Farrah Fawcett's undisputed pop-culture legacy includes her supersized image in the red swimsuit (which launched the celebrity poster industry) and redefining the role of women on TV—for better or for worse—as female characters moved from the domestic sphere into the workplace. In dealing with cancer—chronicled in the unflinching "Farrah's Story" on NBC—Fawcett has also created a legislative legacy: She set up a personal "sting" to uncover the hospital employee who sold her medical records to tabloids. The worker died of cancer before her sentencing, but Fawcett's work contributed to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toughening penalties to protect patient privacy. Fawcett also spoke to the FBI about going after the National Enquirer, which paid the worker, but that fight has not yet begun.

The removal of Gen. David McKiernan as top U.S. commander in Afghanistan comes amid growing military and civilian casualties and suicide bombings. Defense Secretary Robert Gates replaced McKiernan with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a counterinsurgency expert who comes with a black mark from the Pat Tillman case. The switch notably is the first replacement of a wartime commander by civilian leadership since Harry S Truman ousted Douglas MacArthur. The move reflects President Obama's new war strategy, which calls for a troop increase to 60,000. The escalation is making for strange bedfellows: Democrats are uneasy, the party's liberal wing's a little more than skeptical, and conservatives think the policy is dead right. Whatever the politics, one thing's clear: It's Obama’s war now.

As a caravan of car dealers zeroed in on Capitol Hill, Chrysler pink-slipped 789—about 25%—of its U.S. dealerships. The automaker, operating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is asking court permission to break contracts with dealers, some of whom have been operating for generations in small towns and rural areas. While Chrysler said 3.5 million warranties will be honored, that might not help on Maui, where the only dealership on the Hawaiian island has been slated for closure. Meanwhile, fuming dealers (including a Florida congressman whose own business has been targeted) argue they're not a cost center for the automakers. They understand the need for consolidation, just not at this breakneck speed. But there’s more bad news just up the road: Things aren’t exactly humming under the hood at GM, either. 

With her father lobbying furiously on her behalf, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was released Monday after four months in a Tehran prison. The reduction of an 8-year spying sentence to time served came about, according to Iranian officials, because Saberi hadn't shared the classified document copied from the country's Centre for Strategic Research. Some are calling this show of "Islamic mercy" a "good omen" for U.S.-Iran relations. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter on behalf of Saberi and an imprisoned blogger, though, may have been designed to curry favor with reformists before the June 12 elections. As for the other name in Ahmadinejad's letter, Iranian-Canadian Hossein Derakhshan—known as the nation's Blogfather—remains jailed.

Carrie Prejean's response on gay marriages during the Miss USA pageant made her a darling among conservative circles. Just when the timer on her media spotlight was going to run out, lingerie photos leaked from Miss California's teen past. The briefs-only pics—plus alleged flakiness—prompted disapproving California pageant directors to set up a shadow alternate to step in if and when Prejean's state crown got yanked for contract violations. Instead, pageant master Donald Trump forgave a weepy Prejean for being too beautiful, and state director Shanna Moakler quit huffily over Prejean's "lies." Then, former Republican veep contender Sarah Palin defended Prejean against the "liberal onslaught of malicious attacks." All of this and a 22nd birthday too. Wonder if the actual reigning Miss USA sent a card?

Apologies all around were called for after big-league bad boys got really naughty. Trouble in Mannywood came in a urine sample, when Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez's drug test showed four to 10 times the normal level of testosterone. Trouble for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban spilled out of his mouth when he called the Denver Nuggets "thugs" and told Kenyon Martin's mom that her son was a "punk." Ramirez, suspended for 50 games, apologized to the Dodgers organization, which had built a rebranding campaign around the left fielder. It took longer to face up to his teammates, who said they didn't need to hear him say sorry. Not so for the Nuggets: Cuban's mea culpa by blog left them unimpressed. And Ramirez isn't quite off the hook: Fans who bought Mannywood seats at $50 a pop would probably appreciate a word.

The blowback over the investigation into detainee treatment hit some unlikely targets this week. President Barack Obama reversed position on releasing photos documenting U.S. troop abuse of prisoners. Military commanders-tasked with finding a way out of Afghanistan and Iraq-had lobbied for the move, but human rights groups condemned the White House for continuing Bush policies. Then, House speaker Nancy Pelosi paused in her call for a truth commission to deny accusations that she knew about waterboarding techniques. As politicians wrangled over who knew what and what should be known, two officials (including a former FBI agent breaking a 7-year silence) testified before Congress that inexperienced contractors carried out the CIA's harsh and "unreliable" interrogations.

Astronomers protested to the high heavens in 2004 after NASA head Sean O’Keefe announced that service missions to the Hubble telescope would be canceled. Two years later, a new administrator reversed the policy. This week, shuttle Atlantis braved space litter that posed 1-229 odds of serious damage, riskier than a typical orbit. The astronauts have refreshed the Hubble's camera, designed to see back 13 billion years to the universe in its infancy. Earthlings are turning to the Web to follow the 11-day mission on NASA-TV, watch mission videos, view photos, and browse a spectacular archive. The repairs give Hubble another five years, after which an even more powerful visual gateway to the cosmos, the James Webb Space Telescope, will emerge. Mark your 2014 calendar.