Readers write in with context for a Monitor story on Wisconsin teachers retiring en masse, a suggestion for political commentary, and a protest against the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar believes President Obama's environmental critics aren't giving the president enough credit.

30-year mortgage proof of payoff, setting a budget, and baby life insurance are three topics in this week's reader mailbag. Answer to payoff of 30-year mortgage comes in question No. 9.

AP - Every race car driver heads onto the track understanding this race could be the last and hoping it won't be.

AP - President Barack Obama will urge Congress to get to work this week on passing pieces of his larger, now-defunct jobs bill during a three-day bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia, two southern states that could be critical to his re-election campaign.

AP - The month-old Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow, with nearly $300,000 in the bank and participants finding satisfaction in the widening impact they hope will counter the influence on society by those who hold the purse strings of the world's economies.