Republican Sen. Scott Brown's income more than doubled when he entered the Senate due in large part to a book advance he received after winning the Massachusetts special election, according to tax returns released Friday by his campaign.

POL-Pat-Boone-Lugar

Conservative crooner Pat Boone lent his voice and support to Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana via a radio ad on Friday in hopes of helping the six-term incumbent beat back a challenge from the right.

POL-Boehner-VP-Picks

House Speaker John Boehner named three Republicans as potential vice presidential picks for Mitt Romney, but said there is a "long list" of qualified candidates. The top Republican in Congress said Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana fit his criteria that the pick be capable of serving as president.

MONEY-Ford-Earnings

Ford Motor's U.S. comeback continued in the first three months of 2012, but the economic crisis in Europe and weak sales ended up cutting the company's first-quarter profit.

MONEY-Flash-Sales

The phenomenon known as the flash sale is starting to flame out, forcing some of the bigger players in the industry to reinvent themselves. Daily deal and flash-sale websites broke new ground by offering steep discounts for a limited time only. But now shoppers are showing signs of fatigue after racing against the clock and being inundated with emails.

MONEY-Gas-Prices

A surge in gasoline prices earlier this year sparked talk of $5 a gallon by this summer, but prices at the pump have been ticking lower in April, and it appears they'll continue falling as the driving season approaches.

MONEY-Stocks

U.S. stocks moved higher Friday, as upbeat corporate results outweighed a weaker-than-expected report on first-quarter economic growth.

FEATURES, ANALYSIS and COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY-Gergen-Polarized-Politics

From FDR in the 1930s on, some have argued that parties should be polarized. We're now seeing consequences of Democrats as liberal party, GOP as conservative one, authors say.

US-NFL-Draft-Mr.-Irrelevant

The nation waits with bated breath. Who, they wonder, will the Indianapolis Colts take on draft day? Will it be Penn State's Derek Moye? Maybe University of Nevada corner Isaiah Frey? Marquis Maze of Alabama and Syracuse's Nick Provo could get the nod, as well. If you're confused, calling me an idiot or asking, "Didn't they already take Andrew Luck?" that's OK. Perhaps you don't understand what matters. Mr. Irrelevant matters. That's what former NFL wide receiver Paul Salata has been trying to get across to people for the past 37 years. Since 1976, Salata has hosted Irrelevant Week as a charity event in honor of the last player taken in the NFL draft. This year, the Colts' have the 253rd pick.

MONEY-Thebuzz

May begins next week. Or, as I like to call it, the 17th month of 2011. Sure, the calendar may say 2012. But with economic growth in the United States remaining painfully slow, Europe's debt crisis still at a boiling point and fears of a slowdown in China not going away, it's beginning to look eerily like last year.

POL-Rhetorical-Pornography

We've all heard it, since we were schoolkids knocking about on the playground: "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me." A saying with good intent, to be sure, designed to steel young minds, and hearts, against the inevitable bruises that come with sharing childhood and adolescence with other children and adolescents. But did any of us ever believe it was true? Even today -- now that we're older, hopefully wiser, having experienced the heartaches of everyday life more fully than we may have as kids -- is it a statement we can stand behind? We don't think so.

Farming-Ancient-People

One of the outstanding mysteries of human history is how agriculture spread across Europe, replacing the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Did farmers migrate, bringing a culture of plant and animal domestication that took over? Or did local hunter-gatherer groups merely adopt ideas about those practices? A new study in the journal Science provides new insights. Researchers suggest that farmers and hunter-gatherers were genetically distinct groups that intermingled after the migration of the agriculturally savvy people.

TRAVEL-Hawaii-Travel-Tips