Each day, Ashley Estill surfs your sites for the most popular stories of the day. Here are the top headlines for July 3, 2009:

Washington Post: Palin to Resign as Alaska Governor by End of Month

Washington Times: Biden greets generals, Iraqi leaders, son

Washington Examiner: Republican: Sotomayor had ties to extreme group

N.Y. Times: Russia Opens Route for U.S. to Fly Arms to Afghanistan

L.A. Times: Coach Phil Jackson will return to Lakers for another season

USA Today: U.S. Marines push deeper into southern Afghan towns

CQ Politics: Palin Resigning as Governor of Alaska

The Hill: Pushing re-set button won't be easy for Obama, Russia

Politico: Palin announces resignation

ABC News: Abortion Doc Murder Suspect Advocates Via Mail

CBS News: Federer Faces Roddick In Wimbledon Finals

Fox News: Source: Powerful Sedative Propofol Found at Michael Jackson's Mansion

MSNBC News: Web lottery for Jackson memorial tickets

CNN: 10 humor sites sure to make you LOL

Wall Street Journal: Lawmakers' Travel Reports Understate True Cost

NPR: Serious Gaps Remain Between U.S., Russia

Roll Call: Franken to Be Sworn In Tuesday

National Journal: Congress Moves To Protect Shippers From Piracy

Photo from Cape Cod's Nelson's Bait and Tackle Shop and via HuffPost.

Taking a cue from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, FBDC is taking advantage of the long weekend and celebrating the 4th.

You can follow us this weekend on Twitter @FishbowlDC and we'll be back in full force on Monday.

• Howard Kurtz's 'salon' analysis is on the cover of the WaPo Style section.

• Charles Kaiser: The Washington Post: RIP

• MediaMemo by Peter Kafka: Washington Post: Our Reporters Aren't For Sale (Yet)

(h/t CJR and BayNewser)

A truly brief pre-holiday weekend briefing started with Press Secretary/WH School Marm Robert Gibbs' scolding of NBC's Chuck Todd for another late entrance (though no one heard a two-minute warning). "Three times -- you've got to go to detention hall," RG announced. (Chucky T was allowed to stay.)

But... Free Ice Cream?!: With more grim economic numbers out this morning, Gibbs continued to keep the bar low on short-term employment data. Asked if the WH still expected to see 10% unemployment this year, Gibbs said, "Absolutely," adding, "in the next two to three months -- I think it's quite clear that we'll hit that number." He noted POTUS's "impatience" and said, "He sees this economy through the eyes of the American people, and obviously the American people are continuing to hurt." (On a completely unrelated up side, Gibbs wondered aloud if a ringing cell phone was an ice cream truck. "Ice cream sandwiches are on me," he said. So... at least we have that going for us.)

Salons are for Hair and Nails: When Gibbs recognized WaPo's Michael Shear after an unusually early "thank you" from AP's Liz Sidoti to close the briefing, Shear's intro of "On healthcare..." drew laughs from all corners. Rumors of WaPo's salon-style healthcare gatherings with Obama officials and the controversial $25,000 price tag for lobbyist tickets has sparked a significant journalistic ethics debate around town. "The Counsel's office has advised me to ask Mike exactly how much each of these questions is costing," Gibbs cracked. NYT's Jeff Zeleny, next to Shear, made his seatmate squirm as he asked Gibbs to weigh in on the salon idea. RG said no verdict had been rendered but that the salons "would likely exceed what the Counsel would feel, in this case, would be appropriate."

continued...

NBC's Meet the Press: Programming Note: Meet the Press will not air Sunday, July 5 due to NBC's coverage of the Wimbledon tennis finals. We will return at our regular time on July 12.

CBS' Face the Nation: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

ABC's This Week: Vice President Joe Biden and a roundtable with former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Liz Cheney, ABC's Matthew Dowd and George Will and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and ABC News contributor Cynthia Tucker

Fox News Sunday: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and a panel with Weekly Standard and Fox News' Bill Kristol, AP's Jennifer Loven, Weekly Standard and Fox News' Stephen Hayes and NPR and Fox News' Juan Williams

CNN's State of the Union: Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Chair, King Hussein Foundation and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen

CNN's Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: CNN's Don Lemon, TMZ's Harvey Levin, TheWrap.com's Sharon Waxman and the Baltimore Sun's David Zurawik

CNN's GPS with Fareed Zakaria: UK Foreign Minister David Miliband, "Dead Aid" author Dambisa Moyo and "The Blue Sweater" author Jacqueline Novogratz

NBC's The Chris Matthews Show: WaPo's Bob Woodward, The Daily Beast's Tina Brown, Time's Joe Klein and CNN's Gloria Borger (The panel will discuss the future of print journalism.)

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: ABC's Martha Raddatz, WaPo's Dan Balz, WSJ's Naftali Bendavid and USA Today's Joan Biskupic

Bloomberg's Political Capital with Al Hunt: Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)

Will update as we learn them.

Each day, Ashley Estill surfs your sites for the most popular stories of the day. Here are the top headlines for July 2, 2009:

Washington Post: 467K Jobs Cut in June; Jobless Rate at 26-Year High

Washington Times: Highway deaths at lowest level on record

Washington Examiner: Obama uses emotion to make health care case

N.Y. Times: U.S. Faces Resentment in Afghan Region

L.A. Times: Roadside assistance for Mars Rover

USA Today: Unemployment: 9.5%; Obama says he's 'deeply concerned'

CQ Politics: Calling a Senator Can Be Music to Your Ears

The Hill: White House claims N. Korea sanctions are working

Politico: Washington Post cancels lobbyist event amid uproar

ABC News: Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's Ex-Wife, Will Fight For Custody

CBS News: Air France Jet Not Destroyed In Air

Fox News: South Carolina Gov. Sanford to Meet With Family in Florida Over Holiday Weekend

MSNBC News: Jobless consumers will hold back recovery

CNN: Attacks, arrests slowing online news from Iran

Wall Street Journal: Is Tougher Airport Screening Going Too Far?

NPR: Madoff Likely Won't Be Serving Time In 'Club Fed'

Roll Call: Waxman Being Discharged From Hospital

National Journal: Sotomayor In Context: Court's Conservative Bent

First on FishbowlDC: Internal memo from WaPo Publisher and CEO Katharine Weymouth below:

From: Katharine Weymouth Sent: 07/02/2009 02:45 PM EDT Subject: Message from the Publisher

All:

You will have seen this morning a story in Politico and now widely picked up that we were planning a series of salon dinners. A flyer went out that was prepared by the Marketing department and was never vetted by me or by the newsroom. Had it been, the flyer would have been immediately killed, because it completely misrepresented what we were trying to do.

I do not normally respond to stories but this one has created enough of a stir that I wanted to take the time to reaffirm our commitment, first and foremost, to our journalism and our integrity. There is nothing more important and no amount of money that would cause us to jeopardize that. We are always looking for new revenue streams but we will pursue only avenues that uphold our high standards of journalism.

We were planning to do a series of dinners and had requested newsroom
participation but with parameters such that we did not in any way
compromise our integrity. Sponsorship of events, like advertising in the newspaper, must be at arm's length and cannot imply control over the content or access to our journalists. At this juncture, we will not be holding the planned July dinner and we will not hold salon dinners involving the newsroom.

We do believe that there is a viable way to expand our expertise into live conferences and events that simply enhances what we do - cover Washington for Washingtonians and those interested in Washington. And we will begin to do live events in ways that enhance our reputation and in no way call into question our integrity.

Katharine

• WaPo publisher Katharine Weymouth responded to Politico's earlier 'salon' report in an interview with colleague Howard Kurtz. "Absolutely, I'm disappointed," she said. "This should never have happened. The fliers got out and weren't vetted. They didn't represent at all what we were attempting to do. We're not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom."

Kurtz additionally heard from executive editor Marcus Brauchli. "It suggests that access to Washington Post journalists was available for purchase," Brauchli said. The proposal "promises we would suspend our usual skeptical questioning because it appears to offer, in exchange for sponsorships, the good name of The Washington Post."

• WaPo ombudsman Andrew Alexander also weighed in, calling the paper's 'salon' plan a "public relations disaster." On Omblog, Alexander describes Politico's Mike Allen's reporting as accurate and he outlines the situation citing Brauchli and Charles Pelton, who he says "joined The Post recently to find ways to generate business through conferences and events." Alexander's blog post also includes feedback from angered and disppointed readers.

• The topic was also brought up in White House press secretary Robert Gibbs' daily briefing. He was asked if anyone from the administration had been invited to attend the WaPo 'salon' and what the White House's official policy was on such events. Check out his response via Politico video below:

FishbowlDC wonders how and if FNS' lawsuit will affect the sale of CQ to Roll Call's parent company, the Economist Group? The timing seems pretty strategic...

First on FishbowlDC, the complaint:

FishbowlDC Exclusive: We just spoke with VP of Times Publishing Co. Andrew Corty about the suit filed by Federal News Service against CQ, Times Publishing, Poynter and Morningstar today. This is what Corty told FishbowlDC:

"It's a shame that the new owners, who just purchased FNS out of a bankruptcy proceeding are using this courtroom tactic rather than competing based on the merits of their transcription product. Their allegations are baseless and obviously, we will defend CQ vigorously."

First on FishbowlDC: Federal News Service, Inc. (FNS) filed a lawsuit against Congressional Quarterly (CQ), Inc., its parent companies Times Publishing Company, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, its subsidiary CQ Transcriptions, Inc., and its exclusive vendor Morningside Partners, LLC in DC federal court this morning. The lawsuit also named CQ's President, Robert Merry, and Stephen Carr Davis and Anthony O'Brien, co-owners of Morningside Partners.

The complaint alleges that the defendants attempted to monopolize the fast turnaround verbatim transcript market through "a series of anti-competitive acts and practices to force FNS out of business."

The complaint claims of the defendants:

Engaging in corporate espionage and corporate theft to obtain proprietary, confidential and privileged FNS information

Engaging in systematic, illegal access to and taking from FNS corporate online databases and stealing proprietary copyrighted and trademarked products and other confidential materials

Engaging in predatory and anticompetitive hiring practices aimed at taking away key FNS employees

Engaging in a series of attempts to acquire FNS in order to eliminate FNS from the market

Engaging in an anticompetitive strategy of bundling its non-transcript products at no cost with its transcript products

FishbowlDC contacted FNS, Morningside Partners, CQ and Times Publishing but only received response from Times Publishing. We will update when we receive their comment and additional information.

Ever wonder what President Obama's biggest pet peeve at the White House is (the "shine police") or what the pastry chef's speciality is... the AP's interview with the President today included some fun tidbits we picked up from CBS' Mark Knoller's Twitter feed:

AP asks Obama: Kobe or Michael? "Oh, Michael," he says. "I havent seen anybody match up with Jordan yet." (Move over: boxers or briefs.)

Problem you'd like to have: Obama tells AP the WH pastry chef makes the best pies he's ever tasted. Says hard to resist ordering every nite.

AP intvu: Obama's pet peeve at WH? "The shine police" - makeup folks who "constantly" powder his nose & forehead. "quite irritating" he says

ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos will travel to Iraq this 4th of July weekend with Vice President Joe Biden for an exclusive Sunday show interview. From ABC's release:

Our EXCLUSIVE headliner this Sunday from Iraq: Vice President Joe Biden. George Stephanopoulos travels with the Vice President, who this week took the lead on Iraq policy for the administration as US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. Mr. Stephanopoulos will sit down with Vice President Biden for a discussion on the draw down, the status of the administration's first large-scale offensive in Afghanistan that launched this week, the latest from Iran, and the state of the US economy.

Can you name the DC journos or Washingtonians channeling their inner Shakespeare out in Aspen at the 2009 Ideas Festival? We couldn't get out there ourselves so we've relied on Politico's Patrick Gavin to capture this Gridiron-like moment.