Sherrod: I'm Not Coming Back to USDA

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Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official ousted during a racial firestorm last month, declined Tuesday to return to the agency, though she said it was tempting.

Sherrod: 'I Didn't Want' Obama to Apologize

President Barack Obama told former Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod he regretted her forced resignation and asked her to consider returning. In an interview with the AP, Sherrod said she'd like to persuade Obama to visit Georgia.

President Obama Calls Ousted USDA Official to Apologize

President Barack Obama has apologized to former USDA official Shirley Sherrod over her ouster in the midst of a racially tinged firestorm. He expressed his regret in a phone call and told her he hopes she accepts the offer of a new position.

USDA Reconsiders Employee's Job Over Race Remark

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Amid growing pressure, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA will reconsider its decision to ask an employee to resign over racially tinged remarks she made at an NAACP banquet. Evidence shows her remarks were misconstrued.

UPI VIDEO NEWS 01.16.08

Romney wins Michigan's GOP primary.

Mitt Romney is the winner of yesterday's Republican primary in Michigan. The former Massachusetts governor picked up 39 percent of the vote. Arizona senator John McCain trailed at 30 percent, and Mike Huckabee came in third at 16 percent. Romney is a Michigan native, and his father was governor of the state in the 1960s.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party officials voted to strip Michigan of its Democratic delegates. That's because the state decided to schedule the primary so early. In a show of solidarity, the top-tier Democratic presidential candidates, except for Senator Hillary Clinton, asked that their names be removed from the ballot. The former First Lady grabbed 57 percent of yesterday's Democratic primary voters. Thirty-eight percent voted "uncommitted."

And while Michigan wasn't in the Democratic spotlight, last night's debate in Nevada made headlines. Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama vowed to put a recent campaign controversy over race behind them. They blamed aides and campaign surrogates for fueling the incident, saying they have enthusiastic supporters and overzealous staff members. Overall, the tone of last night's debate was cordial despite the stakes involved in the race. Nevada will hold its Democratic caucuses this Saturday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking farmers to keep their cloned animals off the market. That's despite a recent announcement from the Food and Drug Administration saying food from cloned livestock is safe to eat. The USDA is calling for more time for U.S. consumers to accept the issue given its emotional nature. However, evidence suggests that Americans are probably already eating meat from the offspring of clones. Officials from the nation's major cattle cloning companies say they haven't been able to keep track of how many offspring of clones have entered the food supply.