From Waxman investigations to Boehner smoking...

From American Progress:

Think Fast

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) "asked 27 federal departments and agencies yesterday to turn over information related to White House briefings about elections or political candidates," substantially widening the scope of his investigation into potentially illegal partisan activities being conducted by federal officials.

Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz "will be allowed to argue for his job in front of a bank committee investigating him." But one senior bank official "suggested that members of the committee had already decided to recommend Wolfowitz's ouster, casting Monday's appearance as a last-ditch appeal."

World Bank "members of a team drafting a strategy to root out corruption in bank lending, an initiative pressed aggressively by Wolfowitz, sent a letter to the bank board on Thursday complaining that the scandal was jeopardizing their work." The letter was signed by 46 officials.

"NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin held an unusual meeting with the staff of the inspector general who oversees his agency and then ordered that video recordings of the meeting be destroyed, a House panel said yesterday." In a letter, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) accused Griffin of "improperly trying to influence the watchdog office's decisions on what it should investigate."

84 percent: Number of Americans who believe that human activity is contributing to global warming, according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll. "The poll also found that Americans want the United States to support conservation and to be a global leader in addressing environmental problems."

In a "startling departure from his previously stated position on civil unions," Mayor Rudy Giuliani came out yesterday "in opposition to the civil union law just passed by the New Hampshire state Senate."

Media Matters documents how during the first presidential primary debate yesterday, several questions about Iraq, immigration, and national security were "based on false premises."

Federal prosecutors have decided not to file insider-trading charges against former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) for his sales of stock in a family-owned chain of hospitals, a charge for which the "legal standards are high."

And finally: Looks like House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) will have to find a new smoking spot. With smoking bans in the House Speaker's Lobby and the Republicans' Capitol Hill Club, Boehner has been lighting up at the National Democratic Club. But that venue will also now be going smoke-free. A spokeswoman for Rep. Allen Boyd (D-FL) said the congressman "won't miss the smoke, but I'm sure he'll miss the bipartisan company."

Wrap...