Breaking news you should be reading about elsewhere: John Roberts confirmed as Chief Justice by a vote of 78-22.

Other things you can find out by reading the New York Times homepage today:

1. Governor Pataki has banned the Freedom Center museum from the "memorial quadrant" of the Trade Center site, which contains the footprints of the Twin Towers. There was opposition because of the sacred nature of the site. However, plans remain to place a McDonalds, a Starbucks, and a Virgin Megastore at the site.

2. Tom DeLay has been indicted, for a bunch of ethical violations involving campaign contributions. He is being replaced as House majority leader by Michael Brown.

3. It turns out that most of the stories about chaos in New Orleans were borne out of fear rather than reality. It turns out there wasn't a hurricane at all, but it was just the condensation dripping from someone's air conditioner. Well, not quite. There's a quote in the article: "'Not one piece of educational material was taken [from Walmart] - the best-selling books are all sitting right where they were left,' Captain Canatella said. 'But every $9 watch in the store is gone.'" I think that's an interesting quote, mostly because I think if the opposite happened, it would be pretty amazing. "All of the cheap electronics is still on the shelves, but every copy of James Frey's 'A Million Little Pieces' is gone from the shelves. Because what everyone needs in the aftermath of a hurricane is reading material." Amazing.

4. Here's a quote from a Times story that I'm not making up: "If eBay is merely a feast for gluttons, a groaning table of stuff, craigslist is 'an atlas for life,' she said." Play with that one for a while.