AP - Illinois' highest court agreed Tuesday to decide whether Rahm Emanuel can run for Chicago mayor, and justices ordered election officials not to print any ballots without his name until they rule on the case.

Reuters - President Barack Obama will propose a freeze in some government spending on Tuesday but not enough to satisfy Republicans in a speech likely to strike a centrist tone looking ahead to his 2012 re-election bid.

AP - Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle says he never planned to raise taxes when he took office two years ago but that the city's unexpected financial mess left him no choice.

AP - Declaring a new era of shared responsibility, President Barack Obama is imploring Republican and Democratic lawmakers to work with him to revitalize the economy, saying in his State of the Union address the enormity of the challenge is "bigger than party, and bigger than politics."

Reuters - Congressional Republicans on Tuesday sought to put President Barack Obama on the defensive ahead of his State of the Union speech as they pressed their plans to slash domestic spending.

AP - Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday that limiting Social Security payments to wealthier Americans could help the nation confront its mounting national deficit.

AP - Moving to keep a campaign promise to slash the federal budget, Republicans controlling the House Tuesday went on record to return most domestic agencies to 2008 budget levels in place before President Barack Obama took office.

Reuters - Simon & Schuster makes no pretense about "O," a political novel imagining Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. The publisher is hiding the author's identity in order to sell books.