Now that a high-profile journalist has admitted to being an illegal immigrant, can he expect a visit from the authorities? Based on recent immigration policy directives, the answer likely is "no."

As he explains in a New York Times Magazine article and an ABC News interview, journalist Jose Antonio Vargas broke numerous laws to conceal his citizenship status for more than a decade. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to directly address whether the agency might take action against Vargas.

Charlotte Allen is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute's Minding the Campus website.

The good news about the conference earlier this year titled "Driving Change, Shaping Lives: Gender in the Developing World" was that no one said, "Women hold up half the sky." The bad news was that someone might as well have uttered this chestnut, reputed to be one of Mao Zedong's favorite Chinese proverbs and a perennial favorite of feminists.

Eric Reeves is a professor at Smith College and author of A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide.

Baseball star Nyjer Morgan of the Milwaukee Brewers sent a tweet to followers asking, "Wat should ur boy do today?" A follower replied, "Fly a kite!" Morgan stood up, went outside and actually flew one.

Drivers in Kentucky were the latest to see an electronic alert on an interstate warning of zombies ahead. And, the manager of Legoland discovered his car had been replaced with a life-sized replica made of 200,000 Legos.

John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Beat since 1999.

These are tough times for labor unions. They are under attack in the private sector and at all levels of government. But workers are waking up to the reason for the attacks: unions are essential sources of protection for essential workers.

So it is that the labor movement has now secured one of the most important victories of recent years in a high-profile area of the public sector.

Washington is calling on Syria to remove its troops from the border with Turkey. Aid officials say hundreds of Syrians fled makeshift camps into southeastern Turkey as the military approached.

Ankara doesn't want to lose its economic engagement with Syria, but nonetheless is shifting its rhetoric in support of the people demanding more freedoms.

The FDA will require disturbing images and warnings about tobacco's harms on all cigarette packs. Dave Granlund wonders if it's really about health — will the FDA stop at cigarettes? And Lee Judge presents his idea to curtail smoking.

The National Weather Service storm survey crews have confirmed at least four tornados struck parts of Louisville Wednesday night. The first tornado struck around 8 pm, and Meteorologist Ted Funk says it was the most significant.

“Based on our storm survey,” says Funk “the heaviest damage was near the intersection of Floyd Street and Central Avenue, again there was a large industrial building that had heavy damage and estimates of wind in that area were 120 MPH.”

State lawmakers have approved deep cuts in benefits for government workers and retirees in New Jersey. State and local workers will have to contribute more to their health insurance and pension plans. And they'll lose collective bargaining rights over health benefits.