AM BRIEF: FEBRUARY 4, 2011

NOTE: Five of the stories that appear in the AM Brief are derived from the Newspapers appearing in our Daily Headlines feature. Daily Headlines is published approximately 90 minutes after AM Brief.

1. Unemployment rate dives to 9%, but few new jobs created. How can that be?. [The Christian Science Monitor]
2. NASA: Mark Kelly will Return to Space. [CBS News]
3. Verizon stops taking iPhone pre-orders after setting unspecified 'record'. [The Washington Post]
4. Democratic National Convention choice sends signal: The South's a battlefield. [The Charlotte Observer]
5. Kansas House committee approves amendment to ignore 'Obamacare' insurance mandate. [The Wichita Eagle]
6. Shell again delays exploratory drilling off Alaska's Arctic coast. [Anchorage Daily News]
7. Fla delegation wants crack down on companies that help Cuba drill for oil. [St. Petersburg Times]
8. Reid reluctantly agrees to moratorium on 2011 earmarks. [Las Vegas Review-Journal]