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'A psychiatrist with a scalpel" is the way Mark Solomon describes himself. Solomon, who has been performing cosmetic and other plastic surgery for 26 years, said judging patients' expectations is just as important as operating skill. "If I can't deliver, my answer is, 'I'm not doing it,' " said Solomon, whose practice is based in Bala Cynwyd. He estimated that he rejects up to 30 percent of prospective patients, most because their expectations are unrealistic. Jesse A. Taylor, a plastic surgeon with Penn Medicine, said he turns down an even higher estimated number, up to 40 percent.

WASHINGTON - Inserting his voice into a big night for Republicans, President Obama appealed to Iowa Democrats on Tuesday during the first balloting in the GOP presidential campaign, seeking to counter months of withering criticism in the state that launched his presidential ambitions four years ago. Obama told party activists in a live video teleconference that because of their support, the Iraq war ended, a health-care overhaul was signed into...

It's a new year, which means we have all moved a step closer to our final destination. Nothing we can do about aging except raise a toast, make some resolutions we probably will not keep, and continue moving forward until our time expires. Age, of course, has become a hot topic concerning the local baseball team. How much older can the Phillies get before they become too old to win that elusive second World Series title the current core group will be chasing for the fourth straight year?

Coffee-table books are supposed to be heavy, on photos and in pounds. This latest history of black life in America by Henry Louis Gates Jr. is both, with more than 750 photos on nearly 500 pages. But it offers something more: The distinguished Harvard University professor packs intellectual heft around the pictures. His book updates black history with recent scholarly research, from detailed estimates of the human cargo during the Atlantic slave trade to the DNA test proving almost conclusively that Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one child by his slave Sally Hemings.

KAPOLEI, Hawaii - Politicking in his boyhood home, President Obama told supporters Monday that everything they worked for and the country stands for is on the line in his 2012 reelection bid, warning of a bleak America should a Republican win. At ease in Hawaii, where he was born and vacations each year, Obama sprinkled his standard campaign speech with personal memories and called himself the "hometown kid. " But his message turned urgent in trying...

In Happy Valley, JoePa is pope. In his 46th season as head coach, and most likely his last, Joe Paterno can claim 409 career wins for a program annually generating $72 million. To many proud alums, Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions football program are Penn State. Penn State takes its football very, very seriously. Credible accounts that a former assistant coach was sexually abusing young boys? Not so seriously. Eyewitnesses saw former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky do horrible things in the Lions' locker room, according to the grand jury presentment.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which is headquartered in Israel but has operations in North Wales, said it has joined consumer products giant Proctor & Gamble in a joint venture called PGT Healthcare. Based in Geneva, the new firm will operate in "essentially all markets outside of North America," and develop new over-the-counter brands for North America. Meanwhile, Teva said Wednesday that it might introduce an unnamed "important undisclosed generic product," later this year.

By an accident of timing, Herman Cain appeared on Monday morning at the intersection of 17th and M Streets Northwest - the location of the National Restaurant Association, where he is alleged to have sexually harassed two women when he was the group's chief executive. The allegations, first reported by Politico, could not have come at a worse time for the front-running Republican presidential candidate, being just ahead of a very public day of speeches in Washington. The first was scheduled at the American Enterprise Institute, which happens to be right across the street from the Restaurant Association.

UNITED NATIONS - The Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to lift the no-fly zone over Libya on Monday and end military action to protect civilians, acting swiftly after the death of Moammar Gadhafi and the interim government's declaration of the country's liberation. The council authorized the U.N. actions March 17 in response to an Arab League request to try to halt Gadhafi's military, which was advancing against rebels and their civilian supporters. The NATO bombing campaign that followed was critical in helping rebels oust Gadhafi from power in August.