Todd Sears, Out On The Street Founder, Has Wall Street's Attention

NEW YORK -- Todd Sears was just a little over a week into his first job on Wall Street more than a decade ago when his boss, a managing director, called a colleague "a f------ faggot" right in front of him.

Sears, who had just graduated from Duke University, had been openly gay since freshman year. He was so rattled by the comment -- the fact that a supervisor had used that sort of language so casually -- that he decided to do something he hadn’t done since high school: pretend to be straight.

"My first thought was, Oh my God, I have to get back in the closet quick." He made up a girlfriend and pretended to be straight, but the ruse was painful, he said. After eight months he left his analyst position at the firm, vowing to never hide his sexuality again.

Facebook IPO by the Numbers: Zuckerberg’s Loot and More

by Matthew DeLuca May 18, 2012 4:35 PM EDT

From the number of billions in Mark Zuckerberg’s pocket to the millions of shares sold in that first frenzied minute, Matthew DeLuca breaks down the social network’s first public outing.

Photos: Facebook IPO’s 8 Big Winners

82 million – Shares traded in the first 30 seconds of trading. Mark Zuckerberg rang the opening bell from Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., flanked by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

John Mayer Is Already Working On A New Album, And He May Be High

The new, improved and enlightened John Mayer is just days away from releasing his new album, Born and Raised.

Defense Budget That Breaks Spending Agreement Passed By House

WASHINGTON -- The House passed a defense budget Friday that exceeds the deal cut by Congress and President Barack Obama last summer, and that would have to be paid for with cash taken from poverty programs, health care and the federal workforce.

The National Defense Authorization Actpermits $642 billion in defense spending next year. The White House has threatened to veto the bill, which passed 299 to 120, citing more than 30 changes to the budget the administration was seeking.

But the measure also adds $8 billion more than called for in the Budget Control Act that Congress agreed to last summer in exchange for raising the nation's debt limit.

"We increase the spending for defense due to the priorities that we feel are most important and the constitutional requirement we have to provide for the common defense," Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said. "But we will cut in other areas of the budget so that we comply fully with the deficit reduction act."

'Reporter's Privilege' Under Fire From Obama Administration Amid Broader War On Leaks

US President Barack Obama speaks during the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) Convention on April 3, 2012 in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/Jim Watson (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Obama administration Friday morning continued its headlong attack on the right of reporters to protect their confidential sources in leak investigations.

Before a panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Department of Justice lawyer argued that New York Times reporter James Risen should be forced to testify in the trial of former CIA agent Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with leaking classified information to Risen about a botched plot against the Iranian government.

Rather than arguing the specifics of the case, DOJ appellate lawyer Robert A. Parker asserted that there is no reporter's privilege when a journalist receives an illegal leak of national security secrets.