• Christian Weller, economist with the Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to update us on jobs, the economy, and holiday retail sales.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to defend The Bronx, and to talk about health care reform and Afghanistan.

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, Afghanistan, and the cops that were killed in his district.

• Unflinching on a critical first test, Senate Dems closed ranks yesterday behind $460 billion in politically risky Medicare cuts at the heart of health care reform legislation, thwarting a GOP attempt to doom President Obama’s sweeping overhaul. The Senate also backed a guarantee for all insured women age 40 and older to receive mammograms with no out-of-pocket costs.

• President Obama promised at a White House jobs forum yesterday to take “every responsible step to accelerate job creation,” including some ideas he said could be put into action quickly. He cited an expanded program to make more U.S. homes energy efficient as an example.

• The White House as authorized an expansion of the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan’s tribal areas, paralleling President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.

• The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about the news over the Thanksgiving weekend.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to co-host Right Wing World.

• The Senate is set to begin debate today on health care reform. Some Dem senators say they’ll jump ship from the bill without tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. Others say they’ll go unless a government plan to compete with private insurance companies gets tossed overboard. Such concessions would enrage Liberals, the heart and soul of the party.

• Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich), the leading Senate Dem on military matters, said yesterday that President Obama’s anticipated plan for expanding troop levels in Afghanistan must show how those reinforcements will help increase the size of the Afghan security forces.

• White House officials fended off new questions about how a fame-seeking couple finessed their way into the president’s State Dinner last week while the aspiring reality-TV stars themselves began trying to sell their story for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Lorie Van Auken, 9/11 Widow and one of the “Jersey Girls,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the ongoing debate about closing Gitmo and moving the trials to New York.

• John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 8:05am Eastern for another edition of “Fridays With Fugelsang.”

• Digging in for a long struggle, GOP senators and governors assailed the Dems’ newly minted health care legislation yesterday as a collection of tax increases, Medicare cuts, and heavy new burdens for deficit-ridden states. Sen. Reid has scheduled an initial test vote for Saturday evening and full debate is expected to begin after Thanksgiving.

• Defense Secretary Robert Gates is putting former U.S. Army Secretary Togo West and former Navy chief Vernon Clark in charge of a broad Pentagon review of the circumstances surrounding the Fort Hood shootings. The 45 day review will look into gaps in how the military identifies service members who might be a threat to others.

• “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” an iconic broadcast that grew over two decades into a daytime television powerhouse and the foundation of a media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air. Winfrey plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast today.

• Christian Weller, economist with The Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to give us an update on the economy.

• John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for “Fridays With Fugelsang.”

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, the economy, and texting while driving.

• Military officials are starting today to piece together what may have pushed an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 30 at Ft. Hood, Texas. The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times by military police.

• Chanting “Kill the bill,” thousands of conservatives rallied at the Capitol yesterday against health care reform. “This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have ever seen,” House GOP leader John Boehner told the crowd.

• A drop in unemployment claims gave investors new reason to be optimistic about the economy and sent the Dow jumping by over 200 points to close above 10,000 yesterday.

• Dr. Maya Angelou calls in at 6:50am Pacific to talk about her new book, “Letter to My Daughter.”

• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about The Affordable Health Care for America Act.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8am Pacific for “Fridays with Fugelsang.”

• Cheered by President Obama, House Dems rolled out landmark legislation yesterday to extend health care to tens of millions who lack coverage, impose sweeping new restrictions on the insurance industry, and create a government-run option to compete with private insurers.

• President Obama will host the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House today as he reassesses his administration’s military strategy in Afghanistan. The meeting will give each branch of the armed services a direct opportunity to tell Obama the effect on the military if a large number of additional forces are sent to Afghanistan.

• Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui hit solo homers off Pedro Martinez to give the New York Yankees a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies and tie the World Series at 1-1 last night.

• The Senate has long been seen as opposing the public health care option in health care reform, but now senior Senate Dems and White House officials are strongly considering including such a measure, but would permit individual states to drop out of the system.

• The White House yesterday forcefully rejected criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney and other GOP-ers that President Obama’s Afghanistan decision is taking too long. “What Cheney calls dithering, President Obama calls his solemn responsibility,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

• Physical attacks on people based on their sexual orientation will join the list of federal hate crimes in a major expansion of the civil rights-era law Congress approved yesterday and sent to President Obama. The measure is named for Matthew Shepard. Many GOP-ers voted against the bill, calling it “controversial.”

• Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, has died at a hospice in the Bronx. He was 83.

• House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins the Mooks in studio in L.A. for another edition of “Fridays with Fugelsang.”

• After scouring northern Colorado by foot and air, frantically chasing a now-infamous Mylar balloon for dozens of miles and interviewing his big brother over and over, local and federal authorities ended their search for 6-year-old Falcon Heene where it began – at his house. He was in a box. In the attic. The whole time.

• House speaker Nancy Pelosi warned her Senate counterparts yesterday that she intends to fight hard for a public plan option as part of any comprehensive health care overhaul bill. Dem Senate leaders have not yet indicated whether they will include the option when they combine their two measures.

• President Obama signed legislation yesterday providing an additional $7.5 billion in assistance to the Pakistani government to help them combat a wave of attacks orchestrated by the Taliban.

• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Wednesday night for what appeared to be an adverse reaction to medication, but she was released Thursday.

• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, the economy, and Obama’s Nobel Prize.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for another edition of “Fridays with Fugelsang.”

• President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize today for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

• Buoyed by a new congressional report boosting President Obama’s prospects for overhauling the U.S. health care system, Senate leaders yesterday scheduled a key vote on the Senate Finance Committee’s legislation for Tuesday.

• The House voted yesterday to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation, significantly expanding the hate crimes law enacted in the days after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.

• The moon is due for a double whammy from two NASA probes today. One slammed the moon’s south pole this morning at 4:31am Pacific in a search for water ice buried in craters.

• Theresa Barrett from WCPT-AM in Chicago calls in at 7:05am Pacific to tell us about the atmosphere at the Olympics announcement at Daley Plaza in Chicago.

• Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us via ISDN from our New York City bureau to talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• In a hometown pitch for the world’s biggest sporting event, President Obama yesterday lobbied Olympic leaders to give the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago, saying the U.S. “is ready and eager to assume that sacred trust.”

• Dems worked to smooth the impact of sweeping health care legislation on working-class families yesterday as they pushed President Obama’s top domestic priority toward a crucial Senate advance. GOP-ers are worried of a potential backlash against the penalty for people who decline to buy insurance.

• A CBS News employee is under arrest for trying to extort $2 Million from David Letterman, forcing the late night host to admit in an extraordinary monologue before millions of viewers last night that he had sexual relationships with female employees. The person who was arrested works on the CBS show “48 Hours” and has been suspended.

• Terry O’Sullivan, President of the Laborers International Union of North America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk abou all things politics and pop culture.

• The U.S., Britain, and France today will accuse Iran of building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel and demand that Tehran grant access to international weapons inspectors, The New York Times reported.

• The Senate Finance Committee defeated a Dem amendment that would have gradually closed the coverage gap in the Medicare drug benefit at the expense of drugmakers. Nonetheless, another proposal to shield seniors in Medicare private insurance plans from benefit cuts remained alive.

• Advocates for a public insurance plan, the idea that has generated the most passion in the health care debate, are pressing for a crucial test vote in the Senate Finance Committee.

• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized yesterday after becoming ill in her office at the court. She had received a treatment for an iron deficiency and developed “lightheadedness and fatigue” about an hour later. She is expected to be released today.

• Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners calls in at 7:05am Pacific to discuss the need for more spirituality in the debate on health care reform.

• Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about accusations of racism against President Obama, and Fox News smearing ACORN.

• Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) unveiled the Senate’s version of health care reform yesterday. The plan would require all Americans to have health insurance, but lacks a public plan option or even a trigger for a public option.

• The White House says President Obama doesn’t believe he’s being criticized because of his race. They were asked about the topic following comments on Tuesday by former President Jimmy Carter. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says some people have disagreements with some of Obama’s decisions but that those concerns were not because of his race.

• ACORN, an advocacy group under fire after some employees were caught on camera appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie about the woman’s profession to get housing help, said Wednesday it is ordering an independent investigation and is refusing new admissions into its service programs.

• Mary Travers of 1960’s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, has died, according to her publicist. She was 72.

• Democratic congressional leaders predicted passage of health care legislation within a few months despite undimmed GOP opposition, claiming momentum yesterday from President Obama’s speech and renewed commitment from lawmakers fresh from a month of meetings with constituents.

• President Obama accepted Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) apology for shouting, “You lie!” during his speech to Congress, and House Dem leaders are showing no interest in sanctions against Wilson. “It’s time for us to talk about health care, not Mr. Wilson,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

• Rob Miller, the opponent of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who yelled “You lie!” at President Obama during his speech to Congress on health care, has raised nearly $600,000 in just one day.

• Solemn memorial services in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania today are marking the 8th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. In Washington, President Obama will be at the Pentagon, where he will make remarks and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony for the 184 victims when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building’s west wall.

• Rep. Brad Miller (D-CA) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Harry Shearer calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about the DVD release of “Spinal Tap: Unwigged and Unplugged.”

• Mourners filed by the casket of Sen. Ted Kennedy as he lay in repose yesterday in his slain brother’s presidential library, paying their respects to one of the longest-serving U.S. lawmakers and the last political giant of the Kennedy family. Kennedy’s body will lie in repose for a two-day public viewing.

• With a bugler playing taps, a rifle squad firing 21 volleys and pallbearers representing each branch of the military, Sen. Ted Kennedy will be laid to rest in a private funeral at Arlington National Cemetery tomorrow. Plans call for Kennedy to be buried in early evening near his slain brothers John and Robert.

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday quashed rumors that he is considering running for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s open Senate seat. “Governor Romney’s focus right now is on helping other Republicans run for office, and that is how he will be spending his time,” a spokesman said.

• Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) suggested yesterday that moderate Dems who’ve pushed for changes in health care legislation are “brain dead” and out for insurance company campaign donations.

• Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and Afghanistan.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and his town hall meetings.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins Steph in studio in NYC at 8:05am Pacific for more discussions of everything politics and pop culture.

• President Obama took his health care message to talk radio yesterday, telling listeners of a Philadelphia host that he wants to overhaul the nation’s health care system out of necessity rather than politics.

• Senate health care negotiators agreed late last night to ignore the increasingly strident rhetoric from GOP and Dem leaders and to keep working toward a bill that can win broad support from the rank-and-file in both parties, according to sources familiar with the talks.

• Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge says he successfully countered an effort by Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to raise the nation’s terror alert level in the days before the 2004 presidential vote.

• Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will all be calling in TOMORROW to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 11:05am TOMORROW to hang and talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• Under the menacing threat of violence from the Taliban, Afghans headed to the polls today in the war-ravaged nation’s second-ever national election. Thousands of NATO and Afghan soldiers provided security at the polls and more than 30 observer groups were on hand to monitor the voting.

• President Obama appealed yesterday to faith-based groups to help garner support for his plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system. Obama urged the listeners to reject information about his plans, noting, “There are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness.”

• A cancer-stricken Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has written a poignant letter to Massachusetts leaders asking that they change state law to allow a speedy replacement of him in Congress, instead of the special election now required. Kennedy wrote, “It is vital for this commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate.”

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us from our New York studio for all of Hour 3 today to talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• Vanquished House Speaker Newt Gingrich said yesterday that President Obama should “calm down and slow down” with his push to pass health care legislation. He also said that legislators’ canceling of town hall meetings because of death threats is “exactly wrong.”

• President Obama’s push to revamp health care got a boost yesterday as a new coalition of drug makers, unions, hospitals, and other launched a $12 million pro-overhaul ad campaign. Meanwhile, the administration sought to regain control of the health care debate by asking supporters to forward a chain email to counter criticism that’s circulating on the internet.

• Olympic gold medal swimming champion Michael Phelps was involved in a traffic accident in Baltimore last night, but was uninjured, police said. Officers say that alcohol was not believed to be a significant factor in the Phelps crash.

• Guitar wizard Les Paul, whose innovations with the electric guitar and studio technology made him one of the most important figures in recorded music, has died. He was 94.

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care protesters, cash for clunkers, and other news of the day.

• The Senate voted last night to extend the “Cash for Clunkers” program with an infusion of $2 billion. White House aides said earlier that President Obama will quickly sign the bill into law to prevent any interruption to the popular incentive.

• Judge Sonia Sotomayor made history yesterday when the Senate confirmed her to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Sotomayor was easily confirmed in a 68-31 vote. 9 GOP-ers joined a unanimous Dem caucus in supporting her nomination. She will be sworn in at the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts tomorrow.

• Pakistani intelligence officials say that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA drone strike that targeted a house Wednesday. Mehsud is enemy number one in Pakistan and is believed to be behind some of the biggest attacks in that country.

• John Hughes, director of “The Breakfast Club,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and “Sixteen Candles,” died of a heart attack in New York yesterday. He was 59.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:10am Pacific to talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• President Obama sat down for a beer at the White House last night with a top African-American professor and the police officer who arrested him earlier this month. After the meeting, Sgt. James Crowley told reporters that the men had a “cordial and productive discussion” in which they agreed to move forward rather than dwell on past events. He said they plan to meet again.

• A key Senate committee won’t vote on its compromise health care overhaul plan before the upcoming month-long August recess, giving GOP-ers and some conservative Dems their desired slowdown in congressional action on President Obama’s top domestic priority.

• According to a new CNN Poll of Polls, 54 percent of Americans approve of how President Obama is handling his duties in the White House. That’s down 7 points from late June. In the same Poll of polls, 48 percent approve of how he’s handling the economy, and 43 percent approve of his handling of health care reform.

• Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care and his possible run for Senate.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said yesterday that the chamber won’t vote on a health care reform bill until after the August recess. Reid said the leading Dems and GOPers of the Senate Finance Committee, who are negotiating a compromise plan, have asked for more time to complete their work.

• President Obama took his health care offensive on the road to Cleveland, Ohio yesterday, accusing top Republicans of playing politics with his top domestic legislative priority. He also said, “We have never been closer to achieving quality, affordable health care for all Americans.”

• The commissioner of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police department said yesterday he “deeply regrets” the arrest of prominent black Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., but stands by the procedures followed by his department.

• President Obama is leaning hard on the nation’s schools, using the promise of more than $4 billion in federal aid – and the threat of withholding it – to strong-arm the education establishment to accept more charter schools and performance pay for teachers.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the news of the day.

• Questions surrounding Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s past speeches generated more controversy in the final day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings yesterday, as Dems again called her a mainstream jurist and GOPers portrayed her as a liberal activist likely to legislate from the bench.

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday she would be willing to lower the amount of a new surtax on wealthy Americans to pay for health care legislation if more savings from proposed reforms can cover the cost of the bill.

• Speaking at the NAACP’s annual convention in New York, President Obama last night commended the progress of African-Americans but said there was still much work to be done. Obama highlighted some of his administration’s policies as examples of how the government is attempting to break down the barriers of inequity.

• Explosions tore through the Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott hotels this morning in south Jakarta, Indonesia, killing nine people and wounding at least 50. Police found an unexploded bomb on the 18th floor of the J.W. Marriott Hotel, but they were able to diffuse it.

• 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.

John Fugelsang

Of course, the big topic of the morning will be Michael Jackson’s death, but we will also touch on Farrah Fawcett’s death, and weave a little Iran and Mark Sanford in there.  Enjoy!

Click Here To Find Your Congresspeople!

Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121

• CNN’s John King, host of “State of the Union,” calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about health care and the latest on Iran.

• Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the progress that Congress is making on health care reform.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to hang out and promote his one-man off-Broadway show coming this July.

• Iran’s supreme leader today rejected opposition claims that last week’s presidential elections were rigged, describing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s win as “definitive” and calling for an end to days of protest.

• The Senate yesterday passed a $106 billion spending bill that includes about $80 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sending the bill to the White House for President Obama’s signature. The money will fund the wars through October.

• Key Senate Democrats are paring back subsidies designed to make insurance more affordable as they reach for bipartisan support on health care legislation. An outline circulated yesterday by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) also leaves open the possibility that there would be no direct government competition against private insurers.

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:06am Pacific to hang out and talk about the news of the day.

• The results of a “stress test” on the nation’s banks show that 10 of the nation’s 19 largest banks will need to raise a total of $74.6 billion in capital. Under the most severe economic scenario, regulators estimated losses could reach $600 billion for the group, the bulk of which coming from residential mortgages and other consumer loans such as credit cards.

• President Obama asked Congress yesterday to eliminate or trim 121 federal programs for a savings of $17 billion in the upcoming budget year. The proposed cuts amount to less than one-half of 1 percent of his $3.6 trillion federal budget outline. GOPers denounced his proposed reductions as too small.

• GOPer-turned-Dem Sen. Arlen Specter gained a Judiciary subcommittee chairmanship yesterday when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he would give up his chairmanship of the Judiciary Crime and Drugs subcommittee so that Specter could have it.

• The Obama administration will not release terrorists from Guantanamo Bay into neighborhoods in the U.S., Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress yesterday as he sought to reassure worried lawmakers.

• 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 John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the inauguration and to promote his upcoming gigs in New Mexico.

• Angela Shelton and Frances Callier join us in studio at 8:30am Pacific for another edition of “Fridays with Frangela!”

• Promising to return America to the “moral high ground” in the war on terrorism, President Obama issued three executive orders yesterday to demonstrate a clean break from the Bush administration, including one requiring that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility be closed within a year.

• The other executive orders formally banned torture by requiring that the Army field manual be used as the guide for terrorism interrogations, and established an interagency task force to lead a systematic review of detention policies and procedures and a review of all individual cases.

• New York Gov. David Patterson has chosen second-term Dem. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to succeed Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate. She is expected to be named at a noon Eastern public announcement in Albany, NY.

• In an interview with a Conservative magazine, Dick Cheney said that Bush should have pardoned Cheney’s former chief of staff Scooter Libby, whom he calls “a victim of a serious miscarriage of justice.”