The week at a glance...United States

San Diego

Politics in the pulpit: More than 1,000 pastors said this week that they will openly defy government restrictions on their freedom of speech by telling their congregations who to vote for in the presidential election. The conservative Christian group Alliance Defending Freedom said the pastors will not just preach about hot-button issues like gay marriage during services on Oct. 7, but will endorse a candidate and send a video of their endorsement to the IRS. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge,” said Erik Stanley, legal counsel for the group. Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code prohibits tax-exempt charities and churches from intervening for or against specific candidates in political campaigns. The IRS has in the past threatened churches with the loss of their tax-exempt status, said Stanley, but has never acted on the threats in order to avoid a court battle.

St. Louis

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Akin stays in: Despite calls from Republican Party leaders to step down, Republican Rep. Todd Akin said this week that he would remain in the Senate race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill. Akin has resisted calls for him to abandon his campaign since Aug. 19, when he explained his belief that victims of what he called “legitimate rape” could not become pregnant. Though he apologized for his choice of words, the National Republican Senatorial Committee withdrew its support for his candidacy and GOP Super PACs pulled ads from media markets in the state. Akin this week told supporters that remaining in the race was the right thing to do, and “when you do the right thing, you end up winning anyway.” McCaskill then for the first time unleashed a pair of negative TV ads that repeated Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments.

Boston

Romney releases tax returns: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney shed more light on his finances last week, revealing that he and his wife paid $1.9 million in taxes on $13.7 million in income in 2011, for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent. The Romneys would have paid even less had they claimed all of their eligible charitable deductions. The couple donated $4 million to charity last year, but deducted only $2.25 million. A full deduction would have pushed their tax rate closer to 12 percent, and the candidate had claimed not to have paid less than 13 percent in the past decade. In July, Romney said that “if I had paid more [taxes] than are legally due, I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president.” The candidate’s campaign also said that the Romneys’ average annual tax rate from 1990 to 2009 was 20.2 percent.

Boston

Senate campaign: The high-stakes race between Sen. Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren this week turned personal—and ugly. Polls showed Warren pulling ahead of her opponent by up to 6 points in the days leading up to a tense debate, in which the candidates traded barbs over taxes, energy, and contraception. Brown responded with a barrage of attacks on Warren’s character, charging that she had “falsely” claimed to be a Native American and was a “hired gun” for corporations who prevented victims of an asbestos suit from getting their compensation. “Some of them died as a result of her efforts,” Brown said. Warren disputed the charges, and last week garnered the endorsement of Democratic Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who criticized Brown. “When candidates go negative, it means they have nothing to talk about,” he said.

Bronx, N.Y.

Mauled by tiger: A 25-year-old man who said he “wanted to be one with the tiger” was mauled by a 400-pound Siberian tiger after leaping from a monorail at the Bronx Zoo and entering the big cat’s enclosure. David Villalobos of Mahopac, N.Y., jumped 17 feet from the zoo’s elevated train and landed inside the tiger den, where he was suddenly alone with Bachuta, an 11-year-old male Siberian tiger, who attacked him, leaving “puncture wounds” on his arms, legs, shoulder, and back. The tiger could have easily killed Villalobos, said zoo director Jim Breheny. “Tigers are extremely capable predators. They typically grab a prey animal by the back of the neck and it’s over very quickly.” Villalobos was charged with third-degree criminal trespass.

Washington, D.C.

Fast and Furious report: The Justice Department faulted 14 federal agents and prosecutors last week for the botched gun-trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious, but cleared Attorney General Eric Holder of any wrongdoing. The department’s inspector general placed most of the blame for the operation—which allowed drug cartels to smuggle guns into Mexico with the aim of tracking gang leaders—on Arizona-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and on federal prosecutors, whose “errors in judgment” allowed the operation to unravel. Hundreds of weapons were lost between late 2009 and early 2011, including two found near the site where a Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed in a shoot-out. GOP lawmakers had accused Holder of a cover-up, but the report found no evidence to support the claim.