WASHINGTON-Campaigning for his priorities, the president delivered a lengthy address on the economy. In the setting of Georgetown University, the 45-minute address on economic theory resembled more of a college lecture than a rousing campaign speech.

"This is prose, not poetry," he explained at the outset.

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Has anyone relished eating a peanut butter sandwich lately?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigators traced a massive salmonella outbreak this past year back to peanut plants in Georgia and eventually Texas, which supplied Kellogg's, makers of products like Cliff Bars, and provided tubs of peanut butter to nursing homes. Investigators hold now-bankrupt Peanut Corp. responsible for nine deaths and hundreds of illnesses across the country, and nearly 3,500 products have been recalled.

INDIAN HEAD, Md.-On Feb. 10, Rev. Lucius Ross arrived at his small church, Smith Chapel in La Plata, Md., to find a racial epithet, the n-word, sprayed on the front door. The paint wouldn't come off, so Ross taped brown paper over it. His church was one of four places in the area that had been covered with racially offensive graffiti and swastikas. A week before, other racist graffiti appeared on two area schools.

WASHINGTON-Under the direction of a Democratic Congress, the first federally funded program providing low-income families with education scholarships in Washington, D.C., is presumably in its final days. But a newly released Department of Education study evaluating the program's first three years shows reading improvements among participating students.

WASHINGTON-The D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages, the same day Vermont became the fourth state to legalize homosexual marriages-the first state to do so through legislation. The Iowa Supreme Court made gay marriage legal in that state last week, joining the ranks of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

D.C. Council member David Catania, who is homosexual, told reporters the vote was part of "the march towards human rights and equality."

WASHINGTON-The White House announced Monday nine new members of its Advisory Council for the Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office, completing the 25-member panel, but former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who was invited to join last week (see "Fifth quarter") was not one of them.

Dungy apparently declined because of schedule conflicts.

WASHINGTON-With the possibility of former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy joining the Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships' Advisory Council (see "Fifth quarter"), President Obama should have a number of people advising him who want to continue to allow faith-based groups receiving federal funds to hire based on religion.