Your customized headlines for Mon, Jul 30, 2012

A Senate committee that successfully pressed for tighter regulation of the for-profit higher-
education sector published a report Sunday that said the business had put shareholders before students.

As of 2009, the report said, three-quarters of students in for-profit colleges attended institutions owned either by publicly traded companies or private equity firms. It said the schools excelled at recruiting students, but not necessarily at retaining them: More than half of students at for-profit schools who enrolled in the 2008-09 academic year left without a degree, the report found. Half of all non-finishers ended their studies within four months.

The largest defense contractors reported last week new challenges to their information technology businesses as the government adapts to shrinking budgets.

In the Washington area, IT contracting is particularly important. Tanks, missiles and aircraft are typically built elsewhere, but IT services happen here, meaning that these declines could take a particularly large toll on the region.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Supreme Court may have declared that the government can order Americans to get health insurance, but that doesn't mean they're going to sign up.

Nowhere is that more evident than Oklahoma, a conservative state with an independent streak and a disdain for the strong arm of government. The state cannot even get residents to comply with car insurance laws; roughly a quarter of the drivers here lack it, one of the highest rates in the country.

GRAND MARSH, Wis. —Canada's Enbridge Inc. on Sunday raced to repair a major pipeline that spilled more than 1,000 barrels of oil in a Wisconsin field, provoking fresh ire from Washington over the latest in a series of leaks.

Arijit Guha is a 31-year-old who lives in Phoenix, Ariz. He is pursuing a doctoral degree in sustainability at Arizona State University. He recently got married. And, since February, he has sold tee-shirts to pay for his own chemotherapy.

The carpet stores and auto shops lining Bladensburg Road as it crosses from the District of Columbia into Maryland may seem far removed from a landmark moment in U.S. history.

But not far from the intersection with Eastern Avenue — near the Popeyes Chicken attached to the Shell gas station — is the spot where Commodore Joshua Barney placed his guns in a last-ditch effort to save the capital during the Battle of Bladensburg on Aug. 24, 1814.

JERUSALEM —Mitt Romney stepped forcefully into a diplomatic stalemate here Sunday by calling on the United States and Israel to use "any and all measures" to lead the effort to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Former vice president Richard B. Cheney said the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008 was "a mistake" — the sort of mistake Mitt Romney should avoid.

In an interview with ABC News, Cheney said Sen. John McCain's choice of the relatively inexperienced Palin was one "I don't think was well handled."

A Senate committee that successfully pressed for tighter regulation of the for-profit higher-
education sector published a report Sunday that said the business had put shareholders before students.

As of 2009, the report said, three-quarters of students in for-profit colleges attended institutions owned either by publicly traded companies or private equity firms. It said the schools excelled at recruiting students, but not necessarily at retaining them: More than half of students at for-profit schools who enrolled in the 2008-09 academic year left without a degree, the report found. Half of all non-finishers ended their studies within four months.