Attention Target shoppers: You could have been standing in line with Michelle Obama.

The first lady, hard to recognize in a baseball cap and sunglasses, shopped Thursday at a Target store in Alexandria, Va., just outside Washington, D.C.

Casually dressed Secret Service agents arrived about a half-hour before Mrs. Obama, who walked in through the main entrance with an assistant. She spent about 30 minutes minutes shopping, pushing her own cart. She was recognized only by the cashier who rang up her purchases, reports TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — To those still trying to salvage homes wrecked by natural disasters this summer, don’t worry. Congress has your back.

There is just no way lawmakers would let funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency run out.

Well, they probably won’t. They don’t want to anyway. But they’ve now left open the possibility that they might.

Once again, Congress is manufacturing a crisis — the third this year. Lawmakers are putting the country at risk of a government shutdown, creating pointless uncertainty over what used to be ordinary legislative business.

Why? House Republicans and Senate Democrats can’t agree on the terms of a bill that would continue to fund the government temporarily beyond Sept. 30, when the fiscal year ends.

NEW YORK — Democrat David Weprin faced an unusually tight race against Republican Bob Turner in a special election Tuesday in New York’s heavily Democratic 9th Congressional District, where voters unhappy with President Barack Obama could elect a Republican for the first time.

The contest to replace disgraced Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner has become too close to call, with public opinion polling showing a slight edge for Turner, a retired media executive with no previous political experience.

TAMPA — On a morning where job creation — or the lack of it — was the primary issue on the political spectrum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney promised that his plan — not President Obama’s — would be the one to get Americans back to work.

“My plan radically restructures the American economy to do what it’s done in the past,” Romney told supporters at the opening of his Florida headquarters here. “Lead the world, create jobs, drive rising incomes, and make sure that America remains the strong nation that can defend ourselves and provide a future of promise and prosperity for our kids.”

Romney also attacked the president’s plan, set to be unveiled before a joint session of congress two days after Romney presents his plan.

TULSA, Okla. — Sen. Jim Inhofe knew Gov. Rick Perry was running for president before Rick Perry did.

“I said to him, ‘Rick, I know you’ll deny it now, and you’re supposed to, but you’re going to end up running,” Inhofe recalls from a conversation with 14 months ago. “And when you are, just call me up and give me a little advance notice and I will do whatever you think I can do to be of some help to you.’”

Inhofe, who yesterday became the first United States senator to formally endorse a candidate the 2012 GOP primary, told NBC News during an interview in his Tulsa office that Perry’s gubernatorial experience, personal profile, and good looks made him a shoo-in to run even when the Texas governor seemed certain to turn down supporters begging him to jump in.

Washington (CNN) — The Navy confirmed Wednesday that it did an abrupt about-face on guidance allowing same-sex marriages on military bases after receiving a flood of criticism from Capitol Hill, as well as discussions with Defense Department lawyers.

The guidance — outlined in a memorandum last month from the Navy chief of chaplains, Rear Adm. M.L. Tidd — would have eased the way for same-sex marriage ceremonies once the Pentagon scraps its present “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

(CNN) — News that Mexican authorities found 513 would-be illegal immigrants packed tightly into trucks, with the United States as their destination, should shock Americans into action. They were from Mexico, Japan, China, India and Nepal, and authorities said each had paid $7,000 to gangsters to be smuggled in.

Coming only days after President Obama mocked those calling for stronger border and workplace enforcement (by asking if they wanted moats and alligators), the incident highlights the role of organized crime in smuggling people into the United States in defiance of federal immigration law.

(CNN) — A rider in the budget bill to keep the federal government in operation has triggered fury among some wildlife groups because it would remove certain wolves from the endangered species list.

The attachment affects gray wolf populations in Montana and Idaho.

“Right now, Montana’s wolf population is out of balance and this provision will get us back on the responsible path with state management,” Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, said in a written statement. He said he wrote the language together with Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho.

Washington (CNN) — Female workers suing retail giant Wal-Mart Stores for workplace discrimination faced an uphill battle at the Supreme Court on Tuesday in their efforts to proceed in a massive class-action lawsuit.

The case is among the most important dealing with corporate versus worker rights that the justices have ever heard, and their ruling — expected by late June — could eventually impact nearly every private employer, large and small.

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama plans to address the nation at 7:30 p.m. ET Monday, following calls from across the political spectrum for the U.S. leader to clarify America’s role in the U.N.-authorized military mission in Libya.

Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the president’s policy in the war-torn North African nation. Among other things, they have questioned the purpose of the mission, as well as its cost, endgame, and consequences for the broader Arab world.