The Obama administration’s rule requiring religious employers to cover birth control services is going to court after a Catholic TV network sued Thursday to block the mandate.

The order, which the Department of Health and Human Services finalized last month, eliminates a federal exemption that allows religion-affiliated institutions to opt out of the law requiring employers to cover contraceptive services in their health insurance packages.

Churches themselves would remain exempt, but when it goes into effect Aug. 1, the rule will require church-affiliated universities, hospitals, clubs and the like to cover “all [federally] approved forms of contraception.”

Washington (CNN) — Ten states are being granted waivers to free them from some requirements of the No Child Left Behind education reform law, with President Barack Obama explaining Thursday that the move aims to “combine greater freedom with greater accountability.”

Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee will no longer have to meet 2014 targets set by the law.

In exchange for that flexibility, the states “have agreed to raise standards, improve accountability, and undertake essential reforms to improve teacher effectiveness,” the White House said in a statement Thursday morning.

CBS/AP) Does Subway own the rights to the word “footlong”…as in sandwich? It’s become a federal case.

An Iowa-based convenience store has asked a federal judge to rule that the word “footlong” is part of the general English language and not the special property of the Subway restaurant chain.

Ankeny-based Casey’s General Stores Inc. filed a lawsuit against Subway in U.S. District Court in Des Moines on Friday seeking a declaration that Casey’s use of the word “footlong” to describe its 12-inch-long sandwiches doesn’t violate any right owned by Subway.

Updated at 12:54 a.m. ET: The Los Angeles Unified School District is replacing the entire staff of Miramonte Elementary following the arrest of two teachers on lewd conduct charges last week, Superintendent John Deasy told parents at a meeting Monday night, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Positions will be filled by qualified teachers and other workers already on a placement or rehiring list, the Times report stated. But the displacement of the current staff could be temporary, according to the report.

Teacher Mark Berndt was charged last week with committing lewd acts on 23 children. Another teacher, Martin Springer, was arrested Friday on suspicion of fondling two girls in his classroom.

Deasy said staffers are being replaced because a full investigation of allegations is disruptive, and staffers require support to get through the scandal.

Environmental groups on Thursday sued an oil company over the pace of its cleanup of a Gulf of Mexico spill that continues seven years after it was triggered by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

“The plaintiffs filed suit to stop the spill and lift the veil of secrecy surrounding Taylor oil’s seven-year-long response and recovery operation,” Marc Yaggi, executive director of Waterkeeper Alliance, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in New Orleans. “Neither the government nor Taylor will answer basic questions related to the spill response, citing privacy concerns.”

Updated at 9:40 a.m. ET: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Sunday for “friends of democratic Syria” to unite and rally against President Bashar Assad’s regime, previewing the possible formation of a formal group of likeminded nations to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition.

Speaking in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia a day after Russia and China blocked U.N. Security Council action on Syria, Clinton said the international community had a duty to halt ongoing bloodshed and promote a political transition that would see Assad step down. She said the “friends of Syria” should work together to promote those ends.

Clinton was bluntly critical of Saturday’s veto by Russia and China at the United Nations blocking action against the continuing violence in Syria. “What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty,” she said.

Why are they pardoning the DUI drivers?  I think that you do the crime you do the time. They are just learning to do something wrong and they can get away with doing the wrong thing. Why do the Judges give such a lite sentence to these people, but to have a Govern to pardon them for drinking while driving I don’t think it is right. What is this teaching our children when they want to drink and drive. They watch and learn from us and this is not the right way.  I know these people have families to, but someone has to step up to the plate and get them help one way or another. Just my opinion.

OXFORD, Mississippi (CNN) — Unraveling the complex back stories of the more than 200 pardons issued by former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is revealing serious questions about how pardon review decisions were carried out.

But perhaps no pardon is as confounding as the case of Harry Bostick. The retired Internal Revenue Service investigator’s pardon has been called “heinous” by critics of Barbour.

“Someone didn’t do their homework on this case,” said Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland.

When Barbour pardoned Bostick in January, the convicted DUI felon was sitting in an Oxford, Mississippi, jail cell for violating the terms of a previous DUI sentence and was awaiting formal charges from yet another drunken driving accident in October that ended in the tragic death of 18-year-old Charity Smith. Who’s at fault in that accident has yet to be determined.

Is the end of the Afghanistan war near? While another story is the top topic of political conversation — Romney’s “I’m not concerned about the very poor” — there’s a more impactful story that’s in the news today: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s announcement that the U.S. will end its combat operations in Afghanistan by the middle of next year. The Washington Post: “The United States hopes to end its combat mission in Afghanistan by the middle of next year, more than a year earlier than scheduled, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Wednesday. His remarks reflected a growing sentiment within the Obama administration that its approach to Iraq, where the official end of U.S. combat operations came 16 months before the final U.S. troop withdrawal in December, may provide a useful model for winding down operations in Afghanistan.”

Adam Bevelacqua graduated from Brooklyn Law School last year with $100,000 in debt but high hopes for his future.

He passed the bar on his first try in New York and had internships to highlight on his resume. And, according to his research, the school’s job placement rate for new graduates was between 90 to 95 percent.

But Bevelacqua, 29, is no longer as optimistic.

“I’ve been looking for work ever since,” Bevelacqua told msnbc.com. “The jobs aren’t really there.”

On Wednesday, Bevelacqua joined 50 other law school graduates from across the country who sued their alma maters, alleging they were misled about job prospects and burdened with huge amounts of student debt.

LONDON — Landlords in Britain’s capital are evicting tenants so they can cash in on this summer’s Olympic Games by charging tourists many times the usual rent.

Homes in the east London boroughs where many events are to be held are fetching between five and 15 times their typical rates as properties are rebranded as short-term “Olympic lets.” Some landlords are also enforcing expensive “penalty” clauses for tenants who want to remain during the gathering of the world’s top athletes.

Rent controls are almost non-existent in Britain and some Londoners told msnbc.com that the looming increase in housing costs will leave them with no choice but to leave the city for the summer.