Liddy Dole sparks debate on Jesse Helms' stance on AIDS
Former Sen. Jesse Helms might have had a personal evolution when it came to AIDS policy, but the journey wasn't far enough to keep activists from crying foul when his successor tried to name a global AIDS relief bill after him this week. | 07/17/08 06:35:41 By - Lisa Zagaroli
European leaders lobbied Bush on tanker contract
The leaders of France, Germany and Britain personally lobbied President Bush over a controversial $35 billion contract for U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tankers that was originally awarded to a team that included a European aerospace firm. The most recent discussion took place last week. | 07/16/08 19:41:00 By - Les Blumenthal
DeMint loses bid to limit AIDS program
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly defeated Sen. Jim DeMint's bid to cut the $48 billion cost of expanding President Bush's global AIDS initiative to dozens of countries beyond Africa. | 07/16/08 19:29:00 By - JAMES ROSEN
Study: Tobacco companies use menthol to hook smokers
The Harvard School of Public Health reported Wednesday that a review of more than 500 internal tobacco-industry documents showed that tobacco companies closely studied how controlling levels of menthol could increase brand sales. While menthol itself is not known to be harmful, studies have shown people who smoke mentholated brands find it harder to quit. | 07/16/08 16:29:00 By - Federica Narancio
Results are in: California's San Joaquin Valley is the worst
Poverty, poor health and plenty of school dropouts have put the San Joaquin Valley's 20th Congressional District dead last in a new national scorecard that ranks the overall well-being of residents. Even notoriously grim Appalachia fares better than the congressional district that sweeps in Fresno, Kings and Kern counties, the study, released Wednesday, shows. | 07/16/08 16:15:00 By - Michael Doyle
As seniors live longer they find 'love expectancy' also grows
Romance is booming among the nation's older set. Longer life expectancy is partly why. There are more men around, thanks to treatments for heart disease and cancers of the prostate, colon and rectum. They also have more money. Finding partners is easier, too, thanks to the Internet. Seniors join online dating services at the highest rate of any age group. | 07/16/08 14:48:00 By - Frank Greve
ExxonMobil balks at paying interest on oil-spill damages
In a court filing, the oil giant says it shouldn't have to pay interest on the $507 million the Supreme Court said it should pay as damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill two decades ago. Plaintiffs in the case last week asked the court to rule that Exxon owes the interest, which would amount to another $488 million. | 07/15/08 17:42:00 By - Erika Bolstad
House honors Fresno State's champion baseball team
WASHINGTON -- The House on Tuesday barked its approval for the Fresno State Bulldogs, with passage of a resolution honoring the university's national champion baseball team. | 07/15/08 16:34:00 By - Michael Doyle
Washington senator urges landmark status for nuclear reactor
The National Park System Advisory Board meets next week to consider whether to designate the B Reactor at the Hanford nuclear reservation a national historic landmark. The reactor, the world's first, produced the plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of World War II. | 07/15/08 16:24:00 By - Les Blumenthal
GAO blasts Radio, TV Marti over contract award
The investigating branch of the U.S. Congress has accused the federal agency that oversees radio and television broadcasts to Cuba of awarding more than $1 million in contracts to two Miami broadcast outlets without following normal contract-bidding procedures. | 07/15/08 14:25:15 By - Alfonso Chardy
FAA takes steps to lower odds of runway collisions
The Federal Aviation Administration announced a series of runway safety initiatives Monday designed to avoid the types of conditions that led to a 2006 crash in Lexington, Ky., that killed 49 people and two recent near-collisions at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. | 07/14/08 18:29:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Bush's drilling plan draws criticism from California leaders
California's Democratic leaders accused President Bush of cozying up to oil interests and threatening the state's coastline Monday by lifting the presidential moratorium on offshore drilling. The 18-year-old executive order, put in place by Bush's father, shifts attention to the Democratic-controlled Congress, which would have to act for drilling to begin. | 07/14/08 15:46:06 By - Rob Hotakainen
Bush lifts one ban on offshore drilling, but Congress' remains
President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling Monday, a move that's unlikely to have any immediate impact on prices or supply but could be an important prod to a reluctant Congress, which has refused to lift its own 27-year-old prohibition against the drilling. The price of oil settled near its all time high. | 07/14/08 00:01:00 By - David Lightman and Renee Schoof
Ancient canoes, modern science meld to track water quality
For centuries, the cedar canoes of the Coast Salish Indians have plied the inland waters of Washington state and British Columbia, carrying trading goods, raiding parties and families headed to summer potlatch celebrations. For several weeks this summer, they'll also be trailing water-monitoring equipment provided by the U.S. Geological Survey. | 07/13/08 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal
Former White House spokesman Tony Snow dies at 53
The eccentric hierarchy of fame dictates that Snow will be remembered by most people for his tenure as President Bush's combative press secretary, though it lasted only 17 months. But before and after working as press secretary, Snow was a television commentator — first for Fox News, later for CNN. | 07/12/08 12:18:47 By - Glenn Garvin
55-mph speed limit may have found its Washington patron
Congress thus far has shown no movement toward resurrecting the 55-mph speed limit, but one of the Senate's senior members — Republican John Warner of Virginia — says it's time to start the conversation about an energy-saving national speed limit to help spare Americans from usurious fuel costs. He told fellow senators this week that he'll probably proceed with legislation after the Energy Department determines the most fuel-efficient speed limit for the nation's highways. | 07/11/08 12:43:21 By - Dave Montgomery
Boeing supporters in Congress still suspicious of tanker deal
Despite assurances from a top Pentagon official that the new competition for a $35 billion contract for Air Force aerial refueling tankers would be conducted fairly and without bias, congressional supporters of Boeing remain suspicious that the Pentagon is maneuvering to award the contract again to Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS). | 07/11/08 12:40:06 By - Les Blumenthal
High fuel prices cut volunteer firefighters' response
Now that diesel prices have jumped well beyond $4 a gallon, the volunteer rescuers who protect most of the United States have begun rethinking how they respond to emergencies. | 07/10/08 18:02:00 By - Barbara Barrett
Pentagon reopens contentious bidding for new aerial tanker
The Pentagon will reopen the competition for a $35 billion aerial refueling tanker contract, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday. The announcement came three weeks after congressional auditors found the Air Force made "significant errors" in awarding the contract to Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS) over Boeing. | 07/09/08 18:38:00 By - Les Blumenthal
FTC says it won't intervene to protect Internet user privacy
At issue is what privacy rights consumers have when data-mining companies use their Web browsing patterns to target them for ads. It's a gold mine for online advertising and Internet marketing, but consumer and e-privacy groups say it's intrusive. "Self-regulation may be the preferable approach for this dynamic marketplace," Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said. | 07/09/08 18:41:28 By - Kat Glass
Bush: Washington asparagus "some of the best"
Apparently President Bush does like Washington state asparagus. In fact, he considers it "some of the best in the world." | 07/09/08 07:12:08 By - Les Blumenthal
Bush lawyers told to speed Guantanamo detention appeals
A federal judge told Justice Department lawyers to give the cases of Guantanamo detainees appealing their imprisonment priority over all other cases. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan made the admonition at the first hearing since the Supreme Court ruled last month that the detainees had the right to challenge their imprisonment in court. | 07/08/08 20:15:00 By - Marisa Taylor
Do you know who's tracking your Web browsing?
Seeking to mute consumer and congressional concerns over possible online privacy violations, the media company NebuAd, a leader in selling advertisers information about Web users' browsing habits, announced Tuesday that it will take new steps to protect Internet users' identities on the Web. | 07/08/08 18:56:00 By - Kat Glass
Ex-Rep. Condit loses a Chandra Levy defamation case
A federal judge has thrown out former California Congressman Gary Condit's defamation lawsuit against author Dominick Dunne. Condit's lawsuit revolved around public speculations about the nature of his relationship with Chandra Levy, a Washington, D.C., intern whose remains were found in Washington's Rock Creek Park in 2002. Her murder has never been solved, and police haven't identified a suspect. | 07/08/08 15:48:04 By - Michael Doyle
California eyes destruction of dairy herds struck by TB
Three herds in the San Joaquin Valley have been found to be infected with bovine tuberculosis, a contagious disease that can kill cattle, bison, goats and other species and be transmitted to humans through direct contact or consumption of raw milk, but not pasteurized milk. The herds have been quarantined, but not publicly identified. | 07/07/08 17:46:45 By - Michael Doyle
Debating Helms' legacy: racist reactionary or conservative beacon?
Jesse Helms will be remembered as one of the leading figures in the rise of the Republican Party in the South — a person who helped move conservative Democrats to the GOP. But was Helms a throwback to the Dixiecrats who used race to divide people? Or was he a visionary who helped create a conservative renaissance in the country? | 07/06/08 07:23:41 By - Rob Christensen
When Alaska's Young needed help, lobbyists ponied up
Facing bad publicity and a dwindling campaign account, U.S. Rep. Don Young last year turned to the 'AK Wolfpack,' a group of more than 20 lobbyists, including former Young staffers and retired former congressmen. Of 27 who received an e-mail warning that his defeat would be bad for their business, 23 were registered lobbyists. They've provided a quarter of his campaign funds since. | 07/06/08 07:15:27 By - Sean Cockerham and Erika Bolstad
Next Air Force chief leads military's vast transport command
Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz was a relatively obscure figure as commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, the Defense Department's vast transportation network. He'd planned to retire this fall. Then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates fired the Air Force's two top officials in a shakeup sparked by the mishandling of nuclear weapons and unexpectedly recommended Schwartz to become Air Force chief of staff. | 07/06/08 06:00:00 By - Dave Montgomery
Bhutan woos high-end tourists
Bhutan is looking for a few good tourists — and put the emphasis on "a few," please. A Buddhist nation squeezed between India and China in the high Himalayas, its 680,000 residents had no television until 1999. Smaller than West Virginia, it's got just one cross-country road, barely a lane and a half wide, that takes two days to drive. And the government measures the impoverished country's success not by Gross Domestic Product but by a Gross National Happiness index. | 07/03/08 18:35:20 By - Kat Glass
Passport record system open to abuse, IG finds
A State Department passport record system that holds personal data on more than 120 million Americans is wide open to abuse and unable to prevent or detect unauthorized access, investigators said Thursday. | 07/03/08 18:20:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Study: First-quarter donations down for charities
Charitable giving declined in the first quarter of this year, according to a bellwether study by a consulting firm for nonprofit agencies. It's the first decline since 2005, when charities collected record donations after the Indian Ocean tsunami and U.S. Gulf Coast hurricanes. It came as no surprise; charitable contributions generally track economic conditions. | 07/03/08 17:38:00 By - Queenie Wong
At construction sites, catcalls nearing extinction
The salacious commentary that generations of American construction workers rained down on passing women are fading, according to many women and to workers who say they've reformed. | 07/03/08 16:00:00 By - Federica Narancio
U.S. prison officials considering safety vests, union says
Bureau of Prisons officials are now considering equipping federal guards with safety vests following the murder of Atwater correctional officer Jose Rivera, union leaders revealed Wednesday. In what one participant termed a "heated" meeting, Bureau of Prisons Director Harley G. Lappin indicated knife-resistant vests could be a viable option for at least some of the nation's 16,000 or so federal prison guards. | 07/02/08 19:29:05 By - Michael Doyle
Feds take step that will speed another Indian casino
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has quietly dropped plans to study another potential location for a new Indian-operated casino in California's Madera County, cheering tribal leaders who feared adding the site would further delay a $250 million gambling project. | 07/01/08 20:48:03 By - Michael Doyle
New proposed mileage standards draw critics on both sides
Automakers charged Tuesday that proposed new mileage standards are too tough while consumer groups complained that they're too lenient. The Consumer Federation of America, an alliance of advocacy groups, wants to raise the standard well above the hike the government is proposing. The government's proposal would require automakers' fleets of cars to average 35.7 miles per gallon by 2015. Light trucks would have to average 28.6 miles per gallon. | 07/01/08 19:25:00 By - Kat Glass
Kentucky lawmakers push coal as America's fuel of the future
As fuel costs rise and the quest for alternative energy sources accelerates, lawmakers from coal-rich Kentucky are pinning their hopes on the continued role of coal in electricity generation and an environmentally controversial technology that converts coal to a liquid that can fuel cars. | 06/29/08 06:00:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
National Mall needs multimillion-dollar face-lift
"America's front yard" needs a cleanup crew. Several million in cash would help, too. From afar, the National Mall, the majestic expanse of parkland from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial looks postcard-perfect. But don't get too close. The famous Reflecting Pool is stagnant and full of muck. The lawns are flattened in places and just patches of dust. The sidewalks are cracked, the walking paths are crumbling and public restrooms need repairs. | 06/29/08 06:00:00 By - David Goldstein
Is unsolved tomato/salmonella mystery the FDA's Katrina?
As the number of people sickened by a salmonella outbreak continues to rise, federal officials are no longer certain that tomatoes are the cause of the illness or that they will ever determine its sources. That's angered tomato growers, who say the outbreak shows the incompetence of the Food and Drug Administration much as Hurricane Katrina revealed FEMA's weaknesses. | 06/28/08 14:05:11 By - Elaine Walker
DeMint goes national in Senate re-election campaign
WASHINGTON -- Go on Jim DeMint's Web site for his Senate re-election campaign, and you won't see much about South Carolina. | 06/27/08 19:40:00 By - James Rosen
Judge won't delay July 21 trial of Bin Laden's driver
A military judge said he won't postpone the start of the trial of the man accused of being Osama bin Laden's driver, now scheduled to start July 21. But Navy Capt. Keith Allred warned that defense attorneys might still bring up constitutional challenges in pretrial motions that would delay the case. | 06/27/08 19:29:01 By - Carol Rosenberg
No interest so far in drilling off Washington coast
In the Pacific Ocean off Washington state there are salmon, whales and a major fault zone that could trigger a cataclysmic tsunami. But, apparently, there isn't much oil or natural gas. | 06/27/08 15:51:00 By - Les Blumenthal
Lawmakers set to honor Fresno State team
Political plaudits are next for Fresno State's national champion college baseball team. | 06/27/08 16:24:00 By - Michael Doyle
Supreme Court ruling gives McConnell some vindication
Sen. Mitch McConnell, whose strident opposition to campaign finance reform legislation helped move the McCain-Feingold bill before the Supreme Court, praised Thursday's court ruling striking down a provision that benefits the opponents of wealthy political candidates. Dubbed the "millionaire's amendment," the provision struck down Thursday was billed as a way to level the campaign-funding playing field. It didn't restrict how much money the wealthy candidate could spend. But by 5-4, the court ruled that Congress went too far when it loosened fundraising restraints for politicians facing millionaires who invest in their own campaigns. | 06/26/08 17:56:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Supreme Court shoots down D.C. gun ban
A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Constitution protects an individual's right to bear arms, while leaving room for governments to regulate gun ownership. By 5-4, the court struck down the District of Columbia's strict gun ban as an infringement on fundamental rights. | 06/26/08 11:16:07 By - Michael Doyle and Dave Montgomery
Supreme Court strikes down 'millionaire's amendment'
The decision arising out of a New York state congressional race marks the second time in as many years that the court has undercut a 2002 campaign finance reform law co-authored by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. The now-diminished law is the signature Capitol Hill accomplishment for McCain, the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee. | 06/26/08 11:15:33 By - Michael Doyle
U.S. border agents copying contents of travelers' laptops
The extent of the practice is unknown. The Department of Homeland Security didn't send a witness to a Senate subcommittee hearing Wednesday and hasn't answered written questions. Electronic data targeted include the contents of laptops, cell phones, and digital cameras, witnesses at the hearing said. | 06/25/08 18:47:00 By - Federica Narancio
Boeing could have won tanker contract, GAO says
The Boeing Co. had a "substantial chance" of winning a $35 billion contract for aerial-refueling tankers if the Air Force hadn't made a number of errors in awarding it to a team that includes a rival European aerospace company, government auditors concluded. The Government Accountability Office on Wednesday released its 67-page report — with portions redacted — a week after a three-page summary noted significant problems with the Air Force's decision to award the tanker contract to Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. | 06/25/08 18:25:00 By - Les Blumenthal
Pursue criminal aliens, not workers, Congress urges administration
While the nation's immigration cops have raided job sites and picked up illegal aliens across the country in the past year, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants sit in jails, already convicted of crimes. Yet they often are released back into the community instead of being deported. | 06/24/08 19:30:00 By - Barbara Barrett
DEA seeks new restrictions on Internet pharmacies
Illicit Internet pharmacies are helping abusers obtain controlled drugs such as Xanax, Vicodin and anabolic steroids, the Drug Enforcement Administration says, and it wants Congress to require that drugs be sold over the Internet only on the basis of "valid prescriptions" that are written after face-to-face medical evaluations. | 06/24/08 18:54:00 By - Federica Narancio
Army flayed over 21-year-old's $298 million arms deal
A congressional investigation found that Efraim Diveroli — who's now 22 — was granted the contract even though he, his company, AEY, and a supplier he worked with were on a State Department watch list for suspicious international arms dealers. Pentagon officials blamed Diveroli, saying he didn't tell them he had problems previously. | 06/24/08 18:56:06 By - Lesley Clark
No bigger than a thumbnail, yet this mussel is a huge pain
Never heard of the quagga mussel? It's becoming a major threat to water systems around the United States. Only the size of a thumbnail, it multiplies by the thousands, clogging municipal water pipes, taking food from native species and maybe even spurring the growth of bacteria that causes botulism. From the Great Lakes to southern California, researchers are struggling to find ways to fight it. | 06/24/08 18:00:00 By - Kat Glass
Cardoza bill would help veterans get information on benefits
WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers are lavishing more attention on veterans like Stockton resident Cary Martin. | 06/24/08 17:20:00 By - Michael Doyle
IG report: Justice Dept. wrongly considered politics in hiring
Two former Justice Department officials violated federal laws and department policies in 2002 and 2006 by weighing the ideological leanings of law students and young lawyers who were applying for coveted internships and jobs, according to a Justice Department watchdog's report made public Tuesday. | 06/24/08 12:50:34 By - Marisa Taylor
Navy v. dolphins: Supreme Court to hear battle over sonar
The Supreme Court will settle a fight that pits Southern California dolphins against the U.S. military. In a closely watched case involving national security and the natural environment, the court agreed to review restrictions on the Navy's use of sonar off the California coast. The Bush administration contends that the sonar rules, meant to protect marine mammals, hinder military preparedness. | 06/23/08 14:06:33 By - Michael Doyle
Supreme Court rejects lawsuit challenging border fence
The court offered no explanation for why it would not hear the challenge, which questioned Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's waiving more than 30 laws to push construction of the border fence. Environmental groups and a dozen members of Congress had sought the hearing. | 06/23/08 12:47:06 By - Dave Montgomery
In a first, court says military erred in a Guantanamo case
A Washington, D.C., appeals court ruled "invalid" the Pentagon's declaration that Guantanamo detainee Huzaifa Parhat was an enemy combatant and ordered that he be set free, sent to a third country, or given a new hearing under procedures acceptable to the court. The court didn't release its full ruling, which was being vetted to remove classified information. | 06/23/08 12:32:34 By - Marisa Taylor
Cut in what Medicare will pay doctors new worry for seniors
Medicare is designed to automatically adjust reimbursement rates for doctors every year in an effort to control costs. Facing dire warnings from doctors and an outcry from seniors, Congress has delayed the cuts year after year. But two weeks ago, the Senate refused to cut off debate on a measure that would have delayed the cuts for 18 months. Now they're programmed to take effect July 1. | 06/22/08 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal
Memory of 1969 disaster colors current oil drilling debate
The blowout of an offshore oil drilling rig off the California coast in 1969 spewed a giant oil slick into the Pacific, an ecological disaster that contributed to the creation of Earth Day the following year. Offshore drilling has long been permitted off the coasts of states that border on the Gulf of Mexico. But assessments of the impact differ sharply, with the Sierra Club and other environmental groups saying offshore drilling and coastal pipelines endanger wetlands, marshes and sea life. | 06/21/08 14:25:00 By - Dave Montgomery
White House asserts executive privilege in California case
Setting up a constitutional showdown, the White House on Friday asserted executive privilege in denying a request to turn over thousands of pages of documents sought by Congress as part of an investigation involving California's air-quality standards. | 06/20/08 12:35:34 By - Rob Hotakainen
Experts: employers' records of injuries inaccurate
Federal regulators should stop relying solely on employers to honestly report work-related injuries and illnesses, experts said Thursday. Instead, they said, the government should also talk to workers and examine other data, such as hospital records, to see how many Americans are injured each year on the job. | 06/20/08 12:13:42 By - Kerry Hall and Lisa Zagaroli
Those crazy senators from Missouri and Nebraska
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and his Democratic colleage from Missouri, Sen. Claire McCaskill, are engaged in an escalating war — of practical jokes. What else do they have to worry about? | 06/20/08 12:05:17 By - David Goldstein
McClellan: White House still avoids scrutiny in Plame affair
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee Friday morning provided little hard new information into the outing of former CIA covert officer Valerie Plame. "I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the administration officials who revealed Valerie Plame's identity to reporters," he said. | 06/20/08 11:33:16 By - David Lightman
McClellan: nothing new on Plame affair
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan says he has little if anything new to say about the Valerie Plame affair and the White House role in the matter. "I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the administration officials who revealed former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity to reporters," McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee Friday morning. | 06/20/08 10:40:34 By - David Lightman
Survival guide shows how one congressman's office worked
A two-page list of do's and don't's for interns in Rep. Don Young's office included the names of the nine lobbyists he considered "A Team" players. They could get through to anyone in Young's office. It also had some sage advice: open the door for the Congressman and keep your hands out of your pockets. | 06/19/08 20:28:52 By - Richard Mauer
Hearing on steroids goes on without Big Brown's trainer
Top thoroughbred breeders, owners, trainers and veterinary experts spoke out at a congressional hearing Thursday on injecting horses with steroids before high-stakes races, questionable breeding practices and forcing exhausted animals to race to the point of injury. But Rick Dutrow, who trained Big Brown, was a no show. | 06/19/08 19:47:49 By - Halimah Abdullah and Janet Patton
Air Force likely to seek new tanker contract, despite delay
Air Force officials scrambled to assess their options over a stalled tanker contract Thursday as the four-star general who oversees the tanker fleet warned that the delay could impair efforts to replace decades-old aerial refuelers. | 06/19/08 18:36:00 By - Dave Montgomery and Les Blumenthal
Heat kills crop workers at rate 20 times higher than others
Construction workers had the highest number of heat-related deaths, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Thursday. But the rate of fatalities was highest for field hands. North Carolina had by far the highest death rate, followed by Florida and California. | 06/19/08 18:18:00 By - Federica Narancio
Guantanamo prisoner opens new era of court challenges
The Taliban tortured Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al Ginco, saying he was a U.S. spy. Then the U.S. sent him to Guantanamo, saying he was a terrorist. Now Ginco is asking a U.S. federal court to order his release — the first Guantanamo detainee to file for a hearing since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Guantanamo detainees have the right to file habeas corpus petitions. | 06/19/08 17:41:00 By - Michael Doyle and Marisa Taylor
Senate panel approves $5 million for Washington border for 2010 Olympics
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $5 million in funding to help improve security along Washington state's border during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. The funding includes $4 million for a 2010 Olympics Coordination Center at the Customs and Border Protection Air Wing in Bellingham. The center would allow officials from all levels of government to prepare and respond to any incident. | 06/19/08 17:26:00 By - Les Blumenthal
Californians lead do-overs of Capitol's eateries
Californians are the new diet police in Washington, using their enhanced influence to launch makeovers of the cafeterias and restaurants that serve the nation's most powerful lawmakers and their staffers on Capitol Hill. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco struck first, greening up the House cafeterias by bringing in more organic and locally grown food and biodegradable cutlery. Now Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is leading the charge to privatize the Senate's cafeterias, confident it will lead to healthier food choices and lower costs for the public. | 06/19/08 16:58:00 By - Rob Hotakainen
Big Brown's trainer a no-show at hearing on steroids
Rick Dutrow, trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, didn't notify a congressional committee that he wouldn't attend Thursday's hearing on drugs and racing as planned. Top Thoroughbred breeders, owners, trainers, and veterinary experts acknowledged that the increasing use of drugs had led to racehorse injuries. | 06/19/08 12:01:53 By - Halimah Abdullah and Janet Patton
General who probed Abu Ghraib says Bush officials committed war crimes
"There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," retired Army Major Gen. Antonio Taguba wrote in a new report on medical evidence that U.S. troops abused prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account." | 06/18/08 18:43:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Genocide issue may cloud Armenia envoy nominee's hearing
The career diplomat nominated to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Armenia almost certainly will avoid using the phrase "Armenian genocide" at her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday. The big question, closely watched by Armenian American activists, is whether the Senate will still let nominee Marie Yovanovitch take her post in Yerevan. | 06/18/08 17:25:45 By - Michael Doyle
California's top leaders line up to oppose offshore drilling plan
If President Bush and Republican Sen. John McCain are expecting any support from California's top leaders for their plan to lift a ban on offshore drilling, it could be a long wait. "California's coastline is an international treasure," Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday. "I do not support lifting this moratorium on new oil drilling off our coast." | 06/18/08 16:53:54 By - Rob Hotakainen
Little progress has been made in mine safety
Two years after Congress passed historic mine-safety legislation, many of the nation's mines still have no way to provide air to trapped miners and, despite the law's mandate, can't provide two-way wireless communications underground because that technology doesn't exist yet, according to the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm. Those issues and the ongoing debate over stricter mine-safety regulations will be the focus of a Senate subcommittee hearing Thursday. | 06/18/08 15:48:34 By - Halimah Abdullah
Bush call for offshore oil drilling likely to go nowhere
President Bush proposed Wednesday to allow drilling off U.S. coastlines as part of a plan to boost oil supplies, but his plan is likely to go nowhere because of a reluctant Democratic-majority Congress, which fears environmental costs. Even if U.S. coastal waters were opened to exploration, experts agree that it would take at least seven and probably 10 years before any benefits were apparent. | 06/18/08 14:28:32 By - David Lightman
Boeing victory: GAO calls for new bids for Air Force tanker
The Government Accountability Office concluded Wednesday that the Air Force made "significant errors" in awarding a $35 billion contract for aerial-refueling tankers to a team that included a European aerospace company. In a major victory for Boeing, the GAO recommended that the Air Force reopen the competition, including rewriting the contract specifications. | 06/18/08 13:39:00 By - Les Blumenthal
After praising German asparagus, Bush gets basketful from Washington state
His father doesn't like broccoli, but President Bush apparently likes asparagus, at least the German variety. After the president called German asparagus "fabulous" following a dinner with Chancellor Angela Merkel last week, two Washington state lawmakers decided it was time to introduce him to the homegrown variety. | 06/18/08 13:20:09 By - Les Blumenthal
'If the detainee dies you're doing it wrong'
Excerpts from some of the documents released today by the Senate Armed Services Committee. | 06/17/08 19:42:00 By -
Holsinger nomination as surgeon general dead, Bunning says
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jim Bunning, one of Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr.'s staunchest supporters in his bid to become U.S. surgeon general, suggested Tuesday that the physician's quest for the nation's top medical post is at an end. | 06/17/08 18:38:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Appellate court tosses out key conviction in Abramoff case
A federal appeals court overturned the conviction of a former White House official Tuesday in a significant defeat for prosecutors who are overseeing the investigation into the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal. David Safavian was convicted in 2006 of four charges related to statements he made to officials who were investigating Abramoff. | 06/17/08 18:05:48 By - Marisa Taylor
SAT writing section predicts freshman grades, College Board says
The controversial new writing section of the SAT is a better predictor of college freshman grades than its math and critical reading sections, according to findings released Tuesday by the organization that administers the test. The conclusion by the College Board partially rebuts critics who argue that the writing section isn't a good measure of writing skill and favors women and white students. | 06/17/08 17:35:00 By - Queenie Wong
Calif. congressman finds Estonia trip profitable — at the slots
Rep. Dennis Cardoza turned a tidy gambling profit during official travel to Estonia last year, winning $1,700 at the slot machines. He was one of five House members to be visiting the former Soviet republic in July, but the only one to report wagering with such conspicuous success. | 06/17/08 17:40:20 By - Michael Doyle
Senate probe links Pentagon official to abusive tactics
Senate Armed Services Committee investigators say the Defense Department's general counsel contacted the Pentagon agency that develops survival techniques for captured American servicemen and asked for help in developing the aggressive questioning techniques that gave rise to allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. William Haynes, who was the general counsel, will testify at a Tuesday hearing. | 06/16/08 22:21:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
House committee demands Bush, Cheney FBI transcripts
The subpoena to Attorney General Michael Mukasey involves the full transcripts of the FBI's interviews with the president and vice president about the leak of cover CIA officer Valerie Plame's name to reporters. Rep. Henry Waxman had asked for the records earlier this month, saying new information suggested more inquiry is merited into the role Bush and Cheney may have played in the affair. | 06/16/08 14:11:07 By - Marisa Taylor
Workers bring North Carolina hog dispute to nation's capital
A large campaign is being waged by the United Commercial Food Workers union on the Smithfield Packing slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, N.C., the largest meat-processing plant in the world. Smithfield officials, who have accused the union of intimidating workers, call the latest ad campaign a "desperate" move. | 06/16/08 06:00:00 By - Barbara Barrett
Private bills can halt deportation, but rarely bring resolution
Members of Congress can stop a constituent's deportation by introducing a private bill allowing the immigrant to stay. But only 41 of the 945 private bills introduced by House and Senate members since 1997 have been enacted, records show, meaning a family is often left hanging without any real resolution to their situation. | 06/14/08 23:17:05 By - Vanessa Colon and Michael Doyle
Alaska's Stevens owes $50,000 to lawyers in federal probe
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens owes the Washington law firm of Williams & Connolly as much as $50,000 for legal work connected to the federal investigation into renovations at his home in Girdwood, Alaska, that were overseen by a company whose executives have pleaded guilty to bribing state lawmakers. | 06/14/08 12:49:44 By - Erika Bolstad
Partisanship prevails in Congress, while U.S. problems go unsolved
Congress is spending these opening weeks of the general-election campaign trying to score points with voters by forcing partisan opponents to cast embarrassing votes — and doing virtually nothing to ease the nation's economic, energy or foreign crises. | 06/13/08 18:35:56 By - David Lightman
News: Cheney admits error, this one about Chinese oil drilling
The vice president, citing columnist George Will, made the claim that China was drilling off Cuba in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as part of the administration's push for opening offshore waters and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The problem, of course, is that the claim was untrue. Cheney's office now acknowledges that. | 06/13/08 13:01:52 By - Lesley Clark
Once again, Washington state lawmakers battle to extend sales tax deduction
WASHINGTON -- They're known as tax extenders, and in the arcane world of the Internal Revenue Service code they include renewing tax breaks for everything from motorsports entertainment complexes to rum distillers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. | 06/12/08 18:43:00 By - Les Blumenthal
Supreme Court ruling could free scores from Guantanamo
Within hours of the court's decision granting Guantanamo detainees access to federal courts, attorneys were preparing to demand hearings for detainees long held without charges. These hearings will force the Bush administration to reveal its evidence and expose publicly how the detainees have been treated. Some attorneys think that the administration simply will start releasing detainees to avoid the potentially embarrassing hearings altogether. | 06/12/08 19:22:00 By - Michael Doyle and Carol Rosenberg
Graham: Amend Constitution to overturn court's ruling
An angry Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called the Supreme Court's ruling on Guantanamo Bay detainees "dangerous and irresponsible." Graham, a military lawyer who'd confidently predicted that the 2006 Military Commissions Act would pass high court muster, said he'll explore amending the Constitution to blunt its effect. | 06/12/08 14:59:00 By - James Rosen
Big Brown's trainer to testify on drug use in horse racing
Days after Big Brown finished dead last in the Belmont Stakes, a House subcommittee has called Rick Dutrow to testify at a hearing next week on horse safety, deaths, drug use and the horseracing industry's special gambling status under federal law. Dutrow has admitted he gave Big Brown steroids before his big win in the Kentucky Derby. | 06/11/08 19:31:42 By - Janet Patton
House-approved funding eventually could boost Valley high-speed rail
WASHINGTON -- The House on Wednesday boosted California's prospects for a high-speed passenger rail system that eventually could serve the San Joaquin Valley. | 06/11/08 16:12:00 By - Michael Doyle
When Congress had a chance, food safety wasn't its choice
Tainted tomatoes highlight how Congress forfeited some food-safety opportunities in the new farm bill. The omission appears particularly poignant now, as at least 167 people in 17 states have fallen ill from salmonella poisoning since mid-April. | 06/10/08 18:08:49 By - Michael Doyle
Gates suggests 2 new leaders for Air Force
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday recommended that the White House name Michael Donley, the Defense Department's director of administration and management, as secretary of the Air Force and that Gen. Norton Schwartz, a 35-year military veteran, be the Air Force's next chief of staff. | 06/10/08 06:50:46 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Abramoff met Bush at least 6 times, House panel confirms
Convicted superlobbyist Jack Abramoff had his photo taken with the president on six occasions, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said Monday, though it said it could not determine if Abramoff had lobbied the president personally on any issue. Still, the committee said its probe made it clear White House officials consulted with Abramoff. | 06/09/08 15:41:45 By - Marisa Taylor
Can Gallup's new happiness index make us a better nation?
The Gallup Organization and a health industry partner now offer a detailed daily measure of U.S. happiness and stress that you can look up on the Internet. They hope that it'll be as influential an indicator of national progress someday as the gross domestic product. | 06/09/08 13:39:00 By - Frank Greve
Witherspoon tries to put segregationist past behind him
Illegal immigration isn't the only thing that Dr. Walter "Buddy" Witherspoon, Sen. Lindsey Graham's opponent in the upcoming South Carolina Republican primary, sees as a threat to the United States. He also fears plans for a North America Union (NAU), with its own currency -- the Amero -- and a "trans-NAFTA highway stretching from Mexico to Canada through the American heartland." | 06/06/08 20:40:00 By - JAMES ROSEN
Here's a surprise — GOP's Liddy Dole backed climate bill
This morning, the U.S. Senate took a historic vote on the first comprehensive global warming bill to make its way out of a committee room. The sweeping legislation lost. But one of those in support of the tree-hugging, polar bear-loving legislation was Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the North Carolina Republican whose voting record is among the Senate's most conservative. | 06/06/08 19:49:13 By - Barbara Barrett
Home state's coal interests drove McConnell's climate bill opposition
As Sen. Mitch McConnell led the fight against passage of a Democratic-backed global warming bill this week, he found himself in the complicated position of balancing the economic needs of his coal-dependent state with addressing increasing public demand for environmentally friendly energy policies. | 06/06/08 18:21:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Graham runs hard-right despite token opposition
Republican activists greeted U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham with polite applause at the state GOP convention last weekend, while delivering thunderous ovation and raucous cheers for U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and Gov. Mark Sanford. | 06/06/08 17:06:00 By - James Rosen
In first, climate bill gets a Senate vote; as expected, it loses
Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a vote on a bill that would cut greenhouse gas emissions across the economy, but senators backing the measure said they'd keep working to get a stronger version ready for the next president. 54 senators support the bill, but 60 were needed to bring it to consideration. | 06/06/08 13:18:08 By - Renee Schoof
Hispanics suffer more on-the-job deaths than other groups
More Hispanics die on the job than other U.S. workers, and the rate is highest among the foreign-born, according to a federal study released Thursday. | 06/05/08 18:02:00 By - Federica Narancio
Air Force officials out over mishandling of nuclear weapons
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates demanded the resignations of the Air Force's top two leaders and asked former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger to lead a task force on nuclear safeguards after a probe found major problems in the way the Air Force handled nuclear weapons. | 06/05/08 14:59:08 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true
A long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report made public this morning concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements to promote an invasion of Iraq that they knew at the time were not supported by available intelligence. "There is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, the committee's chairman. | 06/05/08 09:49:58 By - Jonathan S. Landay
House OKs funding for environmentally friendly schools
House Democrats prevailed in a heated, partisan showdown Wednesday over a proposal by Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., to use federal funds to build environmentally friendly schools. | 06/05/08 07:48:10 By - Halimah Abdulla
Your teens may be saner than you were
Risky teen behaviors such as smoking tobacco or marijuana, not wearing seat belts and having sex neared or reached record lows last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. | 06/04/08 18:59:00 By - Federica Narancio
Victor Davis Hanson awarded $250,000 honor
WASHINGTON -- A prominent conservative foundation is lavishing a $250,000 award on Victor Davis Hanson, the Fresno-area farmer and classics professor turned public intellectual. | 06/03/08 17:26:00 By - Michael Doyle
EPA lists fuel-efficient cars members of Congress can lease
The EPA has published its list of vehicles that members of Congress can lease under a new law that requires they drive vehicles with low greenhouse-gas emissions. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., introduced the legislation in 2005. | 06/02/08 19:10:19 By - David Goldstein
Former prosecutors challenge White House immunity claim
Twenty former U.S. attorneys, both Republicans and Democrats, urged a federal judge Thursday to intervene in a constitutional battle over whether two White House officials should be forced to testify before Congress about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. | 05/29/08 19:22:00 By - Marisa Taylor
Army suicides rise again despite new focus by military
A study found a "significant relationship" between the risk of suicide to the number of days a soldier serves in Iraq and Afghanistan. About one-quarter died while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the report found. | 05/29/08 19:10:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Alaskan businessman to challenge Sen. Stevens
Anchorage developer Dave Cuddy joined the U.S. Senate race Wednesday, hoping to win a Republican primary election upset over incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens. | 05/29/08 12:36:57 By - Kyle Hopkins
Military insurance falls short on mental health care
Across America, soldiers, veterans and their families are running into red tape and roadblocks when they try to use their military insurance to get treatment for ailments such as post traumatic stress disorder. | 05/28/08 18:16:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Nunes' leadership PAC helps him help other Republicans
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, invests in a lot of candidates. Of course, some bets do better than others. | 05/28/08 16:31:00 By - Michael Doyle
Could Alaska's Stevens and Young face indictment near elections?
Members of Congress who faced felony charges since 1980 and the timing of their indictments with elections. Campaigning under the cloud of federal investigations is tough enough, but could Sen. Ted Stevens or Rep. Don Young have the added worries of an indictment before they face the voters? Would prosecutors wait until after the election to bring charges to avoid the appearance of meddling in Alaska politics? | 05/28/08 08:13:53 By -
Study finds regional differences in children's health care
Children who live in the Northeast and Upper Midwest get better health care, on average, than those in the South and Southwest, according to a study by a private foundation released Wednesday. Iowa had the highest combined score. Oklahoma ranked last overall. | 05/28/08 00:01:00 By - Queenie Wong
Bipartisan consensus grows to curb nuclear weapons
There are differences over how the next president should proceed, but there's agreement that the world is facing a major expansion of civilian nuclear power to meet the world's growing energy needs, so prompt action is required. | 05/27/08 18:36:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Bush wants $600 million for Iraq police, but cuts aid to U.S. cops
The White House earlier this year proposed slashing the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which helps local law enforcement officials deal with violent crime and serious offenders, to $200 million in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. In 2002, the year before the Iraq war, the program received $900 million. | 05/27/08 17:36:20 By - David Lightman
Poll finds low opinion of military medical care
WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans believe that wounded troops don't receive high quality medical care in military and Veteran's Administration hospitals, according to a new Harvard School of Public Health poll. | 05/25/08 00:15:00 By - Federica Narancio
Agribusiness best source of cash for Central Calif. congressmen
While none of the House members from California's San Joaquin Valley face a serious challenge, all have been diligently stockpiling campaign war chests, mostly from agribusiness. | 05/23/08 15:50:00 By - Michael Doyle and Russell Clemings
California incumbents hold the cards at re-election time
Barring an outright disaster, the combination of political gerrymandering, incumbent fundraising advantages and a careful tending of constituent interests guarantees that the sitting House members from California's San Joaquin Valley have remarkable job security. | 05/23/08 15:24:00 By - Michael Doyle and John Ellis
Memorials help keep S. Carolina's Clyburn in public eye
Poeple who live in Columbia, S.C., or Orangeburg or Sumter who can't remember who represents them in Congress needn't worry. Reminders are all around them. | 05/23/08 14:00:00 By - James Rosen
House committee moves to force Rove testimony in probe
The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House political guru Karl Rove on Thursday to force his testimony about allegations that political meddling in the Justice Department led to selective prosecutions of southern Democrats. | 05/22/08 19:26:33 By - Greg Gordon
GAO says moving infectious disease lab is risky
The Homeland Security Department never fully assessed the risk of moving the countries research on highly contagious animal diseases from an island lab to the mainland, an official of Congress' investigative arm told lawmakers on Thursday. | 05/22/08 19:05:01 By - Queenie Wong
Justice's criminal division gets a new chief
A Justice Department lawyer who became entangled in the scandal over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year is being nominated to take over the department's criminal division. | 05/22/08 18:24:00 By - Marisa Taylor
House takes mulligan, passes farm bill again — just in case
In a bizarre twist that left farm bill skeptics steaming, the House on Thursday was forced to approve once more a $289 million-plus bill opposed by the White House. The bill approved by a 306-110 margin was identical to one passed by the House and Senate last week. It was not, however, identical to the one vetoed by Bush on Wednesday morning. That's where the egg on the face comes in. | 05/22/08 15:42:00 By - Michael Doyle
House committee orders Karl Rove to appear in probe
The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House political guru Karl Rove on Thursday to force his testimony about allegations that political meddling in the Justice Department led to selective prosecutions of southern Democrats. | 05/22/08 16:24:33 By - Greg Gordon
On Memorial Day, recalling the fight to save the Pentagon
Everyone remembers 343 New York City firefighters died at the World Trade Center. At the Pentagon, every firefighter returned home. But not all of them came back safe and sound. Six years on, a new book recounts the travails, blow by blow, of the largely anonymous Arlington, Va., firefighters who responded when American Airlines Flight 77 flew into the Pentagon at 530 miles per hour. | 05/21/08 13:49:00 By - Michael Doyle
VA opposes much of bill to improve care for women veterans
A top VA official admitted during a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing that the agency may not be prepared for the anticipated influx of women veterans. Still, the agency opposes provisions that include requiring mental health workers be trained to deal with female sexual trauma. | 05/21/08 19:08:41 By - Les Blumenthal
Republican senators revise their version of veterans education bill
Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina cribbed a few details Wednesday from a Democratic colleague for their version of the GI Bill, which helps pay for college for military veterans. | 05/21/08 20:22:52 By - Barbara Barrett
House overrides farm bill veto; Senate next
Voting 316-108, the House rolled right over Bush only a few hours after the president quietly vetoed the bill. The Senate will soon follow suit, handing the lame-duck president a lesson in congressional election-year priorities. | 05/21/08 20:19:05 By - Michael Doyle
Senate drops farm guest-worker legislation
With little ceremony and no debate, a quick parliamentary maneuver late Tuesday night killed California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's plan to give temporary legal status to 1.35 million illegal immigrant farm workers, as well as their spouses and children. | 05/21/08 18:36:03 By - Michael Doyle
Senate panel votes to overturn EPA on California waiver
In a purely symbolic move, the Senate committee headed by California Sen. Barbara approved her bill Thursday that would grant the Clean Air Act waiver California needs to enact tough car and truck emission standards. | 05/21/08 18:20:00 By - David Whitney
Wars can wound soldiers' sex lives, too
Wounds and mental disabilities of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can mess up their sex lives, too, health experts said Wednesday. But those wounds often go untreated because the topic is taboo and has gone unstudied. | 05/21/08 18:20:35 By - Federica Narancio
More political meddling found in species decisions in California
The Bush administration politically tinkered with more endangered species decisions in California than previously admitted, federal investigators revealed Wednesday. | 05/21/08 16:05:00 By - Michael Doyle
What's behind the battle over the new G.I. Bill?
The GI Bill touted by recruiting posters and the Pentagon often falls short for more than a million troops returning from war, paying just over half the national average cost of a public college education. | 05/21/08 08:49:09 By - Barbara Barrett
Report details military tactics FBI agents found abusive
FBI agents were so concerned about the way the military was questioning detainees at Guantanamo that several top Justice Department officials took the concerns to the National Security Council. But the complaints brought no response from the NSC, which includes President Bush and was chaired by Condoleezza Rice. harsh | 05/20/08 14:04:13 By - Marisa Taylor
Official: White House influenced EPA ruling on California emissions
Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson was interested in granting California's petition to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, but later changed his mind and denied it after meetings with White House officials, an EPA official told congressional investigators in testimony released Monday. | 05/19/08 18:31:00 By - Renee Schoof
Supreme Court upholds municipal bond tax exemption
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states will be allowed to continue a 90-year-old practice of not taxing interest on in-state municipal bonds while taxing residents on out-of-state bond interest. | 05/19/08 18:15:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Supreme Court upholds anti-child porn law
The Supreme Court upheld a strict federal anti-pornography law Monday, ruling that criminalizing the "promotion" of child pornography does not stifle free speech. The court, in a 7-2 decision, rejected suggestions that Congress, in seeking to stamp out child abuse, had gone too far by making it a federal crime to advertise or promote child pornography. | 05/19/08 17:24:00 By - Lesley Clark
U.S. announces deployment of seven combat brigades to Iraq
The Defense Department announced Monday that it will send seven combat brigades to Iraq by the end of the year, suggesting that the Pentagon is planning to maintain its troop levels in Iraq through next year. | 05/19/08 16:56:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Here's how to save on gasoline
Want to know the exact savings that your car can score from various energy-saving strategies? Take the Drive $marter Challenge that the Alliance to Save Energy launches Tuesday. | 05/19/08 16:39:00 By - Federica Narancio
Most teen motorists killed at night weren't wearing seat belts
Nighttime driving is three times deadlier than daytime driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported Monday, and teens bear the brunt of it. One big reason: lower seatbelt use. | 05/19/08 16:38:00 By - Britney Maloney
Federal subsidy that helps fund Valley airports criticized
A federal subsidy that's funded air travel through Fresno, Modesto and other Central Valley cities has often failed to meet its goals, auditors warn in a new report. | 05/19/08 16:22:00 By - Michael Doyle
New rules may force some in Congress to give up their cars
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton of Texas is proud to drive a 2007 flex-fuel Chevy Tahoe made at the GM plant in his district. But he may have to trade it in for a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle because of a little-noticed provision in last year's energy bill. That measure requires House members who lease vehicles through their office to make sure that they are energy-efficient and eco-friendly. | 05/19/08 08:10:18 By - Anna M. Tinsley
Bush environmental policies have losing record in court
Federal courts appear to have done what relentless green lobbying could not in more than seven years: rein in what critics call a de facto deregulation of the environment by President Bush's administration. | 05/19/08 08:09:57 By - Chris Bowman
Employment verification plan triggers fears of Big Brother
It's the latest plan to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country. The nation's 7.4 million employers would be required to provide the government with Social Security numbers for all new employees — more than 55 million each year — to make sure they're in the country legally. But some fear that's too much government intrusion in private affairs. | 05/18/08 06:00:00 By - Rob Hotakainen
ATF drops slogan that offended property rights advocates
'Always Think Forfeiture' had been in use for 10 years as a way to remind investigators to seize the property of lawbreakers to help fund Justice Department operations. But after a blogger discovered an order for 2,000 pocket knives with the slogan engraved on the blade and wrote that it showed disrespect for property rights, members of Congress complained. | 05/17/08 17:22:47 By - Erika Bolstad
Feinstein seeks to attach guest-worker plan to Iraq war funding bill
WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has changed her tune about using Iraq war spending bills to provide temporary legal status for illegal farm workers. | 05/16/08 15:37:00 By - Michael Doyle
Money for Fort Benning hospital in Iraq supplemental bill
WASHINGTON -- Tucked into the hotly debated Iraq war emergency spending bill is roughly $1 billion for four of the nation's aging military health facilities -- places that some Democratic House leaders have said do not meet current standards for medical care and need immediate attention in order to prevent the types of problems that faced Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. | 05/15/08 18:18:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
West Coast lawmakers blast federal fishery officials over salmon losses
Brimming with anger, members of Congress from the West Coast blamed federal fishery officials for writing scientific reports that ignored growing dangers to salmon and allowed the population to collapse. | 05/15/08 15:51:00 By - David Whitney
Senate passes farm bill, setting up veto override
On Thursday, the Senate, by a comfortably veto-proof 81-15 margin, approved a farm bill that now faces a resistant White House. President Bush says he'll veto the five-year package, much as Eisenhower nixed a big farm bill in April 1956. | 05/15/08 15:45:00 By - Mike Doyle
New disaster-housing design wins applause
Post-Katrina trailers got awful reviews, but the manufactured replacement housing that's going up in Mississippi now is drawing raves. Called the Mississippi Cottage, it's energy-efficient, safe, able to withstand 150 mph winds and designed to meet local building codes for permanent housing. | 05/14/08 17:40:00 By - Britney Maloney
Experts see no early end to world's food crisis
The world's deep hunger crisis could go on for years, and in the long run it'll take a new scientific agricultural revolution to help farmers in the poorest countries produce enough food, experts said Wednesday at congressional hearings. | 05/14/08 17:28:00 By - Renee Schoof
House approves farm bill by veto-proof margin
The House on Wednesday emphatically approved a massive five-year farm bill by a veto-proof margin, setting up President Bush for a major political embarrassment. | 05/14/08 17:19:00 By - Michael Doyle
Polar bear to be listed as a threatened species
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced Wednesday that the agency will list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a decision that could cast the bears as the enduring symbol of the effects of global warming. | 05/14/08 15:17:00 By - Erika Bolstad
Defense lawyers accuse Pentagon of delay in 9/11 cases
Not one of eight lawyers who'd applied for clearances in recent months to represent Guantanamo detainees accused of war crimes has been approved, the ACLU complained, including two Idaho attorneys who've volunteetered to help defend accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. | 05/14/08 08:49:14 By - Carol Rosenberg
Senate defeats bid to open ANWR to oil drilling
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday rejected a Republican energy plan that promised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, an option that was part of an overall package to increase domestic energy development. | 05/14/08 09:45:16 By - Erika Bolstad
Farm bill heads toward approval — and Bush veto
The House of Representatives on Wednesday will approve a five-year, $280 billion-plus farm bill, accelerating an election-year collision with President Bush. Packed with subsidies, watered-down revisions and special goodies — some popped in at the last minute — the massive farm bill faces a promised presidential veto. The big political unknown is whether enough Republicans will abandon Bush to render him powerless. | 05/14/08 09:44:58 By - Michael Doyle
Harriett Miers says her clash with Congress will outlast Bush
The former White House counsel is facing a contempt of Congress citation for refusing to testify about the firing of U.S. attorneys last year. Now a lawyer in Dallas, she says her clash with Congress is likely to go on after Bush leaves office. | 05/13/08 19:24:32 By - Max B. Baker
Vets have advice for Congress about fat cats (dogs, too)
Future pet food labels that indicate the number of calories per serving could help obese animals shed the extra pounds, a veterinarians' association recommended to the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday. | 05/13/08 17:25:00 By - Queenie Wong
Clinton's wealth rose fastest among lawmakers, report finds
Jane Harman's the wealthiest member of Congress, a political watchdog group reported today, but Hillary Clinton's average net worth, adjusted for inflation, grew the fastest. From a negative $6 million to $30.7 million between 2000 and 2006, Clinton's climb was the fastest financial turnaround in recent years for any member of Congress who started out with no assets. | 05/13/08 14:58:33 By - Greg Gordon
Pentagon faxed confirmation 5 will face Sept. 11 charges
Defense attorneys learned that charges had been formally approved against five Guantanamo detainees when they received copies of the 93-page charge sheet by fax after the close of business on Monday. As expected the document names Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the mastermind of the suicide attacks, but a sixth defendant originally included in the case had been inexplicably dropped. | 05/13/08 13:15:15 By - Carol Rosenberg
U.S. to honor Navy unit whose work it kept secret for years
Not many men in the military are eager to join a brand-new unit, where they don't know people, don't know what they'll be doing and don't have a proud unit lineage. But the Navy assured the men it would be good for their careers. | 05/13/08 07:41:26 By - Chris Vaughn
Bush sets off for Middle East, unable to quell its troubles
President Bush sets off this week to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday, but the festivities are likely to be muted by the dimming prospects for brokering regional peace deals during the Republican administration's waning months in power. | 05/12/08 20:48:31 By - Dion Nissenbaum
Group pushing Clinton as VP choice tied to her campaign
VoteBoth's founder used to work for Clinton's former campaign manager. Its spokesman worked for Clinton's campaign chairman, though both deny they are coordinating with the Clinton campaign. Last week, the founder, Adam Parkhomenko, wrote a piece on The Huffington Post suggesting Clinton should be Obama's vice-presidential pick. | 05/11/08 16:06:00 By - Margaret Talev
AFL-CIO opposes aid package for Mexico
WASHINGTON — A major U.S. counter-drug aid package for Mexico is under attack by U.S. organized labor, which says Congress should reject the initiative unless tough human rights conditions are included, according to a letter revealed Friday. | 05/09/08 23:01:02 By - Pablo Bachelet
Senate wrangling kills airline safety bill on procedural vote
The failure of the bill was a defeat for consumer groups and labor, which backed mandates for tougher air safety oversight and better passenger conditions. Airports also would have benefited by being able to raise more revenue, and the FAA could have hired more air traffic controllers. | 05/09/08 17:57:38 By - David Goldstein
Farm bill includes tax breaks for horse racing industry
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., netted tax breaks for the thoroughbred horse racing industry in the farm bill worth $126 million over the next 10 years, a provision that helped guarantee his support for the hotly debated bill. | 05/09/08 17:56:16 By - Halimah Abdullah
Bush defends his Latin American legacy
WASHINGTON — President Bush served up a spirited defense of his priorities in Latin America Wednesday, dismissing recent reforms by Cuba's new leadership as "empty gestures'' and pushing ambitious initiatives for Mexico and Colombia that face scrutiny by Democrats in Congress. | 05/08/08 08:23:27 By - Pablo Bachelet
Another recipe for ethanol: homegrown sweet sorghum
What's sweet like sugarcane, looks something like corn and could be grown in much of the United States to make ethanol? Sweet sorghum. American pioneers used sweet sorghum as a substitute for sugar. Now researchers are wondering if it isn't a better way to make ethanol than corn. | 05/08/08 15:27:00 By - Renee Schoof
FBI seeking records of 2004 Condoleeza Rice ethics probe
FBI agents investigating government watchdog Scott Bloch have subpoenaed any records that would reveal whether he cleared then national security adviser Rice of ethics violations out of concern that the probe would affect the 2004 election campaign. | 05/07/08 20:39:00 By - Marisa Taylor
Senate topples wind insurance bid
A Gulf Coast-backed effort to add wind coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program was soundly defeated Wednesday in the Senate amid concerns it would be too costly. | 05/07/08 19:16:09 By - Lesley Clark
Senate Democrats criticize EPA for impeding science
The Environmental Protection Agency's top science adviser defended his boss for holding meetings with White House officials that are kept secret from Congress and the public. Senators said the practice raises questions about the EPS's independence. | 05/07/08 18:06:00 By - Renee Schoof
Senate panel OKs San Joaquin River restoration bill
WASHINGTON -- A key Senate committee on Wednesday handily approved a revised but still ambitious bill to restore the San Joaquin River. | 05/07/08 14:43:00 By - Michael Doyle
U.S. consumers rank last in world survey of green habits
Americans rank last in a new National Geographic-sponsored survey released Wednesday that compares environmental consumption habits in 14 countries. Americans were least likely to choose the greener option in three out of four categories — housing, transportation and consumer goods. As for food, only the Japanese were less 'green.' | 05/07/08 00:08:00 By - Queenie Wong
Gulf Coast senators seek hurricane aid for elderly, infirm
WASHINGTON -- Three Gulf Coast senators are pushing legislation to aid thousands of disabled or elderly citizens who remain uprooted nearly three years after they were left homeless by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. | 05/06/08 18:00:00 By - Dave Montgomery
As currently written, farm bill a mixed bag for California
Farmers markets in cities like Davis could flourish with funding included in a new farm bill that's become a mixed bag for California. | 05/06/08 16:03:00 By - Michael Doyle
Execution set for Mexican who took case to Supreme Court
Texas death-row inmate Jose Ernesto Medellin, the central figure in an international dispute over U.S. treaty obligations, has been sentenced to die on Aug. 5, but the Mexican citizen's attorneys sought congressional intervention to stall the execution. | 05/05/08 16:34:00 By - Dave Montgomery
Mullen: Military alone can't resolve world's troubles
The Middle East and Central Asia — particularly Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan — will remain a problem spot well into the future, but military power alone won't be enough to bring peace and stability to the region, President Bush's chief military adviser said at the University of Kentucky on Friday night. | 05/03/08 19:28:33 By - Jim Warren
YouTube barracks video prompts call for change
Watch the video | 05/03/08 07:08:15 By - Lisa Zagaroli
Commerce Dept. will aid Calif. salmon business
WASHINGTON — Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez declared a commercial fishery failure Thursday, clearing the way for Congress to send financial aid to fishermen and related businesses hurt by the ban on salmon fishing off California and Oregon. | 05/02/08 19:51:20 By - David Whitney
Washington stymied on how to deal with gasoline prices
With the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline at a record high of $3.62, lawmakers are out to gain ground by doing what many of them do best: beating up on the other guy. | 05/02/08 13:09:08 By - Rob Hotakainen
Senate Republicans celebrate drilling in ANWR
Senate Republicans, continuing a national GOP push to hammer Democrats on gasoline prices, unveiled a domestic oil exploration plan Thursday that includes a call for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. | 05/01/08 21:07:23 By - Erika Bolstad
Idaho rep asks State to delay Mexico's Boise consulate
WASHINGTON — An Idaho congressman has asked the State Department to delay the opening of a new consulate in Boise until the U.S. government had adressed "the moral and constitutional duty to take into consideration how foreign consulates affect our fellow citizens here in our own country.” | 05/01/08 20:51:46 By - Erika Bolstad
Online gaming law could scuttle Kentucky Derby betting
An exemption to federal law allows Internet gambling on horse races. But banks and credit card companies are unsure whether that exemption applies to their processing of bets placed by credit card. That means some bets on this weekend's Kentucky Derby could be blocked, experts warn. | 05/01/08 19:24:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Ida. reps want potatoes back in WIC
Idaho's congressional delegation is fighting a U.S. Department of Agriculture decision that prohibits poor women from buying potatoes with the money they get each month to buy nutritious food. | 04/30/08 16:59:48 By - Erika Bolstad
Plan would allow loaded guns in national parks
The Bush administration's proposal would scrap a longtime ban on loaded weapons in national parks and wildlife areas. Instead, a person could carry a gun on federal land if it would be allowed on state land in the state where the national park or refuge is located. | 04/30/08 16:21:00 By - Rob Hotakainen
Young defends secret highway earmark
Rep. Don Young for the first time offered a public explanation Wednesday for a secret transportation earmark that so angered fellow lawmakers that they called on the Justice Department to investigate it. | 04/30/08 16:32:03 By - Erika Bolstad
Terror report: Attacks doubled in Pakistan, Afghanistan
The findings confirm that the struggle against terrorism in the troubled Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, the central battleground in the war on al Qaida and its affiliates, suffered last year. | 04/30/08 15:40:35 By - Warren P. Strobel
Gates: Lull in Iraq over as U.S. deaths reach 7-month high
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday acknowledged that a seven-month lull in U.S. troops deaths in Iraq has come to an end and blamed the bloodshed on Shiite Muslim militiamen who have bombarded the Green Zone and key parts of Baghdad with rockets and mortar rounds. | 04/29/08 22:56:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Kennedy: On-the-job deaths should lead to prosecutions
During a Senate committee hearing on worker safety, parents of injured workers who died talked emotionally about the pain of their loss and the frustration of seeking justice. The average OHSA fine for a workplace death last year was $3,675. | 04/29/08 18:38:35 By - Lisa Zagaroli and Ames Alexander
Senate report warns against Venezuela sanctions
WASHINGTON — Sanctioning Venezuela for allegedly supporting a Marxist Colombian guerrilla group would make Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez more popular and diminish U.S. standing in Latin America, a report released Monday by the Republican staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warns. | 04/28/08 18:56:41 By - Pablo Bachelet
Bush again pushes drug aid for Mexico, Central America
WASHINGTON — With a Guatemalan leader looking on, President Bush on Monday urged Congress to approve a $550 million package of anti-drug trafficking assistance for Mexico and Central America. | 04/28/08 18:45:31 By - Pablo Bachelet
Border fence may not meet end of year completion date
As it slices through forbidding terrain, tribal lands, private property and sensitive wildlife habitats, the border fence faces a towering wall of challenges that raise doubt that its 670 miles of fences and barriers will be in place when the Bush administration comes to an end in January. | 04/26/08 13:57:00 By - Dave Montgomery
Inspector general calls for shakeup of DFW air controllers
The Department of Transportation's inspector general has called for a management shakeup at the FAA's air traffic control operations at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport after finding that controllers at the Texas facility covered up operational mistakes by wrongfully classifying them as pilot errors. | 04/25/08 18:39:00 By - Dave Montgomery
Senate panel slaps Domenici over phone call to U.S. attorney
The Senate Ethics Committee admonished Republican Sen. Pete Domenici on Thursday for creating an "appearance of impropriety" after he called the U.S. attorney he helped install to inquire about the timing of a federal corruption case. | 04/25/08 07:24:06 By - Marisa Taylor
Public, private money announced for Yosemite
More public and private dollars will be flowing to Yosemite National Park under a first-of-its-kind effort unveiled Thursday. | 04/24/08 15:42:00 By - Michael Doyle</