the big 5 stories:

#1 - "Audit the Fed" Builds Support in Senate

The grassroots measure to give the private-owned Federal Reserve its first audit ever is building bipartisan support in the Senate. The bill, started in the House and championed by Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Alan Grayson (D-FL), has gain a sponsor in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and garnered possible advocates like Sanders is joined by four Republicans of varying politics: John McCain (AR), Jim DeMint (SC), David Vitter (LA) and Sam Brownback (KS).

If Democrats in the Senate back the measure, it would have at least 63 votes, but Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) is opposed and has argued against a broad audit. Dodd, a lame-duck who is leaving due to a conflict of interest scandal involving the financial firms he oversees, may be compromised and his opposition has not changed the public momentum for the audit.

Sen. Sanders has stated, "Let's not equate independence with secrecy. We cannot let the Fed operate in secrecy any longer. There is simply too much money at stake." Full Story

#2 - Rep. Calls for Federal Non-Cooperation with AZ Immigration Law

Outrage is growing over the passage of a controversial new measure in Arizona that forces police officers to determine the immigration status of someone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant. We speak with Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), who is urging federal non-cooperation with the new law and is calling for a targeted economic boycott of Arizona. We also speak with Sunita Patel, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is filing a lawsuit demanding records related to ICE’s little known “Secure Communities” program. Full Story

RELATED: Mexico issues travel alert for Mexican citizens in Arizona

#3 - Manuel Noriega, from US Friend to Foe

(Democracy Now): The US has extradited the former Panamanian president and CIA asset Manuel Noriega to France to face trial on money laundering charges. Noriega has been jailed in Miami since 1990 after his overthrow in the US invasion of Panama that killed up to 3,000 people. Noriega’s drug trafficking sentence ended two years ago, but he’s remained in jail while fighting France’s extradition request. Noriega’s attorney, Frank Rubino, criticized the US for failing to inform him of Noriega’s extradition.

Before Saddam Hussein there was Manuel Noriega. Like Saddam, Noriega enjoyed US support until he turned into a wayward ally, then an embarrassment, and finally an "imminent danger" who had to be overthrown.

Noriega was recruited as a CIA informant while studying at a military academy in Peru. He received intelligence and counterintelligence training at the School of the Americas at Fort Gulick, Panama, in 1967, as well as a course in psychological operations at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was to remain on the CIA payroll until February 1988. Full Story

#4 - Obama Will Not Comment on Debt Until After Elections

A possible Obama Austerity plan will be revealed after the mid-terms elections and a lame-duck session of Congress may pass the law and take the heat.

The President has commissioned a debt panel and is keeping his plans secret for the next 7 months. "I'm not going to say what's in, I'm not going to say what's out," Obama said as his National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform held its first meeting. Eventually we, the public, will be allowed to know about the fiscal state of our nation. And then the President will scapegoat the Congress to implement his "difficult political decisions." Full Story

#5 - Bank Oligarchy: 60% of US is Owned by Them

Today financial power is being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer individuals. In fact, the six biggest banks in the United States now possess assets equivalent to 60 percent of America's gross national product. Back in the 1990s that figure was less than 20 percent. These six banks - Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo - literally dictate what goes on in the U.S. banking industry. Full Story

also:
*Ninth Circuit OKs Huge Class in Wal-Mart Gender Discrimination Case

*Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit

*Chernobyl Radiation Killed Nearly One Million People: New Book

*Wall Street Reform: A Big Flop for the Big Lie Strategy?