Dave Granlund cartoon on Toyota's testing department and the automaker's recalls.

It was exactly the kind of news that a beleaguered Toyota didn't need. On Monday afternoon, a runaway Prius topped out at 94 mph on a California highway. It took the intervention of a California Highway Patrol officer speeding alongside the vehicle, shouting instructions via his patrol car's loudspeaker on how to achieve an emergency stop, before the driver was able to bring the hybrid under control.

Dave Granlund cartoon on 2010 elections and both parties' efforts to tap voters.

Dave Granlund cartoon on Palestinians and Israelis returning to Mideast peace talks.

The idiom that children should be seen and not heard is probably nowhere more appropriate than in an air traffic control tower. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case at John F. Kennedy Airport last month.

It's crunch time in America's too-often-forgotten war in Afghanistan. Midway through the surge of 30,000 troops championed by President Barack Obama and orchestrated by commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal, it remains unclear the extent to which the effort to dislodge the entrenched Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who threaten to restore the country to its pre-2001 status as a chaotic terrorist haven is working out.

Dave Granlund cartoon on the increasing size of pot holes.

Like many folks, we hate to see the U.S. Postal Service put elimination of Saturday delivery back on the table as a means of straightening out its finances.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon on the FAA and kids.

Dave Granlund cartoon on taxpayers with the best supporting role Oscar.

Dave Granlund cartoon on children directing air traffic at New York's JFK airport.

The U.S. Postal Service is a vital service, but a failing one. With annual losses of nearly $300 million, it can no longer sustain itself. Changes in the way it operates are needed. The Postal Service needs to be more business-like.

The Senate's newest member is already trying to set the nation's economic policies. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., filed his first bill this week. In it, he proposes to take all the unspent and "unobligated" money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which he calculates to be around $80 billion, and send it to taxpayers.

In one of those almost-too-odd-to-be-believed coincidences, the South American nation of Chile was just months away from hosting a conference for scientists delving into the subject of giant earthquakes and the tsunamis that follow. Now, of course, that land is instead dealing with the aftereffects of the 8.8 magnitude temblor that rocked it Saturday morning and the nearly 100 aftershocks that have followed.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon on U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel's ethics problems.