Washington Post

New counterterrorism guidelines permit data on U.S. citizens to be held longer [Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Counterterrorism Center, Attorney General Holder] – Sari Horwitz and Ellen Nakashima report that Attorney General Eric Holder has approved new guidelines for the National Counterterrorism Command, a clearinghouse for terrorism data established after 911, including allowing the NCC to maintain records on citizens and non-citizens longer than five years even if the subjects have no connection to terrorism; agencies sharing such data would be allowed to negotiate a shorter period

Army to charge Robert Bales with murder in killing of Afghan civilians [Army, Afghanistan] – Craig Whitlock and Carol Morello report that the Army will charge Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with 17 counts of murder for his alleged unprovoked killing of Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province which has had serious repercussions for U.S-Afghan relations

Labor Dept.: Green jobs account for 2.4% of employment in 2010 [Labor Dept., green technology jobs] – Sarah Halzack reports that 3.1 million “green jobs” were created in 2010 according to the Labor Department’s first survey of this category of job creation, which includes manufacturing of hybrid cars, production of solar power and weatherization construction projects

Court orders FDA to examine antibiotics use on animals [Food and Drug Administration] – Dina ElBoghdady reports that in response to a lawsuit by health and consumer groups, a federal court has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to pick up where it left off in 1977 when it proposed a ban the use of penicillin and two forms of tetracyline to increase animal growth based on the agency’s concerns about their safety to humans; there is growing concern that over-use of antibiotics in animals will lead to drug-resistant “superbugs”

Holder has become voice of the president on controversial racial issues [Attorney General Eric Holder] – Krissah Thompson and Sari Horwitz reflect on Attorney General Eric Holder’s role as the administration’s point person on issues involving race, most recently ordering the Justice Department’s Civil Right Division to investigate the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida

New York Times

Dartmouth President is Obama’s pick for World Bank [President Obama, World Bank] – John Cushman Jr. reports on President Obama’s nominee to head the World Bank — South Korean-born Jim Yong Kim, president of Dartmouth College, and a physician who lead the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS effort

U.S. rejects environmental reviews on mortgages linked to drilling [Agriculture Dept., National Environmental Policy Act] – Ian Urbina reports that the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said his agency will not require extensive environmental reviews before issuing mortgages to landowners who lease their land for oil and gas drilling, a reversal of the what agency officials had told landowners and congressional offices in emails

House votes to kill a Medicare cost panel [Health and Human Services, Medicare, Affordable Care Act] – Robert Pear reports that the House of Representatives voted 223 to 181, mostly along party lines, to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board established by the Affordable Care Act whose job is to recommend cuts in Medicare spending if the rate of growth of health care costs exceeds certain targets

Wall Street Journal

SEC probes rapid trading [Securities and Exchange Commission, high-frequency trading] – Scott Patterson and Jean Eaglesham report on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation of high-frequency stock trades, which is blamed for the 2010 “flash crash,” when stock prices plummeted and then rebounded within a matter of minutes; the agency is focusing on “computer-driven trading platforms of exchanges”

Bernanke says low rates didn’t fuel bubble [Federal Reserve] – Kristina Peterson and Jeffrey Sparshott report that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told students at George Washington University that the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates did not cause the housing bubble, noting that housing prices had begun to rise in the 1990s and that there were housing booms around the world under different monetary policy

Fed hosts global gathering on easy money [Federal Reserve] – Jon Hilsenrath reports that the world’s central bankers will gather in Washington for a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve to discuss practices such as “quantitative easing,” the purchasing of bonds to reduce credit costs and stimulate the economy, a tactic that was used by the Federal Reserve