Robert Novak, the 77-year-old conservative Chicago Sun-Times columnist and political commentator, announced his retirement after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Last week, he ran his car into an 86-year-old homeless man and drove off; soon after that, he was hospitalized and the tumor discovered. Earlier, he said that he'd be "suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period." Today, though, the Sun-Times announced his "immediate retirement." His column ran for 45 years. [Sun-Times]