Congress avoided a federal default this week by raising the debt ceiling in exchange for promised spending reductions, but it ceded the difficult details to a new 12-member "super committee."

If reaction to the bipartisan panel of Senate and House members, yet to be appointed, is any measure, its chances of agreeing on ways to reduce the nation's deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade are slim — no matter who gets picked to serve.

Cable and Internet provider Comcast is launching a new initiative aimed at bridging the digital divide, offering discounted web access and home computers to families that meet income requirements.

The plan, called Internet Essentials, will be available wherever Comcast offers Internet services — which it currently does in 39 states. The company has launched websites in English and Spanish to promote the program.

With one death and 77 people reported ill, the latest foodborne illness outbreak has led to one of the largest recalls in U.S. history. Food giant Cargill has been forced to pull a staggering 36 million pounds of ground turkey from the market. And the victims in this case have gotten very sick — almost one-third have ended up in the hospital.

As a Texas jury considers a possible life sentence for polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, a coalition of polygamist groups is condemning the sexual abuse that led to Jeffs' conviction.

"We are alarmed that such depravity could have been perpetrated by anyone," says a written statement from the Principle Rights Coalition, a group representing five polygamist groups in Arizona and Utah, as well as "numerous other independent Fundamentalist Mormons."

Peter Boone is a principal at Salute Capital Management and non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE). Simon Johnson is the Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Senior Fellow at PIIE.

Mark Hemingway is an editorial page writer for the Washington Examiner.

Much to the frustration of the press corps and the country at large, President Obama went nearly a year without giving a press conference at a time when the country was in a rather precarious state economically and politically. Lately, however it seems that Obama has decided that the debt ceiling debate is the time to reengage — no doubt the looming campaign has something to do with this decision.

The man who ran for New York governor with the simple message of "the rent is too damn high," is facing eviction from his rent-controlled apartment, because, he says, his "rent is too damn low."

The private sector created 154,000 jobs. There was growth in health, retail and manufacturing. But governments cut 37,000 jobs, and a lot of those were the result of the government shutdown in Minnesota. Steve Inskeep gets the latest from NPR's Tamara Keith.

The concerns that the pending merger between University of Louisville Hospital, Jewish Hospital and Catholic Health Initiatives has put the future of certain services in question. Doctors in the merged University Hospital will have to follow Catholic directives, meaning many reproductive health services (contraception counseling, vasectomies, tubal ligations, emergency and elective abortions) will not be allowed and end-of-life care will also change.

For some 23-million students nationwide, the school day begins and ends with a trip on a school bus. Unfortunately, each year many children are injured and even killed in school bus related crashes.  Last year, Kentucky had 985 school bus related crashes resulting in 278 injuries and four deaths. With school starting in many communities, KSP Spokesman Lt. David Jude is urging motorists to be alert for loading and unloading school buses.