NPR News

The TSA is whittling down the list of objects air travelers are forbidden to carry on board and says small pocket knives will soon be allowed on commercial flights.

But thats not all! According to the TSA, travelers will also be able to take on board golf clubs (a maximum of two), hockey sticks, and wiffle ball bats. Yes, wiffle ball bats. Finally!

TSA Administrator John Pistole outlined the changes today at an appearance in New York.

If Nov. 7 brought pangs of withdrawal from the end of the presidential race — good news!

The next one has already started.

Witness last week's dust-up over the American Conservative Union's failure to invite New Jersey's Chris Christie, one of the most popular Republican governors in the country, to its annual Conservative Political Action Conference. And if that flew under the radar, this week's book tour launch by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has removed all doubt that the countdown to Iowa has begun.

By a vote of 12 to 3, the Senate Intelligence Committee approved the nomination of John Brennan as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The nomination now goes to the full Senate for their confirmation. Reuters reports that timing of that vote is still unknown.

As we've reported, Brennan's nomination has drawn opposition from Senators who "want to know more about last September's attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya."

The Masters Tournament is still a month away, but the green jackets that grace the winners' shoulders are already in the news, thanks to a lawsuit over a proposed auction of a former champion's jacket.

On one side is tournament host Augusta National Golf Club, which says the jacket, won by Art Wall Jr. in 1959, was stolen; on the other is Florida doctor Stephen Pyles and Heritage Auctions of Texas, who insist the jacket was obtained legally and can thus be sold to the highest bidder.

Following the lead of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the White House said yesterday that it believed users should be allowed to unlock their cellphones without breaking the law.

The White House made the statement in response to an online petition signed by more than 114,000 people. R. David Edelman wrote:

Spring has come early to the Yosemite Valley, and the melting snow makes for a spectacular rush of water off the granite face of Yosemite Falls, the tallest in North America.

Early March is when park officials would normally be gearing up for the busy tourist season. Instead, they're figuring out how to cut $1.5 million from their budget. Without a budget deal, the sequestration has forced the Park Service to cut a total of $134 million from sites around the country.

Federal officials warned Tuesday that an especially dangerous group of superbugs has become a significant health problem in hospitals throughout the United States.

These germs, known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, have become much more common in the last decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the risk they pose to health is becoming evident.

While diplomats move ahead at the United Nations on a package of new sanctions aimed at North Korea in another effort to convince that Stalinist state to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, there's also this news:

During a long, fiery speech, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro said the country had expelled American diplomat David del Monaco because of what Maduro said was his work trying to "destabilize the country."

"Mr. David del Monaco has 24 hours to pick up his bags and leave the country," Maduro said in the televised speech.