President Obama mapped a course from the Kenyan hospital of his birth to the White House. Now he wants to map your brain. Vigilance!

In these fractured political times, it's nice to see a bipartisan effort. A Democratic state senator in New York and a Republican city councilman in New York City are among six people arrested by federal agents this morning. Their alleged crime: An attempt to rig this year's upcoming mayoral race so the Democrat, prominent state politician Malcolm A. Smith, could run as a Republican. Intrigue!

Two Texas prisoners, one of them an alleged murderer, escaped this morning by fleeing the Hopkins County Jail through a "recreation yard used by female inmates." Everyone knows Justice and Safety are tenets Blogtown holds sacrosanct, but if there's even a chance the men dressed in prison drag and over-the-top makeup, inspiring oafish guards to drool/wolf whistle as they strolled out the door, we wish them well. Potential high jinks!

Spurred by the horrific Newtown shootings, Connecticut appears poised to enact some of the nation's strictest gun control laws. The legislation would require universal background checks for all gun sales, an expanded assault weapons ban and a state-sanctioned certificate in order to purchase a rifle or shotgun. Prudence!

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae, which we all bailed out a couple years ago, is apparently back. The company reported a record income of $17.2 billion last year, with $11.6 of that making its way back into the big federal gold vault lawmakers and high-level federal bureaucrats ski in. Rapacious wealth!

Portland City Council tomorrow is set to dramatically increase the costs the city's paying to TriMet for the eastside streetcar without so much as a discussion, which is just the latest rough financial news for the project. Here's the amendment [PDF] your city leaders are going to winkingly approve tomorrow morning. Puzzling!

Finally, time is running out on this balmy spring loveliness, everybody. We'll see some sun today and tomorrow, but here's our lives from Thursday-July. $3,700 mink coat!