Dec 13 House Democrats, then Senate Republicans object to spending bill By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press First it was objections by House Democrats that stood in the way of passage of a $1.1 trillion catchall spending bill. Now it's the Senate Republicans' turn, specifically Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. Continue reading
Dec 11 Read the full Senate report on CIA interrogation and the minority report in response By News Desk Senate investigators delivered a damning indictment of CIA practices Tuesday, accusing the spy agency of inflicting pain and suffering on prisoners beyond legal limits and deceiving the nation with narratives of life-saving interrogations unsubstantiated by its own records. Read… Continue reading
Dec 08 White House issues guidelines to ban racial and religious profiling By Eric Tucker, Associated Press The policy, which expands decade-old guidelines established under the Bush administration, also will require new training and data collection. Continue reading
Dec 05 Talking drug policy, Sen. Paul hints he used marijuana in his youth By Associated Press Paul, who announced plans this week to seek re-election to the Senate in 2016 and is actively exploring whether to run for president, said he "wasn't a choir boy" when asked by Louisville television station WHAS if he had used… Continue reading
Dec 01 Congress has 2 weeks to avert a government shutdown By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Their to-do list includes keeping the government running into the new year, renewing expired tax breaks for individuals and businesses and approving a defense policy measure that has passed for more than 50 years in a row. They hope to… Continue reading
Nov 29 New York teens will have new say in city's government By Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press A new law lets 16- and 17-year-olds apply to serve on community boards, the panels that function as the front lines of local government in the nation's biggest city. Continue reading
Nov 23 Health exchanges' finances face test in second year By Associated Press The federal government shelled out billions of dollars to get health insurance marketplaces going in the 14 states that opted to run their own. Now they must act like true marketplaces and start paying for themselves. Continue reading
Nov 22 Fired nuke commander now linked to counterfeit poker chips By Robert Burns, Associated Press The admiral fired last year as No. 2 commander of U.S. nuclear forces may have made his own counterfeit $500 poker chips with paint and stickers to feed a gambling habit that eventually saw him banned from an entire network… Continue reading
Nov 22 Obama quietly broadens U.S. mission in Afghanistan By Julie Pace, Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press President Barack Obama has quietly approved guidelines in recent weeks to allow the Pentagon to target Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, broadening previous plans that had limited the military to counterterrorism missions against al-Qaida after this year, U.S. officials said late… Continue reading
Nov 20 Obama says time for immigration changes is now By Julie Pace, Associated Press Spurning furious Republicans, President Barack Obama unveiled expansive executive actions on immigration Thursday night to spare nearly 5 million people in the U.S. illegally from deportation and refocus enforcement efforts on "felons, not families."… Continue reading