Obama urged both Dem and GOP members of Congress yesterday to provide him with “constructive alternative solutions” if they disagree with any sections of his 2010 budget proposal. Given the magnitude of the nation’s problems, Obama said, “we don’t need more point scoring, we need more problem solving.”

• CNN’s Jack Cafferty calls in at 6:30am Pacific to discuss his new book, “Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream.”

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 7:06am Pacific to talk about the economy, AIG, Obama’s budget, and the banking industry’s accountability to the American people.

• CNN’s Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi calls in at 7:30am Pacific to discuss the bonuses for AIG and CNN’s special programming devoted to the economic crisis.

• President Obama said yesterday he will attempt to block bonuses to executives of ailing insurance giant AIG, payments he described as an “outrage.” Sen. Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has suggested that a tax targeted at those receiving bonuses may be a way for the government to recoup those bonuses.

• President Obama vowed yesterday to ease the financial plight of the nation’s small businesses, promising immediate action to revive frozen credit markets and increase liquidity throughout the entire financial system.

• Vice President Joe Biden’s 91-year-old mother Catherine Biden has been hospitalized after a fall at her Delaware home. She is said to be “receiving treatment and is in good spirits.”

• America’s recession will “probably” end this year if the government succeeds in bolstering the banking system, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday in a rare television interview. He admitted, however, that recovery hinges on getting banks to lend more freely again and getting the financial markets to work more normally.

• President Obama will today announce a broad package of measures from the stimulus plan that will be used to immediately provide billions of dollars in federal lending aid aimed at struggling small business owners.

• Former Vice President Dick Cheney said that President Obama is making critical national security choices that make the American people less safe. In a television interview yesterday, Cheney said Obama is making some choices that “will in fact raise the risk to the American people of another attack.”

• Ron Silver, who won a Tony for his role in “Speed-the-Plow” and an Emmy nomination for his work in “The West Wing” died yesterday. He was 62 and had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years.

• President Obama on Saturday asked Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be his nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Obama is expected to make the announcement this afternoon. The post is still vacant after the first pick, former Sen. Tom Daschle stepped aside after some tax issues were revealed.

• President Obama plans to move ahead this week with an ambitious plan to overhaul the country’s health care system. Obama is asking for $634 billion in his new budget to be put aside over the next 10 years as a sort of health care fund.

• The government has revamped its rescue package to insurance giant AIG and will provide the troubled company another $30 billion. The new package comes as the company has burned through cash and has been unable to repay the government on its existing loan package, which totals some $150 billion.

• A massive late winter storm roared out of the Southeast and into the Northeast overnight, dumping what could be more than a foot of snow in spots, idling hundreds of flights and promising to make this morning’s commute treacherous.