The quiet death of the public option is quiet no longer. The Times is reporting that Democrats have reached a "tentative deal" to drop the public option from the Senate health care bill. Well, there's always Republicans, right? [NYT]

There are reports that a blond woman — it is not known who Update: it's his mother-in-law — was rushed to hospital on "advanced life support" after a 911 call at 2.36am.

Billy Joel's daughter with Christie Brinkley, singer-songwriter Alexa Ray Joel, rushed to St. Vincent's, is there in stable condition. An AP source cited overdosing on pharmaceuticals, speculating a suicide attempt. A publicist has a stonewall, saying they're "assessing her needs."

The DC couple gave their first interview on the Today Show this morning. They claim they didn't crash the State Dinner, and have never crashed anything ever. Officials — all of them — disagree. So what's the mixup?

Whoops! Last night, everyone was pretty sure Tiger Woods' "Operation: Lovetap" accident was followed by his wife smashing his car's back window to save him. Looks now like she was doing it to bludgeon him. Scorned lovers, coming up. FORE!

According to the latest Associated Press update on Tiger Woods' car crash in Florida his wife, Elin Nordegren, used a golf club to smash the back window of the Cadillac Escalade, then helped him out.

Not much detail about this breaking news, but Tiger Woods was apparently "seriously injured" in a car accident this morning. From the Orlando Sentinel:

A Swiss court granted Roman Polanski bail at a reported $4.5m. He will be out later this week, if authorities decide not to appeal. Let's take a look at who will be happy about this and who will be sad!

BusinessWeek, which is in full reinvention mode since its was bought by Bloomberg last month, has found itself a new editor. We also hear layoffs are coming. Full info below. (UPDATED, with internal memo).

MSNBC is reporting that one two people were killed and up to ten have been wounded in a shooting near a Portland strip mall. Stop, please?

After a long, hard, bloody, awful debate that brought out the worst in our national conversation, the Democratic health care package just passed by a House vote of 220-215. An anti-abortion federal funding amendment sealed the deal. So: now what?

With possibly 8 people shot and 2 dead (authorities confirm 1 dead and 5 shot), police have locked down downtown Orlando, Florida, looking for Jason Rodriguez, who shot up an office building earlier today. Update: Rodriguez has been apprehended.

As a kind of addendum to the Nidal Hasan documents trawl of last night, here's an anti-war petition [PDF] signed by someone named... Nidal Hasan.

The gunman who killed 12 people today at Ft. Hood appears, based on current media reports, to be Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan who was listed as a participant in a Homeland Security Policy Institute's presidential transition task force last year.

Click to viewAn Army soldier killed twelve people and wounded 31 at the Ft. Hood Army post in Killeen, Texas. The shooter has been killed, but two suspected conspirators, also soldiers, are in custody.

An unidentified male was found dead in NYU's Bobst Library this morning. NYU has an unfortunately well-earned reputation as a hub of student suicides: Six in 2004, five in 2005. UPDATE: Letter from NYU President confirming suicide, below. [WSN]

New York Times editor Bill Keller just sent out an internal memo saying that the company needs to cut 100 newsroom positions by the end of this year. Buyout offers are going out; layoffs are possible. Full memo below:

Felony charges will be brought up against the Heene family, it seems. Warrants will be brought up against them. They don't know when the Heene's are going to be arrested. They're going to be going through Heene's computer and seeking out co-conspirators. "On the bizarre meter, this rates a 10," noted Alderden. They didn't search for drugs. They didn't do a thorough search of the house, and should've looked at the attic. They didn't.

Update: TV news is reporting that six-year-old Falcon Heene was found safe in his home. He was never actually the balloon. Now the hoax questions begin.

CNN is carrying footage of the balloon after it landed in a field in Brighton, Colo. and TV news is reporting that six-year-old Falcon Heene is not in the compartment. We're still updating on this post.