National: The Supreme Court will hear arguments again today on same-sex marriage, this time on whether the federal government may deny employment benefits to same-sex partners legally married in their home states. Yesterday the Court heard arguments on whether same-sex marriage is a Constitutional right. In a pointed exchange Justice Antonin Scalia asked lawyer Ted Olson, “I’m curious, when did it become unconstitutional to exclude homosexual couples from marriage? 1791? 1868? When the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted?” Olson, a leader in the Supreme Court case that made George W. Bush president, replied with the question, “When did it become unconstitutional to prohibit interracial marriages? When did it become unconstitutional to assign children to separate schools?”

World: The Italian court decision to retry former exchange student Amanda Knox sets up a potential international confrontation over double jeopardy and extradition. A new trial could take up to four years and Knox is unlikely to attend. She lives in Seattle. If she’s convicted, the Italians could seek extradition to put her in prison, but under US law she’s been previously acquitted and American courts might be reluctant to give her up. Knox and her Italian former boyfriend were convicted in 2009 of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, but the decision was overturned in 2011, and re-instated Monday. Knox has a book coming out.  

Line of Fire: President Obama has appointed the first woman to head the Secret Service. Julia Pierson has been with the service for 30 years and served on the protective detail for both Bush presidents and Bill Clinton. Some believe the president is trying to make a culture change after a Secret Service partying and prostitution scandal in Columbia.

Eeeewww!: Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner says he slept with a thousand women.  The 86-year-old Hef married Chrystal Harris, who is 60 years younger, on New Year’s Eve, and he says he’s no longer a player.

Google Me: The new tech device known as Google Glass won’t be on the market until 2014, but already it’s the subject of debate and even possible legislation. Google Glass is a light headset with a single eyepiece that looks like the helmet targeting system on an attack helicopter. A West Virginia lawmaker wants to ban driving and using the Google Glass. A Seattle bar banned customers from drinking and wearing it, although that might be a publicity ploy. GG takes pictures, and videos, acts as a GPS and Googles information. It also makes you look like a Cyborg talking to himself.

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