OBAMA ISSUES HIS OWN PLAN FOR HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL President Barack Obama issued his own blueprint for a health care overhaul on Monday, challenged Republicans to come forward with their ideas and laid the groundwork for an aggressive parliamentary maneuver to pass the legislation using only Democratic votes if this week brings no progress toward a bipartisan solution. In laying out for the first time the details of what he wants in the legislation, Obama set in motion a new round of maneuvering intended to bring a bitterly divisive yearlong clash to a conclusion. 5 REPUBLICAN SENATORS BREAK RANKS TO HELP ADVANCE JOBS BILL Five Republican senators broke ranks with their party on Monday to advance a $15 billion job-creation measure put forward by Democrats, a rare bipartisan breakthrough after months in which Republicans had held together to a remarkable degree in an effort to thwart President Barack Obama's agenda. The 62-30 vote cleared the way for the Senate to vote Wednesday to approve the measure, which Democrats said would create tens of thousands of new jobs. RECESSION TIGHTENS GRIP ON STATE TAX REVENUES The recession can now claim another troublesome record: State tax collections shrank at the end of 2009 for a fifth consecutive quarter, the longest period of continuing state revenue declines since at least the Great Depression, according to a new report. Overall, state tax collections fell to $134.5 billion in the last quarter of 2009, a 4.1 percent drop from the $140.2 billion collected during the same period a year earlier, according to the report. RECORD NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS ASK FOR HELP WITH HEATING BILLS The number of households applying for home heating assistance has climbed to record levels for the third straight year, rising by 15 percent to a projected 8.8 million this winter, state energy officials said Monday. This compares with almost 7.7 million recipients last year and 5.7 million in 2008. Average heating costs have declined slightly since 2009, and the increase in applications reflects, in part, the mounting troubles of those suffering prolonged unemployment. TIP AND CLUES HELP ARRESTS IN TEXAS FIRES Footprints left at the scenes of fires and an anonymous tip from a caller to a federal hot line led investigators to two young men who have been arrested in connection with fires that destroyed 10 churches in eastern Texas, according to affidavits released in court on Monday. Still, the motive for the attacks remains murky, officials said. The arsonists did not single out any particular denomination nor had they focused on black churches, as some arsonists did in the 1990s. Officials have not ruled out burglary as a motive. 