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If you think the more than weeklong controversy over a new book about the first couple had died down, well, you'd be wrong. "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart joined the fray on his program Monday night. "She seems nice," was Stewart's assessment of the first lady after reading "The Obamas," he told the book's author, New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor. "I'm surprised at the controversy," Stewart said, "because the book seems to portray Michelle Obama as a complex yet human individual struggling with this unbelievable situation yet remaining the moral compass and center of an administration trying to find its footing.

After Saturday's South Carolina primary shook up the Republican presidential race, the four major candidates matched up on Monday in the first of two debates in Florida, which votes next on January 31. Here are five things we learned: A new twist on "Newt Romney" Newt Gingrich got a taste of the one-on-one debate he's proposed having with Mitt Romney Monday night, when the former Massachusetts governor launched an unrelenting attack against...

In what could be his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama on Tuesday called keeping alive the American dream "the defining issue of our time" and pledged to fight obstruction by congressional Republicans. The speech to a joint sitting of Congress is an annual evening of political pageantry, but the stakes are higher this year with Obama's re-election on the line in November. Read the president's speech Obama defended a long list of his trademark policies -- tax increases on the wealthy, Wall Street reform, health care reform, government stimulus spending -- to applause from Democrats while also offering some proposals of interest to Republicans, such as new corporate tax breaks.

You've been told for years that popping a multivitamin every day might help you live longer. But the daily multi habit has been getting a bit of bad press lately. First, ConsumerLab.com, a watchdog of the supplement industry, found that more than half of the 21 multis it tested had too much (or too little) of certain vitamins -- or had been contaminated with dangerous substances such as lead. Then a controversial paper from researchers in Denmark and other European countries, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, made the claim that taking vitamins may actually shorten your life.

Bad reputations tend to stick, even with foods. Continued negative press about a fruit, vegetable, or beverage is enough reason for many of us to banish it. Or maybe we indulge on occasion, but with a measure of guilt. Take avocados and peanuts, for example. Not too long ago they wore a big scarlet "F" for too much fat. Yet as peanuts and avocados sat languishing on many people's bad-for-you lists, researchers discovered that the fat in these two foods, mostly the monounsaturated kind, is extremely good for the heart--and for health in general.

Authorities in California on Friday identified the man whose severed head, hands and feet were discovered this week as 66-year-old Hervey Medellin. The victim was from Los Angeles, said Lt. David Smith with the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Earlier in the day, Los Angeles police completed their biggest search in recent memory, with 120 investigators scouring seven acres in the Hollywood hills looking for more body parts. But the search, which began Tuesday, didn't find additional limbs or a torso, and detectives were continuing their investigation, police said.

Cash advances are not a new concept in America's brand of capitalism. Many people have seen the commercials with some guy barking out, "Bad credit, no credit, no problem!" Or, "Don't worry about credit, I own the bank!" Anytime some guy is telling you he owns the bank, run. Even though these lenders have been around for a while, signing your car over for a high-interest loan has become a serious financial issue. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of car title loans, allow us to explain.

Penn State students and alumni held a candlelight vigil late Sunday to honor and remember Joe Paterno, the iconic former football coach. Paterno, 85, died Sunday at a State College, Pennsylvania, hospital, according to his family. He had been suffering from lung cancer and had recently broken his pelvis. "It is with great sadness that we announce that Joe Paterno passed away earlier today," said the statement. "His loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled.

Football's big game is coming to the small screen. For the first time ever the Super Bowl, along with some postseason NFL games, will be streamed online and through the league's mobile apps, the NFL and partner Verizon Wireless announced Tuesday. The upcoming wild card games, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl -- TV's most-watched annual event -- will be streamed for free to computers on NFL.com and NBCSports.com. NBC's live stream will run different ads from those on TV, but Super Bowl viewers will be able to pull up the TV commercials on demand through the website shortly after they air, an NBC Sports spokesman said.

Go to Wikipedia at midnight, and you won't find any of the usual encyclopedia articles. Instead, you'll be greeted with a message about anti-piracy bills that are topics of heated debate in the U.S. Congress -- stirring opposition from tech companies in Silicon Valley and support from media companies in Hollywood. Wikipedia, one of the highest-traffic sites on the Internet, will shut down for 24 hours in protest of these laws, which the website says would make it very difficult -- maybe impossible -- for its nonprofit encyclopedia to continue to operate.

Two dog walkers discovered a severed human head in a bag Tuesday in the Hollywood Hills area, Los Angeles police said. The two told park rangers they were walking about nine dogs in Bronson Canyon Park about 2:30 p.m. when two of the dogs started playing with an object in a bag, police told CNN. The rangers in turn notified robbery and homicide detectives, who are handling the investigation. The head appears to be that of a male victim, and did not appear to have been there long, but the coroner will have to make a determination and will be responding to pick up the remains tonight, police said.

Etta James, whose assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits as "The Wallflower," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the wedding favorite "At Last," has died, according to her longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon. She was 73. She died from complications from leukemia with her husband, Artis Mills, and her sons by her side, De Leon said. She was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010, and also suffered from dementia and hepatitis C. James died at a hospital in Riverside, California.

If you're looking for an all-natural way to lower your cholesterol -- in addition to watching what you eat and exercising -- there are plenty of dietary supplements on the market that claim to do the trick. Each year seems to bring a new alternative remedy -- garlic, ginseng, or red yeast rice, for example -- that users tout as the next best thing to get cholesterol under control. But just because your Uncle Jack says a supplement worked miracles on his cholesterol doesn't mean it will work for you. In fact, his success may be due to a placebo effect or a diet overhaul he neglected to mention.