Reuters - Republican lawmakers in California on Wednesday fully embraced Governor Jerry Brown's plan for overhauling public pensions and pressed his fellow Democrats, who control the state legislature, to back it as well.

AP - President Barack Obama is reaping political benefits from the country's brighter economic mood. A new poll shows that Republicans and Democrats alike are increasingly saying the nation is heading in the right direction and most independents now approve the way he's addressing the nation's post-recession period.