Your customized headlines for Tue, Apr 17, 2012

The Senate rejected consideration Monday of the "Buffett rule ," a key election-year Democratic initiative that would impose a minimum tax rate on those making more than $1 million per year, as a philosophical debate over taxes that will define this year's elections occurred on Capitol Hill.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Monday that he regrets that his frequent flights home to California on a military jet have cost taxpayers more than $800,000 since July. He gave no indication, however, that he would end the weekend commutes.

The World Bank named Jim Yong Kim, Dartmouth College's president, as its new chief on Monday after an unprecedented competition against nominees from Nigeria and Colombia.

Yahoo will present its earnings report to investors on Tuesday afternoon, but most of the speculation ahead of the call is not about what the company earned in the last quarter. All eyes are on the Web giant's new chief executive, Scott Thompson, and how he will frame his strategy since the company announced earlier this month that it would cut 2,000 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce.

— No Pulitzer Prizes awarded for editorial writing or fiction this year.

— "[D]octors should not stereotype individuals with tattoos as heavy drinkers, the researchers cautioned."

— El Salvador celebrates its first murder-free day in almost three years.

At this time last year, Congress was locked in a fierce battle over Planned Parenthood's funding. The group received $657 million in federal funds between 2002 and 2009 for women's health services that do not include abortion. In 2011, that funding became one of the last sticking points in a fight over the nation's budget. It was the first year that both chambers of Congress voted on legislation that would strip Planned Parenthood of its federal dollars. That bill was ultimately defeated in the Senate on April 15, 2011.

Now that a fleet of new plug-in electric cars are finally hitting the roads — including the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt — it's time to revisit the old question: Are electric vehicles really better for the environment than regular gas-powered cars and trucks?