The former governor of Alaska is in Los Angeles this week, shopping a reality TV show with "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Sarah Palin and Burnett have visited Fox, CBS, and NBC to pitch the project.

The show would be a nature documentary similar in style to the award-winning "Planet Earth," but set in Alaska, and Palin and her family would appear on camera.

A nature documentary with the Palins could be action-packed, if a little short on the traditionally environmentalist angle: Todd Palin is a semi-professional snowmobile driver, and his wife has hunted wolves from a helicopter, an activity she called "lots of fun" in a 2008 radio interview.

Vice President Joe Biden was among the special guests who gathered in the Capitol's Statuary Hall Wednesday for a tribute to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who died last month of complications from surgery.

Also on the program were Defense Secretary Robert Gates and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who called Murtha "a great legislator."

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) is "terrified" of an indictment which The National Enquirer reported Wednesday is "imminent," relating to his use of campaign funds to cover up an extra-marital affair during his 2008 presidential run.

A grand jury has been investigating Edwards's use of the funds since April of last year, and the Enquirer quotes a friend of Edwards's saying that although the former candidate does not believe he did anything wrong, he fears that his case will be made an example of.

The tabloid has led the reporting of Edwards's affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter, and its pursuit of the story has earned it an unexpected Pulitzer Prize nomination.

Massa announced he would retire from Congress after just one term, but said reports that he is under investigation for sexually harassing a male staffer are besides the point.

"There are blogs who are saying that I'm leaving because there are charges of harrassment against my staff," Massa said. "Do I or have I ever used salty language when I'm angry — especially in the privacy of my inner office or even at home? Yes, I have. And I have apologized to those where it's appropriate. But those kind of articles, unsubstantiated without fact or backing, are a symptom of what's wrong with this city."

Massa said he recently underwent his third major cancer recurrence scare, in December.

A 20-year Navy veteran who is married and has children, he was originally diagnosed with non-Hogkin’s lymphoma while he served in the military.

“I'm a very salty guy and a very direct guy, and I run at about 100 miles per hour," he said. "My doctors have made it clear to me that I can no longer do that."

Cross-posted from The Hill's Ballot Box

Recent presidential pets boast an impressive list of accomplishments: Socks Clinton "wrote" a diary. Barney Bush starred in nearly a dozen "BarneyCam" films. Now Bo Obama is "narrating" a new book.

"Bo Obama: The White House Tails" is a 40-page comic book being published this week by Blue Water Productions, in which President Barack Obama's one year-old Portugese water dog narrates stories about presidential pets, including George Washington's horse, Nelson, and a longhorn cow named Ofelia [sic] owned by George W. Bush.

The Chicago Tribune even reviewed the comic book, saying that Bo Obama has a "magic touch."

White House officials declined to comment about the unauthorized use of the dog's likeness, but ITK suspects that, much as they do for the human residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., they do not approve.

Mitt Romney said on MSNBC Wednesday that he glues on his hair.

Pressed by Mike Barnicle during MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program on whether his hair is real, a laughing Romney said, "I glued this on this morning. It's not moving."

Barnicle said that he was jealous of Romney's hair.

Many members of Congress advocated for animal rights last year, and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is going to give an award to every one of them.

It could get crowded on Wednesday evening in the Capitol, where, according to a statement, the 2009 Humane Legislative Achievement Awards will honor 131 lawmakers. That's about one of every four members of Congress.

There will also be a special award for the Humane Legislator of the Year, which goes to Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), pictured here eith fellow animal-rights proponent Hayden Panetierre, who HSUS commends for his work to protect wild horses, among other things.

With this many awards to give out, it's understandable that the animal rights group can't set aside special time for each of them. Instead, legislators are invited to stop by and pick up their award and pose for a photo anytime between 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., in what could be described as a cattle call for animal protection. 

Photo credit: LIFE magazine

The city of Topeka, Kansas is trying something rather unorthodox to win a highly prized broadband contract with Google.

In an attempt to become one of a few cities to partner with the search-engine giant on its new, ultra-fast broadband project, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation on Monday that would temporarily rename his locale as "Google, Kansas -- the capital city of fiber optics." 

The Topeka City Council approved the switch unanimously on Monday afternoon, according to local media reports. Topeka will thus be known, informally, as "Google" for the duration of the month of March.

(It isn't immediately clear, though, how one might refer to Topeka residents now residing in the new land of Google.)

Nevertheless, the city's lighthearted attempt to stand out among its competitors only highlights the early, high demand to be part of Google's new Internet trial.

The company announced earlier this month that it hoped to incubate new, high-speed broadband lines in one or more "testbed" cities across the country this year, with the stated goal of creating connections 100 times faster than most broadband lines.

Applications for that program are not due until late March, according to reports. However, a number of cities and states have jumped on the opportunity to try the new broadband lines, believing the tech upgrades could foster local economic development.