The Filter: Which Democrats Are Ready to Oppose Health Care?

(March 11) -- With so many news aggregators out there, who can keep up? AOL News filters the filters to steer you to the headlines that really matter.

Skip Those, Read This: The Daily Beast leads with a London Daily Telegraph report indicating that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected peace talks with Israel because Israel says it will expand Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. The settlement announcement came during a visit to the region by Vice President Joseph Biden, who along with other world leaders criticized Israel's plan to build 1,600 new homes in disputed East Jerusalem. Biden was in Tel Aviv Thursday. For updated news on all things Middle East, check out University of Michigan professor Juan Cole's blog.

Pulling Pork: The Huffington Post leads with an Associated Press story on congressional efforts to eliminate earmarks. Democrats want to stop pet projects for corporations, which funnel money to Congress through lobbyists, while Republicans have proposed getting rid of earmarks altogether. (Some earmarks go to nonprofits, including universities.) The Daily Beast picks up a better Washington Post story on the efforts, indicating that the moves are largely electioneering by both parties, which want to appear tough on spending in today's economic climate. The moves will have little effect on reducing spending -- earmarks account for less than $16 billion of the more than $1 trillion a year Congress spends -- but leaders of both parties consider earmark reform a way to take a stand against K Street influence.

Catch of the Day: The Slatest leads with a Rolling Stone story on threats by six Democratic senators to kill health reform unless President Barack Obama abandons his plans for education reform, which target corporate profiteering on government loans for students. As reporter Tim Dickinson explains, "The system essentially operates as a lucrative form of corporate welfare, offering a guaranteed rate of return for banks and other middlemen who provide capital for student loans. The government not only makes all the decisions -- who is eligible for loans, for what amount and at what rate -- but it protects private lenders from virtually any risk: When college students are unable to repay their debts, taxpayers are required by law to reimburse the banks for 97 percent of the losses." Obama wants the government to take on all loan duties, cutting out private middlemen such as Sallie Mae and Nelnet. The opposition to the reform stems from greed (the companies contribute to senators' campaign funds) rather than ideology, Dickinson writes.

School's Out For Spring: The Slatest picks up a Kansas City Star report that the Kansas City school board has shut down nearly half of the district's schools. The board voted 5-4 to shut 26 of 59 schools to cut $50 million from the tight budget. Superintendent John Covington's administration "spent nearly six months creating and selling its audacious plan, saying the district has to be more fiscally efficient if education reform in the struggling district is to have a chance to succeed," the Star reports. Students are being shifted to the remaining open schools.

Hollywood Heists: The Daily Beast picks up a London Times article on a mysterious thief plaguing Los Angeles, who has been dubbed "Rico Suave" by police for his dapper, smooth-talking ways. Two days "before Sunday night's Academy Awards, with the police out in force, bodyguards at every turn and the CIA said to be on high alert for a terrorist attack, Rico walked into the swankiest hotel in Beverly Hills, talked his way into the suite of a billionaire guest, and left with at least $45,000" in jewelery, the Times reports. He's been pulling similar heists since the summer.