Washington

Portrait of Sen. Jesse Helms unveiled

More than 100 of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms' family members, friends and associates gathered Wednesday night to see the senator's portrait unveiled in one of congressional Republicans' most distinguished enclaves, the private Capitol Hill Club. | 11/19/09 07:34:34 By - Barbara Barrett

Soldier's family brings fight with contractor to Congress

Army Lt. Col. Dominic "Rocky" Baragona was killed in Iraq on the very day that he was going home. He was en route, heading south on the road between Baghdad and Kuwait City, when a tractor-trailer lost control, jackknifed across the highway and crushed his Humvee. His parents, Dominic and Vilma Baragona, and a sister, were on Capitol Hill Wednesday to tell a Senate hearing how their quest for justice after his death has been a frustrating effort. | 11/18/09 19:21:00 By - David Goldstein

GOP senators, Holder clash over New York trials for 9/11 plot

Attorney General Eric Holder said he foresaw no judicial obstacles to convicting the five terrorism suspects and putting them to death, despite complaints from the Republican senators about the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused terrorist conspirators in New York. Meanwhile, Obama said he was confident they'll be found guilty. | 11/18/09 18:42:00 By - James Rosen

House votes to expand popular fire department grants

Fire departments can pump more money under a revised $11 billion grant program approved Wednesday by the House of Representatives. | 11/18/09 16:21:00 By - Michael Doyle

It's a breeze for Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis at Senate confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON � Sacramento real estate developer and philanthropist Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis appears headed for confirmation as the next ambassador to Hungary after winning strong backing Wednesday from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. | 11/18/09 13:13:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Obama Web site claims stimulus jobs in non-existent places

The federal Web site that tracks spending from the Obama administration's $787-billion economic stimulus program reports that the program has created thousands of jobs in congressional districts that don't exist. According to the site, California has seven congressional districts more than the 53 it actually has. In South Carolina, the site reported $40.7 million in stimulus spending in seven districts, including the 00 and 25. South Carolina has six House districts. | 11/17/09 20:40:00 By - James Rosen

Black artist's portrait of Jesse Helms 'an honor, an irony'

Rene Dickerson's abstract, brilliantly colored paintings depict joyful scenes of African-American culture. He paints jazz, Motown, beautiful women and scenes of love. Last spring, though, a friend in Washington invited him to lunch at the tony Capitol Hill Club, a social enclave for Republican lawmakers. The friend asked, 'Would you like to paint a portrait of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms?' | 11/17/09 20:10:00 By - Barbara Barrett

Army suicides expected to rise for 5th straight year

Suicides in the Army are expected to reach a new high this year, with 140 suspected cases among active-duty soldiers so far, Army officials said Tuesday. | 11/17/09 18:30:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Congressional leaders seeking a new jobs bill

Stung by constituents' concerns about their vanishing or vulnerable jobs, congressional leaders launched a strong push Tuesday to pass a "jobs creation" package by the end of this year. | 11/17/09 17:04:00 By - David Lightman

Lawmaker raises stink about police ban on pig protest

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wanted to take a pretend pig farm with real pigs to Capitol Hill to protest how the animals are treated in big corporate hog farms. The U.S. Capitol Police said no, but one lawmaker raised a stink about the rationale behind the decision. | 11/17/09 17:29:00 By - Barbara Barrett

As Karzai starts new term, doubts grow that he'll finish

On the eve of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's swearing-in for a second term , speculation is growing that he could be forced to step aside before he finishes his next five years in office. "It would take a miracle," said Abdullah Abdullah, the one-time foreign minister who abandoned a planned runoff against Karzai earlier this month. "And, as Muslims, we don't believe miracles are possible now." | 11/17/09 16:43:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Book: Edwards tried to trade Obama endorsement for VP nod

Democrat John Edwards tried to cut a secret deal with both Barack Obama and perhaps Hillary Clinton during last year's presidential primaries, offering his endorsement in exchange for the vice presidential nomination, according to a new book by Obama's campaign manager. Obama ruled out any deals, and Edwards' endorsement in May 2008 anyway. | 11/17/09 10:23:30 By - By Steven Thomma

Obama asks Republican Pearce to step down from pipeline post

The Republican who heads up the federal agency overseeing the proposed construction of Alaska's natural gas pipeline is stepping down at the request of President Barack Obama. Drue Pearce, a former president of the Alaska Senate, was asked to leave her job as the head of the small agency known as the Office of the Federal Coordinator. Her resignation takes effect Jan. 3. | 11/17/09 06:47:44 By - Erika Bolstad

Poll shows unhappiness, pessimism in Cuba

Any good will that Raul Castro enjoyed as Cuba's new leader has dissipated, according to a new poll, which found that more than four out of five of those surveyed in Cuba were unhappy with the direction of the country. | 11/16/09 19:01:00 By - Lesley Clark

Recession causes more families to go without food

The number of U.S. households that are struggling to feed their members jumped by 4 million to 17 million last year, as recession-fueled job losses and increased poverty and unemployment fueled a surge in hunger, a government survey reported Monday. | 11/16/09 18:30:00 By - Tony Pugh

Should employers be required to offer health insurance?

Requiring employers to offer most workers health insurance has long been seen as a crucial piece of Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system, but legislation that the Senate's expected to consider soon is unlikely to include any such mandate. | 11/16/09 18:03:00 By - David Lightman

Kentucky rep's votes on Cuba show the power of money

Up until July 2004, U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield of Kentucky voted repeatedly to repeal the travel ban and ease relations with Cuba. Later that month, Whitfield, a Republican, received thousands in donations from groups opposed to easing sanctions. He has consistently voted to uphold the sanctions ever since. | 11/16/09 16:59:00 By - Halimah Abdullah and Lesley Clark

Genome advances promise personalized medical treatment

A whirlwind of activity is under way to apply the findings of the $3 billion Human Genome Project to improve health care in the United States and around the world. | 11/16/09 15:48:00 By - Robert S. Boyd

Supreme Court won't hear protest of Miami schools' book ban

In February, a federal appeals court ruled that the Miami-Dade school board didn't violate the First Amendment when it pulled Vamos a Cuba from school libraries in 2006. On Monday, the Supreme Court said it won't review the decision. | 11/16/09 12:08:50 By - Kathleen McGrory

Missed deadline? Military takes steps to close Guantanamo

Administration officials acknowledge that the Jan. 22 deadline President Obama set for Guantanamo's closure probably won't be met. But the decision announced Friday to send five accused 9/11 plotters to New York for trial was another step toward the all-but-certain shuttering of Guantanamo. Meanwhile, Rear Adm. Tom Copeman, the current prison commander, is tasked to figure out: what can stay, what can go, and what can be destroyed. | 11/16/09 07:12:20 By - Carol Rosenberg

Money talks: Report links donations, Cuba embargo support

Supporters of the U.S. embargo against Cuba have contributed nearly $11 million to members of Congress since 2004 in a largely successful effort to block efforts to weaken sanctions against the island, a new report shows. In several cases, members of Congress who'd supported easing sanctions changed their position — and got donations. | 11/16/09 00:01:00 By - Lesley Clark

Obama begins China visit with citizens' questions, a full agenda

President Barack Obama kicks off his visit to China with a town-hall meeting Monday in Shanghai, a rare chance for the Chinese people — university students in the audience and people of all ages who sent questions via the Internet — to communicate directly with a Western leader. | 11/15/09 13:07:00 By - Margaret Talev

To count or not to count: Will 2010 census include all Latinos?

California Democratic Rep. Joe Baca wants to count all Latinos in the 2010 census, including millions of noncitizens. Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter wants only legal citizens included in the official count. | 11/15/09 06:00:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Reichert takes on AARP over health care overhaul

It's a bit like tangling with the National Rifle Association. The AARP has 40 million members, including nearly 940,000 in Washington state, it's a potent lobbying force in Washington, D.C., highly visible nationwide and its members vote more often than just about anyone else. | 11/15/09 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Washington state's Reichert takes on AARP over health care overhaul

It's a bit like tangling with the National Rifle Association. The AARP has 40 million members, including nearly 940,000 in Washington state, it's a potent lobbying force in Washington, D.C., highly visible nationwide and its members vote more often than just about anyone else. | 11/15/09 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal

In China, Obama will glimpse world's new center of gravity

When President Barack Obama lands here Sunday night in China's largest city, he'll find many of its 20 million people intrigued by him and welcoming, but hardly deferential, and some openly skeptical of his promises of change. | 11/14/09 14:32:00 By - Margaret Talev

New York trials for 9/11 suspects raise new safety concerns

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four alleged underlings in civilian courts ignited a debate Friday about whether the trial would invite new attacks on New York and if the proceeding would be stymied by legal wrangling over the defendants' rights. | 11/13/09 20:13:00 By - Greg Gordon and Leila Fadel

Army study: Mental health staff lacking in Afghanistan

An Army task force has found that a growing number of soldiers serving in Afghanistan are suffering from some kind of mental stress and is urging the military to double the number of mental health professionals deployed there | 11/13/09 19:13:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Republican lawmakers decry Obama decision on terror trials

Republican lawmakers Friday bitterly criticized President Barack Obama's decision to try accused terrorists in the United States and warned against moving detainees to South Carolina. | 11/13/09 19:13:00 By - James Rosen

Financial crisis investigators are taking Wall Street names

Leaders of a congressional commission investigating the causes of the recent financial crisis are threatening to publicly identify any company or government agency that stalls in voluntarily producing requested documents. | 11/13/09 18:28:00 By - Greg Gordon and Kevin G. Hall

Georgia's senators dubious of Democratic health care plan

Georgia's senators are bracing for a contentious debate on health care reform and are dubious of Majority Leader Harry Reid's efforts as he prepares to unveil the Senate's version of health reform legislation, possibly as early as next week. | 11/13/09 17:55:00 By - Halimah Abdullah

Holder decides to try accused 9/11 plotters in New York

Attorney General Eric Holder, rejecting concerns about security risks, announced Friday that confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged underlings will face a federal court trial in New York just blocks from the scene of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. Five other detainees will be sent before military commissions on charges ranging from orchestrating the bombing of the USS Cole to throwing a hand grenade that killed two American soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002. | 11/13/09 14:55:00 By - Greg Gordon and Leila Fadel

In White House shakeup, counsel Greg Craig resigns

In the first shakeup of the Obama White House, counsel Greg Craig resigned Friday and was replaced by President Barack Obama's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer. Craig had been deeply involved in the planned shutdown of the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a process marked by delays. | 11/13/09 09:36:32 By - Steven Thomma

Within hours, Obama ordered intelligence review of Fort Hood shootings

Within 24 hours of a killing spree at Fort Hood, Texas, President Barack Obama, ordered a high-level review of how U.S. officials handled warning signs that might have pointed to last week's attack. The suspect, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, has now been charged with murder. | 11/12/09 18:54:00 By - Steven Thomma and Leila Fadel

Dodd consumer groups love isn't the Dodd from last year

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., was winning praise from consumer this week for the legislation he unveiled to create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Contrast that to last year, when Dodd came under fire for refinancing two home mortgages on favorable terms through his ties to a now-defunct lender. | 11/12/09 18:10:00 By - David Lightman

Federal Reserve in crosshairs, but many experts say hold fire

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd's sweeping new financial overhaul legislation, which proposes to strip the Federal Reserve of its authority to regulate banks, threatens the central bank's time-honored independence and its premier international standing, experts warn. | 11/12/09 17:03:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

U.S. condemns attack on Cuban blogger

The U.S. State Department has told Cuba it deplores last week's "assault" on blogger Yoani Sanchez, one of the toughest of several expressions of support for the Havana writer. | 11/12/09 07:14:11 By - Juan O. Tamayo

Senators discuss creation of panel to control health costs

The drive on Capitol Hill to create a bipartisan commission to help control the cost of health spending and address mounting deficits picked up momentum Tuesday. The commission would draft proposals to control the long-term costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. | 11/11/09 20:24:00 By - Eric Pianin

How the House abortion restrictions would work

The health care bill that the House of Representatives has passed would bar insurers from selling policies that cover abortion to anyone who gets a federal subsidy. It does allow insurers to offer optional abortion coverage that consumers could purchase with their own money. Based on some states' experiences, however, it's unlikely that insurers would sell such coverage. | 11/11/09 15:32:00 By - Julie Appleby

Obama urged to turn successful state job program national

As job losses continue to slow the nation's economic recovery, labor experts and economists are urging Congress and the Obama administration to boost funding for a little-known program that 17 states are using to avert layoffs and keep workers in their jobs. | 11/11/09 14:39:00 By - Tony Pugh

White House allies say Obama bungled Guantanamo closing

President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan. 22 was followed by a series of mistakes and missteps by his administration that will delay the prison's closure for months, according to a report from a policy organization with close ties to the White House. | 11/11/09 14:46:57 By - Steven Thomma

Health care, climate change votes could dog Blue Dog

For Rep. Ben Chandler, controversial votes against a health care overhaul backed by the House Democratic leadership and for cap-and-trade energy policies that could lead to penalties for his state's leading industry are like floodlights signaling to critics that the once seemingly unbeatable Kentucky Democrat may have an exposed flank. | 11/11/09 00:00:01 By - Halimah Abdullah

Top U.S. scientists to study California irrigation practices

Some of the nation's most esteemed scientists will review recent environmental decisions that have curtailed California irrigation water deliveries, officials affirmed Tuesday. | 11/10/09 20:09:00 By - Michael Doyle

U.N. leader urges Senate to speed up climate effort

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon met with Senate Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday and urged them to save international climate talks next month by speeding up work on a climate and energy bill. | 11/10/09 19:31:00 By - Renee Schoof

N.J. man alleges FBI torture threat in Kenyan jail

An American Muslim who was captured while fleeing Somalia in 2007 accused two FBI agents and two other U.S. officials Tuesday of illegally interrogating him and threatening torture while he was allegedly held at U.S. behest in Kenyan and Ethiopian jails. | 11/10/09 18:56:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Dodd upsets banks with plan for a single bank overseer

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., unveiled a sweeping 1,136-page bill Tuesday that, in enacted, would bring about the most comprehensive overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression. What upset bankers most was his call to strip the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. of their bank supervisory powers in favor of a new Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration. Dodd said that would stop banks for shopping for the regulator of least supervision. ; | 11/10/09 18:42:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and David Lightman

Gulf Coast veterans displaced by Katrina anxious to go home

Hundreds of residents who were evacuated from the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina destroyed it are looking at their last Veteran's Day in Washington. For almost all of them, it couldn't come too soon. With 10 months to go before the rebuilt facility reopens on the Mississippi Coast, the veterans talk of little else but getting back to Gulfport. | 11/10/09 18:33:00 By - Maria Recio

Bill Clinton urges Senate Democrats to pass health bill

Senate Democrats, struggling to reach agreement on how to overhaul the country's health care system, got some practical political advice Tuesday from former President Bill Clinton, whose own effort collapsed 15 years ago. | 11/10/09 17:21:00 By - David Lightman

U.S. attorney rules in favor of federal official Obama fired

Gerald Walpin, the AmeriCorps inspector general fired by the White House in July during his probe of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, has been cleared of a complaint by the acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento that he had acted improperly. Now, he says, he wants his job back. | 11/10/09 15:58:41 By - Sam Stanton

California medical schools will benefit from health care bill — if provision survives

A health care reform bill could mean millions of dollars for the University of California at Merced's proposed medical school, but the university isn't promised a dime. | 11/10/09 15:44:00 By - Michael Doyle

N.C. Sen. Hagan facing pressure from all sides in health care debate

After an intense three-month campaign for the votes of North Carolina's House members, players in the health care debate are now likely to focus their full attention on Sen. Kay Hagan, a moderate, pro-business Democrat, who is regarded as one of a handful of senators who could play a pivotal role as the Senate takes up the landmark legislation to expand access to health insurance. Hagan has already been the subject of television commercials by the pharmaceutical industry, two mailers by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and hundreds of pickets at her Raleigh district office. | 11/10/09 07:39:17 By - Rob Christensen

'Muslim Mafia' author ordered to remove documents from Web

A federal judge has taken the rare step of ordering self-described anti-terrorism investigator Paul David Gaubatz to remove from his Web site some 12,000 documents that his son allegedly stole from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. | 11/09/09 18:18:00 By - Michael Doyle

You're being followed: Scientists track movement of living things

Almost 24 centuries after the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote his book, "On the Movement of Animals," modern scientists are still struggling to understand how, why, when and where living creatures move. | 11/09/09 15:05:00 By - Robert S. Boyd

Undocumented students mobilize to win legal status

As her fellow college graduates busy themselves with spamming every available e-mail inbox with resumes, 25-year-old Lizbeth Mateo keeps to the same Los Angeles coffee shop she's worked in for the past five years. | 11/09/09 14:44:00 By - Katie Rogers

Supreme Court to review cases of juveniles sentenced to life in prison

Lawyers for two Florida men who were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles will argue to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that the penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. | 11/09/09 07:03:27 By - Carol Marbin Miller

Obama meets with Native American leaders

Keeping a campaign promise, President Barack Obama hosted 386 heads of state — leaders from more than half of the United States' 564 federally recognized Indian tribes. Tribal leaders were able to ask questions and express concerns over issues, such as reservation shopping, that effect their tribes. | 11/09/09 06:55:34 By - Stephen Magagnini

Latinos have scant access to higher education, survey finds

Faced with few resources, cultural barriers and pressing family responsibilities, Latino youths find that access to higher education comes harder for them than it does for peers of other races, a survey by the Pew Hispanic Center found. | 11/09/09 06:00:00 By - Katie Rogers

As oceans fall ill, Washington bureaucrats squabble

Off the coast of Washington state, mysterious algae mixed with sea foam have killed more than 8,000 seabirds, puzzling scientists. A thousand miles off California, researchers have discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling vortex roughly twice the size of Texas filled with tiny bits of plastic and other debris. | 11/08/09 00:01:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Competing programs hamper Kentucky's prescription drug abuse fight

Kentucky lawmakers are at the center of a political feud over how to best derail the so-called "pain-pill pipeline" from Florida to the Bluegrass State, a multi-state trafficking scheme that has contributed heavily to the state's crippling prescription drug addiction epidemic. A program that bears a powerful Kentucky congressman's name has received four times more funding than another program backed by other less senior lawmakers from the state. | 11/08/09 06:00:00 By - Halimah Abdullah

House passes historic health care bill, with one GOP vote

The House of Representatives Saturday passed, by a vote of 220 to 215, historic health care legislation that would require virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance and create a government-run health insurance plan to help them do so. If passed by the Senate, the bill would bring about the most sweeping change in the American health care system since Medicare was created 44 years ago. | 11/07/09 23:26:00 By - David Lightman

10 ways the House bill would change health care

These are some of the changes in the way health insurance would work in the United States if the House bill were to become law. | 11/07/09 16:57:00 By - David Lightman

Congress takes up expansion of Troops to Teachers

Frank McBryde says there are plenty of parallels between serving in the U.S. military and teaching. "You're not going to become rich, you need loyalty and you need to be dedicated to a task," said McBryde, 54. | 11/07/09 00:01:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Shooting reveals tensions over Muslims in the military

The killings of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, by an Army psychiatrist who also was a Muslim set off a rancorous debate Friday that once again spotlighted the fear among Muslims in America that they'll be collectively found guilty for the actions of one man. | 11/06/09 20:59:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef and Leila Fadel

Opponents say they have votes to block U.S. tourism to Cuba

Opponents of opening Cuba to American tourists are touting a letter signed by 53 Democrats in the House of Representatives, saying it shows that they have the votes to derail an effort to lift the ban on travel to the island. | 11/06/09 19:02:00 By - Lesley Clark

California Democrats Cardoza, Costa uncertain on health care bill

San Joaquin Valley Democrats will feel the heat whichever way they vote on the massive health care package now set for House action as early as Saturday. | 11/06/09 17:41:00 By - Michael Doyle

Recovery? The 10.2 percent without jobs might beg to differ

As bad as Friday's jobs report was, showing October's unemployment rate jumping sharply to 10.2 percent, the outlook is likely to worsen for American workers well into next year. Economists expect the jobless rate to keep climbing, perhaps above 11 percent, as employers produce more with fewer workers and shy away from hiring. | 11/06/09 10:33:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Washington Democrats Baird, Smith uncertain on health care bill

With a historic vote possible as early as Saturday, one Washington state representative, Brian Baird, said Friday he couldn't support the Democratic health care bill, while another, Adam Smith, said he had yet to make up his mind. | 11/06/09 16:50:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Florida's new senator blocks diplomat's nomination

A day after a South Carolina senator dropped his opposition to a top State Department nominee, Florida's new senator has put the brakes back on. Republican Sen. George LeMieux said Friday he's blocking Thomas Shannon's nomination as U.S. ambassador to Brazil. | 11/06/09 16:20:00 By - Lesley Clark

Couple's book tackles evangelicals' questions on climate change

As an evangelical Christian living in Texas, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe found that many conservatives had questions about climate change based on things they'd heard on talk radio. So Hayhoe and her husband decided to answer the questions in a new book from religious publisher FaithWords, "A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-based Decisions." | 11/06/09 14:31:00 By - Renee Schoof

Senate rejects effort to block civilian trials for 9/11 suspects

The Senate's 54-45 vote to reject the measure by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., opens the door for President Barack Obama to bring Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to trial in federal court, rather than the military commissions Graham helped create. | 11/05/09 21:08:00 By - James Rosen

DeMint says Obama has changed Honduras policy

An outspoken critic of the Obama administration's handling of the crisis in Honduras late Thursday dropped his opposition to two State Department nominees, saying that the administration has reversed course. South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint said on the Senate floor that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had told him the U.S. would recognize Honduras' Nov. 29 election "regardless of whether former President Manuel Zelaya is returned to office." | 11/05/09 18:44:00 By - Lesley Clark

Health care bill's supporters, opponents flock to Capitol

Gene Otto left his Olympia, Wash., bakery for a day, flew across the country to the nation's capital and told four members of Congress why it's important that they overhaul America's health care system. | 11/05/09 17:43:00 By - David Lightman

Garamendi takes the oath and gets to work

WASHINGTON -- John Garamendi is wasting no time in making his move from Sacramento to Washington. | 11/05/09 17:01:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Bill would ease San Joaquin Valley water swaps

San Joaquin Valley farmers could swap water more easily under a bill floated Thursday before a Senate panel. | 11/05/09 17:09:00 By - Michael Doyle

Could delays jeopardize health care overhaul?

Passing a health care overhaul bill might be one of the hardest things Congress has ever attempted, but waiting until next year might jeopardize the top priority for President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress. | 11/05/09 16:45:00 By - Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin

Election results chill moderate Democrats in Congress

Already-skittish moderate Democrats in Congress got fresh reasons Wednesday to worry about their votes on economic and health care legislation from the election results in Virginia and New Jersey. | 11/04/09 18:30:00 By - David Lightman

Small banks didn't cause the mess, but no bailout for them

The collapse in home prices sunk many big banks last year, but this year smaller lenders and community banks are going bust at an alarming rate because of their exposure to souring commercial real estate loans. | 11/04/09 17:47:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Two N.C. judges nominated to 4th Circuit seats

The nomination of two North Carolina judges to the nation's second-highest court could further a leftward push by President Barack Obama in shaping the federal judicial system. | 11/04/09 17:45:00 By - Barbara Barrett and Mark Johnson

California tribe seeks decisions on off-reservation casino

North Fork Rancheria tribal leaders are still pushing for a Madera County casino amid questions about Interior Department plans and their partners' finances. | 11/04/09 17:34:00 By - Michael Doyle

Justice Department won't appeal order to free Guantanamo detainee

A Kuwaiti Airways engineer who the U.S. military has accused of being a key aide to Osama bin Laden has been moved to the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center's minimum-security wing that's reserved for prisoners slated to be released. | 11/03/09 23:40:44 By - Mark Seibel

After 15 years, ex-DEA agent wins settlement from U.S.

Capping a remarkable courtroom ride, former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Richard Horn and attorney Brian Leighton secured a $3 million financial settlement from the Justice Department. The confidential settlement filed Tuesday ends a lawsuit that embarrassed past and present CIA officials. | 11/03/09 22:09:12 By - Michael Doyle

Tear down mental walls on climate, German chancellor says

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an impassioned plea Tuesday to a joint session of Congress to work together on efforts to curb global warming and to help forge a binding climate-change deal at an international meeting next month. | 11/03/09 18:02:00 By - William Douglas

Poll: Almost half of Americans reject swine flu vaccine

Despite a rising nationwide toll of sickness caused by the H1N1 flu virus and an intensive push by the government to have people vaccinated for it, almost half of Americans say they aren't likely to get the vaccine, according to a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll. | 11/03/09 16:53:00 By - Steven Thomma

California's San Joaquin Valley lawmakers again introduce water legislation

San Joaquin Valley lawmakers on Tuesday again voiced their discontent over the region's dry spell, this time by introducing a new bill to review several key water-delivery decisions. | 11/03/09 16:43:00 By - Michael Doyle

Congress often blocks Medicare changes that would cut costs

The Democratic health care legislation comes studded with cautious plans to test proposals for reining in Medicare costs. History suggests, however, that even if the experiments are successful, the odds aren't high that their lessons will be applied to the entire program. | 11/03/09 14:53:00 By - Christopher Weaver and Kate Steadman

House Republicans roll out health insurance alternatives

Small businesses would have an easier time banding together to offer insurance to employees. Consumers could cross state lines to buy coverage. There'd be no big government expansion. | 11/02/09 17:57:00 By - David Lightman

Critics: Financial oversight council tough only on paper

A plan by congressional Democrats and the White House to curb future bad behavior on Wall Street would fail to resolve the bureaucratic infighting that helped bring about the global financial crisis, critics warn. | 11/02/09 17:31:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Supreme Court seeks White House views on hiring illegals

The Obama administration will enter the politically tricky immigration arena, courtesy of the Supreme Court. On Monday, the court asked the administration for its views in a challenge to an Arizona law that punishes companies for hiring illegal aliens. Other states with large immigrant populations will watch the next steps closely, because their own laws and ballot measures could be on the line. | 11/02/09 15:50:00 By - Michael Doyle

Mortgage crisis shows why financial regulation is needed

Why didn't Wall Street firms tell potential investors that the bonds they were selling them were rotten? Why did their business partners, including subprime mortgage lenders, ignore glaring evidence that borrowers weren't qualified and give loans to virtually anyone with a heartbeat? The answer is simple: Because they could. At every turn where regulation was missing in action, the actors did the wrong thing, all along the long, interconnected trail of transactions that make up mortgage finance. | 11/01/09 00:00:01 By - Kevin G. Hall

Northrop charges that tanker bidding skewed toward Boeing

Northrop officials think the Air Force has made crucial changes in the request for bids that put their company at a disadvantage. Among other things, they said, bidders will have to meet 373 mandatory requirements that range from fuel off-load capabilities to the number of bathrooms and crew bunks on board. All those requirements will be weighed equally, even though some are clearly more important than others. | 11/01/09 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal

EIA: a tiny agency with a big role in energy debate

As energy increasingly dominates the economy, a quiet little agency in Washington holds the responsibility for tracking the particles that conduct, fuse, blow, heat, combust and convert the earth, wind and water into the energy that makes our society run. | 11/01/09 06:00:00 By - Barbara Barrett

World just learning mystery of Vietnam-era Marine hero

On the morning of Aug. 12, 1968, amid a sweep through Quang Nam Province, Lance Cpl. Kenneth Worley awoke to shouts: Grenade! With little time to think, Worley threw himself on the grenade and absorbed its blast. He died. His colleagues lived. Worley received the Medal of Honor. But little of his life was known. Indeed, his real name wasn't even Worley. | 10/30/09 17:10:00 By - Michael Doyle

Coming Sunday: Goldman Sachs' low road to high profits

No Wall Street investment firm has emerged from the global financial crisis more intact than Goldman Sachs. Now a five-month McClatchy investigation shows that the firm's winning strategy may have violated U.S. securities laws. The first installment of this four-part series goes live at www.mcclatchydc.com at midnight Eastern time. | 10/30/09 19:35:20 By -

Health care: Some agreement, then there's the public option

Congress is poised to begin a historic debate on the future of the nation's health care system, but while most Democrats agree a new public plan is needed, its fate is far from certain. | 10/30/09 16:57:00 By - David Lightman

California leads White House's stimulus job count

The $787 billion stimulus bill approved by Congress earlier this year has saved or created more than 640,000 jobs, including more than 110,000 in California, the White House said Friday. | 10/30/09 17:00:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Pentagon: Survivors unlikely in plane-helicopter crash

A massive search continues off the Southern California coast for survivors of the midair collision between a Sacramento-based Coast Guard plane and a Marine helicopter, but a Pentagon spokesman said Friday that it's unlikely any of the nine people aboard survived. | 10/30/09 16:20:15 By - Sam Stanton and Kim Minugh

Schwarzenegger: Profanity in veto letter was 'wild coincidence'

It may be highly improbable mathematically, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that the encoded profanity contained in one of his veto letters was "a wild coincidence." | 10/30/09 15:39:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Did Chandra Levy suspect, gang members, threaten witness?

Prosecutors said Friday that members of MS-13, the notorious gang, and the man accused of killing former intern Chandra Levy threatened to murder a potential witness in the case. Prosecutors said the witness, who was not identified, received a letter from MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, reminding him that if he were to testify at the trial, they knew where his family is. | 10/30/09 14:49:00 By - Michael Doyle

Like built-in GPS, brain maps help you find your way home

Lost? Not sure how to get home? Trying to find your way through the mall or an airport? Help is on the way, thanks to a stack of brain cells, or neurons, inside your head. They're mostly on the left side in males, on the right in females. | 10/30/09 00:44:00 By - Robert S. Boyd

Nunes files complaint after threat from lobbyist

A corporate lobbyist threatened Rep. Devin Nunes that a local company would move out of the congressman's district unless the Visalia Republican supported an earmarked request for funding, Nunes said Friday. | 10/30/09 13:32:00 By - Michael Doyle

Congressman denies wrongdoing as ethics panel probes defense lobbying

Rep. Norm Dicks said Friday that he's confident he'll be exonerated by the House ethics committee, which is looking into his relationship with an influential defense lobbying firm that the Justice Department is investigating for possible criminal violations. | 10/30/09 11:44:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Library of Congress stands by report on Honduras coup

Congress's law library is rebuffing calls from the chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that the lawmakers charge is flawed. | 10/29/09 20:17:00 By - Lesley Clark

Judicial nominations pile up, and parties blame each other

Hiring a federal judge requires an act of Congress, but Congress hasn't been in much of a hiring mode lately. As judicial nominations pile up on Capitol Hill, the Senate is at loggerheads, with Democrats and Republicans busy blaming each other for the delays. | 10/29/09 20:16:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Military releases names of soldiers killed in Afghan attack

The U.S. military on Thursday released the names of the seven soldiers from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based in Fort Lewis, Wash., who were killed Tuesday in a sophisticated Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan. | 10/29/09 19:53:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Will U.S. go empty-handed to world climate talks?

Without a new law requiring cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. could end up going empty-handed to the international climate talks in December. | 10/29/09 18:36:00 By - Renee Schoof

Blue Dogs aren't there yet on new House health bill

Democratic leaders Thursday invoked the spirit of generations of party heroes to rally their members of the House of Representatives behind a new health care plan -- but it's clear that winning a majority will be a tough fight. | 10/29/09 17:58:00 By - David Lightman

Washington Democrats not ready to commit on health care bill

Democratic lawmakers from Washington state were hesitant to endorse the revised health care bill unveiled by their leadership Thursday. It wasn't so much because they had problems with it. Rather, they wanted to read the nearly 2,000-page bill before committing. | 10/29/09 17:43:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Senate bill's fine print: Premiums could rise in spite of caps

Proponents of the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill say the legislation will limit the amount that lower- and middle-income people must pay for health insurance to a maximum of 12 percent of their incomes. | 10/29/09 17:08:00 By - Julie Appleby

California Democrats say new health care bill an improvement

The health care package unveiled by House Democratic leaders Thursday appears a step in the right direction to the San Joaquin Valley moderates who may hold its fate in their hands. | 10/29/09 15:36:00 By - Michael Doyle

Farmers fight climate bill, but warming spells trouble for them

Farm state senators and others soon will get a taste of what their colleagues from Missouri already have piled high on their desks: thousands of letters from farmers urging them to vote against the climate and energy bill. | 10/29/09 14:45:00 By - Renee Schoof and David Goldstein

Economy grew at 3.5 percent rate July through September

The U.S. economy grew at a better-than-expected 3.5 percent annual rate from July through September, the government reported on Thursday, the clearest sign yet that the deep recession that's gripped the nation is over. | 10/29/09 11:19:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Obama honors fallen U.S. troops in predawn visit to Dover

President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit in the predawn darkness Thursday to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where he paid respects to 18 U.S. soldiers and drug enforcement agents killed in Afghanistan. The president's unscheduled visit, for which he departed the White House just before midnight Wednesday, comes as he prepares to announce his decision on troop levels in Afghanistan. | 10/29/09 11:02:42 By - Margaret Talev

U.N. condemns Cuba embargo by U.S.

The United States found itself up against virtually the entire world Wednesday as country after country at the United Nations denounced the nearly 50-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, which the island government says is as strong as ever under President Barack Obama. | 10/29/09 07:09:01 By - Frances Robles

Lawmakers ask Library of Congress to retract Honduras report

The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees are asking the Law Library of Congress to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that they charge is flawed and "has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks'' the country. | 10/28/09 20:24:25 By - Lesley Clark

Pelosi unveils House version of health care bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled revised health care-overhaul legislation Thursday that includes a stronger government-operated insurance option than the one that the Senate plans to consider. | 10/28/09 18:19:00 By - David Lightman

Obama signs first major federal gay-rights law

President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed the first major piece of federal gay rights legislation, a milestone that activists compared to the passage of 1960s civil-rights legislation empowering blacks. | 10/28/09 17:30:00 By - Margaret Talev

Health care bills would limit out-of-pocket costs

Consumers would be spared having to pay huge medical bills under Democratic health care legislation that's moving through Congress, as lawmakers agree on the need to put limits on how much people would pay out of their own pockets. | 10/28/09 17:07:00 By - David Lightman

Hmong, Lao veterans seek burials in national cemeteries

Hmong and Laotian war veterans could secure treasured burial spots in U.S. national cemeteries under legislation now being drafted by San Joaquin Valley lawmakers. | 10/28/09 15:09:00 By - Michael Doyle

Florida, Alabama, Texas are tops in football fans poll

Although both teams struggled last week, Florida and Alabama were ranked 1-2 in the 2009 college football season's first Ipsos Fan First Poll. The Gators overcame two Tim Tebow interceptions returned for touchdowns to beat Mississippi State 29-19, while the Crimson Tide blocked a Tennessee field goal on the game's last play to beat the Volunteers 12-10. | 10/28/09 15:08:00 By - Michael Bold

Washington senator invites Boeing, union to talk

Sen. Patty Murray on Wednesday invited the machinists union and Boeing to her Capitol Hill office to talk about the second assembly line for the company's new 787 aircraft. Boeing is expected to decide in the next week or so whether to put the final assembly line for the Dreamliner in Charleston, S.C., or at its facility in Everett. | 10/28/09 00:20:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Energy secretary: Science demands action on climate

WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday laid out the scientific risks of inaction on global warming and went straight to his main point — the climate and energy bill starting its way through the Senate could help drive what he called "energy opportunity." | 10/27/09 18:19:00 By - Renee Schoof

Moderate Democrats cool to government-run health plan

Moderate Democratic senators remained reluctant Tuesday -- and in one case, defiant -- about backing the government-run "public option" health care plan that party leaders are offering as a compromise, making it highly uncertain whether the plan can become law. | 10/27/09 18:00:00 By - David Lightman and Margaret Talev

Oversight panel: Government was slow on H1N1 threat

The federal government's preparedness for the H1N1, or swine flu, pandemic that's claimed far more than 1,000 lives nationwide was inadequate and incomplete, a congressional subcommittee said Tuesday. | 10/27/09 16:48:00 By - William Douglas

Schwarzenegger backs mandatory health insurance, calls for more U.S. aid

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday called on Congress to pass a health care overhaul that would require all Americans to have insurance, but he said it would cost his state more than $1 billion a year to expand Medicaid if the federal government doesn't provide more money to the states. | 10/27/09 16:59:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

San Joaquin restoration fight spills over into politics

A bitter feud over San Joaquin River restoration has cost the advocacy group Families Protecting the Valley its executive director, former Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, who resigned his position over the group's targeting of GOP Rep. George Radanovich. Autry says the largely Republican farmers who founded the group seem primarily intent on undermining the lawmaker. | 10/27/09 16:29:00 By - Michael Doyle and John Ellis

Unemployed hope Congress extends benefits once again

Wayne Ryan is sleeping on a futon on the floor of his empty mobile home. He hocked his DVDs and CDs for food money. The unemployed carpenter from Bonney Lake hasn't had a job in 14 months. His unemployment ran out weeks ago. He says he's just about hit rock bottom | 10/27/09 15:56:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Commission to rein in federal entitlement costs is proposed

Amid signs that health care overhaul legislation will do little to slow the growth in health care spending in the coming decade, lawmakers and Obama administration officials are considering tougher steps to rein in soaring budget deficits. | 10/27/09 14:28:00 By - Eric Pianin

Just in time for Christmas, Ponzi suspect's loot for sale

Attention, holiday shoppers: Ill-gotten gains including a 2009 Cadillac Escalade Platinum Edition and a Chanel sapphire-and-diamond watch will hit the auction block the week before Thanksgiving. The items will be sold to pay back the investors of a former businessman who faces fraud charges. | 10/26/09 19:14:16 By - Thomas Goldsmith

Chairman Frank proposes ‘death panels’ for giant banks

The chairman of a key congressional panel Monday scaled back important parts of the Obama administration's plan to dismantle financial institutions that are deemed "too big to fail." | 10/26/09 18:10:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Reid includes public option in latest health care bill

The Senate will consider whether the government should run and fund a health care plan to compete with private insurance, but states could choose not to participate in the system. | 10/26/09 16:03:00 By - David Lightman

Like hungry teen, life on Earth had big growth spurts

Twice in the Earth's history, living creatures underwent astonishing growth spurts, and each time, new organisms emerged that were a million times larger than anything that had existed before. | 10/26/09 15:34:00 By - Robert S. Boyd

South Carolina: A central front in battle for GOP soul

The national debate among Republicans over their party's future is nowhere sharper than in South Carolina, where Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint pursue distinctly different visions for restoring GOP primacy at the polls. | 10/25/09 06:00:00 By - James Rosen

Cost of Afghanistan project soars, benefits exaggerated

Flipping a switch on one of Afghanistan's long-awaited electrical power plants in August, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry urged Afghans to think of U.S. taxpayers' support when they turn their lights on at night. To some U.S. experts, however, the project is the latest example of exaggerated political expectations and wasted American taxpayers' dollars in the effort to rebuild Afghanistan. | 10/25/09 06:00:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Obama seeks changes in Alaska hunting, fishing oversight

The Obama administration is launching a rapid, sweeping review of the way the federal government manages subsistence hunting and fishing in Alaska, Interior Department officials said Friday. State and federal rules create a confounding, overlapping system. | 10/24/09 18:15:00 By - Kyle Hopkins

Justice Department stands by conviction of Alaska's Kott

After months of backtracking in its prosecutions of the Alaska corruption cases, the Justice Department said Friday that former House Speaker Pete Kott received a proper trial in 2007 and his conviction on bribery, extortion and conspiracy charges should stand. | 10/24/09 17:59:16 By - Richard Mauer

Pay czar nixes Bank of America's executive pay plan

The federal pay czar Thursday rejected Bank of America's proposed compensation plans for top executives, including an initial pitch for up to $12 million for chief executive Ken Lewis, calling the Charlotte bank's proposal too generous. | 10/24/09 17:43:47 By - Christina Rexrode

Former Fed chief didn't care for Truman, but things change

As a college student, Paul Volcker didn't think much of President Harry Truman. But that was then. Now one of President Barack Obama's advisers, the former Fed chief, once pilloried himself, praised the man from Missouri as he accepted the Truman Medal for Economic Policy. | 10/24/09 17:17:45 By - Mark Davis

Iran waffles on accepting international nuclear agreement

Iran hedged Friday on accepting a deal that would transfer most of its low-enriched uranium out of the country to be converted for peaceful uses, saying it wants more time to study the deal and suggesting that it prefers a different approach. | 10/23/09 18:54:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

NATO demurs on more troops until U.S. Afghan strategy ready

Top NATO officials suggested Friday that they support Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's call for a bigger counterinsurgency strategy in that war, but said they may send more troops only after they know how the administration intends to proceed there. | 10/23/09 18:11:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

EPA to limit mercury emissions from power plants by 2011

The Environmental Protection Agency will put controls on the emissions of hazardous pollutants such as mercury from coal-fired power plants for the first time by November 2011, according to an agreement announced Friday to settle a lawsuit against the agency. | 10/23/09 18:27:00 By - Renee Schoof

California lawmakers seek to have ship named for Vietnam War hero

California lawmakers want the Navy to name a ship after Kenneth L. Worley, a former Modesto resident and Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam. | 10/23/09 17:54:00 By - Michael Doyle

Lawyers for Levy's accused killer fail to get Condit DNA samples

Attorneys for the man accused of killing Chandra Levy failed Friday in their effort to obtain DNA samples taken from former California congressman Gary Condit. | 10/23/09 14:44:00 By - Michael Doyle

Moderate Democrats hold health bill's fate in their hands

A handful of moderate Senate Democrats will determine the fate of this year's health care overhaul, and they're sending strong signals that while they're willing to compromise, they're wary of a strong public option. | 10/23/09 14:30:00 By - David Lightman

FBI looks at bribery allegations against Alaska Rep. Young

An Alaska businessman admitted to giving gifts to Republican Rep. Don Young, the state's long-serving sole congressman, in a confession made public this week as part of an ongoing federal investigation into political corruption in the state. | 10/22/09 20:00:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Are Fed, Treasury finally giving banks tough love?

In a frontal assault on the U.S. banking system, the Federal Reserve proposed Thursday to review the pay practices of America's largest banks, while the Treasury Department outlined why it slashed executive pay at financial institutions that are receiving substantial taxpayer bailouts. | 10/22/09 19:14:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Industry group's ads target Graham over cap-and-trade

A Washington advocacy group with close ties to oil and natural gas companies started running ads Thursday on South Carolina radio stations, targeting Sen. Lindsey Graham for supporting taxes on carbon emissions. | 10/22/09 18:12:00 By - James Rosen

Proposed federal watchdog for consumer finance advances

Consumer advocates cheered and the financial sector jeered Thursday as a controversial plan to create a federal agency to regulate mortgages, credit cards and other forms of consumer credit cleared a key House of Representatives committee on its way to an uncertain future. | 10/22/09 17:57:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Congress may cushion some cuts in private Medicare plans

Nearly 3 million of the 10.5 million seniors in private Medicare health plans would be shielded at least partly from the cuts planned in the program under the Senate Finance Committee's health overhaul bill, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis. | 10/22/09 16:14:00 By - Phil Galewitz

California -- and 23 other states -- battle for high-speed rail funds

Employing every tool of persuasion from gift books and phone calls to hallway chats and high-level letters, including several to be sent as early as Friday to the White House, the California's lawmakers are making their case for $4.7 billion. But with 23 other states likewise seeking funds, and merit supposedly mattering more than politics, success could be elusive. | 10/22/09 15:08:00 By - Michael Doyle

IG: Pricey new U.S. Embassy in Iraq has 'multiple' flaws

The $736 million new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which American diplomats have occupied for 18 months, contains "multiple significant construction deficiencies" and the U.S. government should try to recover more than $130 million from the contractor who built it, according to a report to be released Thursday. | 10/22/09 10:26:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Human rights workers in Colombia say they face constant attacks

A congressional hearing in Washington focused on the persecution of human rights defenders in Colombia. The activists say they are under constant attack for their work, facing murder, death threats, illegal surveillance, arbitrary detentions and prosecutions. | 10/22/09 07:06:24 By - Sibylla Brodzinksy

Health care not done, GOP changes subject back to immigration

Immigration, an issue placed on the congressional backburner by attempts to revamp the nation's health care system, is percolating again as Republican lawmakers are pushing a measure that would require U.S. Census forms to include a question about the citizenship status of respondents. | 10/21/09 18:51:00 By - William Douglas

SEC frowns on trading systems that keep investors in the dark

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed on Wednesday new steps that could soon bring more oversight over private trading systems that go by the ominous sounding name of "dark pools." | 10/21/09 17:08:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Lead lawyer in Stevens prosecution resigns senior post

The lead lawyer who oversaw the botched prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens will step down from his role as the head of the Justice Department's public integrity section, the department confirmed Wednesday. | 10/21/09 16:08:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Safety board finds pilot in California accident could have avoided fatal crash

Federal investigators have now traced the final minutes of pilot Raymond S. Wieveg's life, right up until the time his Piper aircraft slammed into an Alpine County, Calif. hillside. | 10/21/09 15:50:00 By - Michael Doyle

After Obama's defense rebuff, Poland to get missile interceptors

Weeks after the U.S. pulled the plug on a Poland-based missile defense system, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Warsaw Wednesday to assuage angry officials and emerged with an agreement that Poland will get an upgraded element of a missile defense. | 10/21/09 11:48:13 By - Steven Thomma

Obama's Florida trip agenda doesn't include Gov. Crist

President Barack Obama will make his second trip to Florida as president next week, but don't expect Gov. Charlie Crist to join him this time. Obama's last trip — to Fort Myers on Feb. 10 — came as he was pitching his economic stimulus plan. At the time, the Republican governor's embrace of the $787 billion spending plan earned him the wrath of fiscal conservatives. | 10/21/09 07:01:30 By - Lesley Clark and Beth Reinhard

Bill to tighten rules on ratings agencies has big loopholes

A key House of Representatives committee is set to vote soon on legislation that would overhaul financial regulation and produce greater transparency for investors, but as it's now written it fails to address many of the credit-rating agency missteps that helped fuel the global financial crisis. | 10/20/09 19:01:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Almost 40 years late, unit honored for bloody Vietnam battle

Pfc. Paul Evans was rocking and rolling on his M-16 on a long-ago afternoon in Vietnam, spraying fire toward an unseen enemy hidden deep within the jungle. He was a terrified 18-year-old who knew, as other men fell around him, that he was about to die. Then out of nowhere, American tanks thundered out of the jungle, Evans later recalled. Alpha Troop had arrived. Tuesday, nearly 40 years after the battle, President Barack Obama gave about 100 veterans of Alpha Troop the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award for valor that a military unit can earn. | 10/20/09 18:01:00 By - Barbara Barrett

Senators ask Obama to review personality-disorder discharges

At issue is whether the Pentagon is avoiding treating soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder by claiming they had a personality disorder before they were sent to Iraq or Afghanistan and discharging them from the military. Four senators wrote Obama this week, remding him that as a senator he fought for better mental-health care for troops. | 10/20/09 17:22:00 By - David Goldstein

Supreme Court to rule on release of Guantanamo detainees into U.S.

The Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to weigh whether a federal judge has the power to release Guantanamo Bay prisoners into the United States continues a legal tug of war begun when the Bush administration opened the overseas detention camp. | 10/20/09 11:37:00 By - Michael Doyle

Bank of America documents, emails shed light on Merrill deal

Internal Bank of America documents and e-mails show that one of the candidates to become the bank's next chief executive was among the leaders heavily involved in crafting a government rescue package used to seal its Merrill Lynch purchase. | 10/20/09 07:25:47 By - Rick Rothacker and Christina Rexrode

Report looks at hidden health costs of energy production

Generating electricity by burning coal is responsible for about half of an estimated $120 billion in yearly costs from early deaths and health damages to thousands of Americans from the use of fossil fuels, a federal advisory group said Monday. | 10/19/09 18:43:00 By - Renee Schoof

Health care bills would end gender differences, keep age discrepancies

The older you are, the more you usually pay for health coverage, and that's a difference likely to persist under the sweeping health care legislation that Congress is now considering. Yet the major House and Senate measures would end basing rates on gender, which is now allowed in most states. | 10/19/09 17:04:00 By - David Lightman

U.S. to ease medical marijuana prosecutions

The Justice Department said Monday that it would mellow out on prosecuting medical marijuana users in the 13 states in which therapeutic pot smoking was allowed. Attorney General Eric Holder formally directed federal prosecutors to refocus investigations on heftier targets. | 10/19/09 11:26:00 By - Michael Doyle

Obama adds a carrot for Sudan in addition to the stick

President Barack Obama announced a shift in strategy toward Sudan on Monday, saying he'll offer incentives to the government if it will end a humanitarian crisis in its Darfur region. His willingness to work with the government of President Omar al Bashir signaled a break from the previous hard-line approach. | 10/19/09 10:30:00 By - Steven Thomma and Shashank Bengali

Millions are being spent to lobby Congress on health care overhaul

In the first six months of 2009, financial disclosures show, health care groups spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars -- that's billion, with a "b" -- to hire lobbyists who can influence Washington's deliberations on health care and insurance reform. And that total doesn't include lobbying by health insurance groups. | 10/19/09 07:18:26 By - Dave Helling

Nunes' take-no-prisoners tactics attract spotlight, criticism

Rep. Devin Nunes rallies troops while he burns bridges with incendiary rhetoric and energetic maneuvering. Looking in the mirror, the 36-year-old Visalia Republican sees a congressman standing up for his constituents. | 10/18/09 06:00:00 By - Michael Doyle

Wilson, Miller campaign brings in money from across U.S.

When Jerry Palmer heard Rep. Joe Wilson yell "you lie!" as President Barack Obama pitched his health care reforms on prime-time TV to a joint session of Congress, the Illinois small businessman had a strong reaction: It's about time. | 10/18/09 06:00:00 By - James Rosen

Washington state project could charge electric car corridors

A year from now, roughly 1,000 all-electric vehicles will be whispering around Washington state's Puget Sound as part of a federally funded project that eventually may lead to an electronic corridor stretching from Eugene, Ore., to Vancouver, B.C., where drivers could swipe a credit card and receive a 15-minute charge to speed them on their way. | 10/18/09 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Insurers' ad claims seniors would lose under health bill

Upset that the Senate Finance Committee health legislation would allow millions of people to continue going without health coverage, the insurance industry launched an ad campaign to convince seniors they'd be losers under the legislation. | 10/16/09 20:55:00 By - Jordan Rau

Democrats' ethics problems spark GOP election hopes

New York Rep. Charlie Rangel, the powerful chairman of the tax-writing House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, is feeling the heat from Republican efforts to make him a symbol of Democratic Party ethical wrongdoing, an issue that the GOP hopes will help it regain a sizeable number of seats in next year's mid-terms elections. | 10/16/09 18:01:00 By - William Douglas

Life sentence sought for accused killer of Chandra Levy

Federal prosecutors revealed Friday that they will seek life imprisonment without possibility of parole for the man accused of murdering former intern Chandra Levy. | 10/16/09 16:29:00 By - Michael Doyle

No boundaries as California inventors seek ideas to patent

"I am an artisan," Mariposa resident Cate Cannon says. "I make sex toys." Then she laughs. Cannon and her business partner now hold a new patent issued for the ornamental design of what is delicately dubbed an "erogenous stimulator." | 10/16/09 15:59:00 By - Michael Doyle

Wilson-Miller race sets S.C. money record

Republican Rep. Joe Wilson and Democratic challenger Rob Miller raised a total of nearly $4.4 million through Sept. 30 in their 2nd Congressional District rematch. Fourteen months before voters go to the polls, the Wilson-Miller contest is already the richest U.S. House race ever in South Carolina. | 10/15/09 20:37:00 By - James Rosen

Outgoing BofA chief Lewis won't get paid this year

Outgoing Bank of America Corp. chief executive Ken Lewis will receive no compensation in 2009 after a review by the Obama administration's pay czar. Lewis received $1.5 million in salary in 2008 but no bonus. He will pay back the salary he has already received this year. | 10/15/09 20:16:17 By - Rick Rothacker and Christina Rexrode

Families of Beirut Marines fear they've been forgotten

For a quarter-century, Lt. Col. Howard Gerlach thought the explosion had blown him out the window of his second floor office. Then last year, at a reunion to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 23, 1983, bombing of the Marine headquarters at the Beirut airport, he met his rescuer. | 10/15/09 19:04:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Women tell Congress about health insurance disparities

When Amanda Buchanan and her schoolteacher husband talked about having a second baby, it felt as though there were three people at the table, she told a Senate committee Thursday. "Myself, my husband and our insurance policy," Buchanan said | 10/15/09 18:07:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Over local griping, House approves Bay Area water funds

The House on Thursday approved a bill to boost San Francisco Bay Area water recycling, but only after lawmakers vented once more their unhappiness about San Joaquin Valley irrigation shortages. | 10/15/09 16:50:00 By - Michael Doyle

GOP challenger loans his House campaign $105,000

Republican Mike Berryhill is using more than $100,000 of his own money to jump-start his challenge to Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced. | 10/15/09 16:44:00 By - Michael Doyle

Generic drug makers say 'no' to health overhaul tab

Generic drug makers, which have saved Americans hundreds of billions of dollars in the past decade with their low-cost, copycat medicines, don't think they should join other health industries to finance a health care overhaul. | 10/15/09 16:02:00 By - Phil Galewitz

Michelle Obama visits Miami's Freedom Tower

First lady Michelle Obama will arrive at Miami's Freedom Tower to attend an education fundraiser today -- and will make history at one of the city's most iconic buildings. | 10/15/09 11:01:18 By - Luisa Yanez

Letters reveal what Bess Truman tried to make history

Bess Truman had plans for 1,300 letters her husband had written her: She burned most of them. On Wednesday, the National Archives and Clifton Truman Daniel, the Trumans' grandson, offered a glimpse of 180 she missed. | 10/14/09 21:22:44 By - David Goldstein

Alaska ports protest rules on cruise ship emissions

Some Alaska ports of call have asked the Environmental Protection Agency to rethink -- or at least slow down -- its plans to impose stricter air quality requirements for cruise ships and other large oceangoing vessels. | 10/14/09 19:26:00 By - Erika Bolstad

After repairs, visitors again can look out from lighthouse

Years ago, when James H. "Bud" Doughton ran a ferry between Harkers Island and Cape Lookout, N.C., he would watch as tourists disembarked and patted their hands on the brick of the towering, 163-foot lighthouse. They'd peer up its side and tell him, "I want to climb it." | 10/14/09 18:55:00 By - Barbara Barrett

House panel rejects local lawmakers' efforts to amend Bay Area water bill

San Joaquin Valley lawmakers failed Wednesday in efforts to turn a San Francisco Bay Area water recycling bill toward the Valley's advantage. | 10/14/09 18:54:00 By - Michael Doyle

House panel ready to pass sweeping reform of exotic finance

A key congressional panel is poised to approve Thursday a sweeping overhaul of laws governing the trading of complex and often exotic financial instruments that helped trigger a near meltdown of global finance. | 10/14/09 18:09:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

To smooth Pakistan's feathers, Kerry clarifies aid bill

President Barack Obama will sign a $7.5 billion aid bill for Pakistan by week's end, the White House said Wednesday, after lawmakers crafted a statement designed to assuage Pakistani concerns that the aid comes with strings that infringe upon that country's sovereignty. | 10/14/09 16:49:00 By - William Douglas and Saeed Shah

Feinstein, labor part ways on organizing bill

The nation's nurses have an idea for how to improve health care: Allow more of them to unionize. But as they press Congress to approve a bill that would make it easier to organize, nurses and other unions have identified a big obstacle in California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. | 10/14/09 15:12:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Supreme Court justices active in Carolinas water fight

The nation's most powerful judges Tuesday plowed into a bitter dispute over water use between South Carolina and North Carolina, asking pointed questions of lawyers for both states. | 10/13/09 18:33:00 By - James Rosen

Capitol event launches study for national Latino museum

The National Museum of the American Latino moved one step closer to reality Tuesday with a kickoff event at the U.S. Capitol for the museum's commission featuring Hollywood actress Eva Longoria Parker and music producer Emilio Estefan. | 10/13/09 17:58:00 By - Maria Recio

Justices consider: Can lawyer's bad advice void guilty plea?

The U.S. Supreme Court questioned Tuesday whether defendants are entitled to accurate legal advice on all the potential consequences of a guilty plea. The case, Padilla v. Kentucky, which focuses on Jose Padilla, a Honduran-born immigrant who faces deportation after pleading guilty to felony marijuana trafficking, has broader significance for the more than 12.8 million legal immigrants living in the U.S. | 10/13/09 17:04:00 By - Halimah Abdullah

Cantwell: Health bill a 'good start', but more is needed

Calling it a "good start" but adding that she thinks Congress needs to be even more aggressive, Sen. Maria Cantwell supported a sweeping health care bill approved Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee. | 10/13/09 16:55:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Astronomers seek to explore the cosmic Dark Ages

No place seems safe from the prying eyes of inquisitive astronomers. They've traced the evolution of the universe back to the "Big Bang," the theoretical birth of the cosmos 13.7 billion years ago, but there's still a long stretch of time -- about 800 million years -- that's been hidden from view. | 10/13/09 16:29:00 By - Robert S. Boyd

Health care overhaul clears Senate panel, but divisions remain

The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 on Tuesday to back a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system, clearing the way for a historic congressional showdown this fall over how Americans receive and pay for their medical care. Democrats hailed the vote as a milestone, but a lot of disagreements remain. The plan gained only one Republican vote, from Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. | 10/13/09 16:24:00 By - David Lightman

Bills to lift Cuba travel ban gaining momentum in Congress

A powerful campaign to allow all Americans to travel to Cuba is rumbling through Congress, with both backers and opponents predicting eventual victory and a Cuban-American Senator holding a key vote. Approval of the measures would have a profound impact on U.S.-Cuba relations, unleashing an estimated one million American tourists to visit the island and undermining White House control of policy toward Havana. | 10/13/09 07:07:16 By - Juan O. Tamayo

Health bills in Congress won't fix doctor shortage

Even as Congress moves to expand health insurance coverage to millions of Americans, it's doing little to ensure there will be enough primary care doctors to meet the expected surge in demand for treatment, experts say. | 10/12/09 14:40:00 By - Phil Galewitz

Obama vows unqualified support for gay rights

President Barack Obama vowed his unwavering support for gay rights Saturday night, saying that he'll push Congress to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military and that he'll work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as solely between a man and a woman. | 10/10/09 21:59:37 By - Steven Thomma

Graham moves to block Obama from trying 9/11 suspects in U.S.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday that he'd attached an amendment to an appropriations bill that would prohibit the Obama administration from spending money on the prosecution and trial of the accused terrorists before U.S. civilian federal judges. | 10/09/09 21:19:00 By - James Rosen

Wounded soldier becomes 5th to die after Afghan ambush

An ambush that raised questions about the whether U.S. troops in Afghanistan have enough artillery, air support and intelligence has claimed a fifth U.S. service member. Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook died Wednesday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Westbrook's rifle had been passed to McClatchy reporter Jonathan S. Landay as insurgents closed in on the American forces Sept. 8. | 10/09/09 18:30:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

For many black women, hair tells the story of their roots

Straight or natural, cornrows or close-cropped, dreadlocks or pressed, black women's hairstyles represent a personal or political statement, an expression of freedom, a lifestyle choice or an approach to American corporate culture. Comedian Chris Rock trains his lens on black women and their follicles in "Good Hair," a new docu-comedy film out in theaters this weekend that delves into the women's attitude towards their hair, the amount of money they spend on it, and how their hair reflects who they are. | 10/09/09 18:01:00 By - Halimah Abdullah and William Douglas

Should you pay a penalty if you don't buy health insurance?

Should people pay penalties if they refuse to buy health insurance? The answer had seemed simple to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., whose panel has spent months drafting legislation to overhaul health insurance: Refuse to participate in the new health care system that President Barack Obama wants to create and you'd pay a penalty of as much as $3,800 per family. | 10/09/09 15:22:00 By - David Lightman

Obama to visit New Orleans for a post-Katrina survey

When President Barack Obama visits New Orleans this week to survey how its recovery is going four years after Hurricane Katrina, he'll have a lot to tout about the help his administration's given -- and plenty to worry about as the nation's top Democrat in a city quaking with political change. | 10/09/09 14:33:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama's Nobel win is a reflection of hope

Like his campaign, President Barack Obama's surprising win of the Nobel Peace Prize can be summed up by one word: hope. It reflects not so much a record of accomplishment as the yearning of the prize committee that Obama is changing America's course in international affairs. | 10/09/09 08:10:07 By - Steven Thomma

N. Carolina's U.S. Rep. Kissell tries to shake 'weak fundraiser' label

U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell, a freshman Democrat from Biscoe, N.C., hasn't been able to shake his reputation as a weak fundraiser. He was labeled as such recently in a Capitol Hill newspaper. Next week, Kissell is expected to release his third-quarter fundraising totals. At the end of the last fundraising quarter, June 30, Kissell had $214,000 in cash on hand for a 2010 race that could eventually cost several million dollars. | 10/09/09 07:34:27 By - Barbara Barrett

Duke Energy finds lobbying is paying off

Duke Energy has spent more than $10 million to lobby Congress since 2008 as electric utilities ratchet up spending to help shape new laws on climate change and other issues. Duke's fleet of coal-fired power plants makes it the nation's third-highest CO2 emitter among U.S. utilities. With key climate legislation in play, the utility is spending much more to shape views in Washington. | 10/09/09 07:23:39 By - Bruce Henderson

Watchdog: Obama's mortgage relief efforts aren't good enough

The Obama administration's efforts to force the modifications of distressed mortgages, while laudable, is likely to fall far short because the foreclosure crisis has grown and threatens to dwarf government efforts to relieve it, a special congressional watchdog panel warned in a report released Friday. | 10/09/09 00:01:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Alaska's Murkowski rips EPA over proposed emissions rules

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is firing back at the Environmental Protection Agency, which opposed her move last month to limit its ability to move forward with the regulation of some greenhouse gas emissions. | 10/08/09 19:31:30 By - Erika Bolstad

Georgia's Isakson pushes homebuyer tax credit extension

In many ways, Sen. Johnny Isakson's push to expand and extend the popular $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers is about helping sell what real estate agents and developers call "PVC farms" -- acres of unfinished, unsold and unsightly subdivision lots where PVC sewer pipes poke up through weedy plots. | 10/08/09 18:56:00 By - Halimah Abdullah

House passes hate crimes legislation on defense spending bill

The controversial measure tacked onto page 1,350 of a must-pass defense bill stiffens penalties for those convicted of committing violent offenses because of the "sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability" of the victim.The provision expands an existing federal hate crime law, which covers race, religion and ethnicity. Now, hurting any member of these specially protected populations could lead to a 10-year federal prison sentence on top of other sentences. | 10/08/09 16:00:00 By - Michael Doyle

Obama asked for early look at Afghanistan troop request

President Barack Obama asked for and received a personal copy of his Afghanistan commander's request for more troops before top military officials had formally reviewed it so it wouldn't be leaked to reporters. | 10/07/09 19:33:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Senate health care bill would reduce deficit, analysis finds

The Senate Finance Committee's health care overhaul effort got a boost Wednesday when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that it would cost $829 billion and reduce the federal deficit by $81 billion over the next 10 years. | 10/07/09 19:09:00 By - David Lightman

Levy murder suspect seeks to bar snitches' testimony

Attorneys for the man who's accused of murdering intern Chandra Levy are trying to fend off testimony from jailhouse snitches as well as an academic expert in an esoteric field of law enforcement. | 10/07/09 17:13:00 By - Michael Doyle

Panel calls for new approach to federal ocean management

The Obama administration's Ocean Policy Council is calling for a coordinated approach to restoring fragile ocean areas, many of which have been damaged by decades of piecemeal management decisions by the federal government. | 10/07/09 16:30:00 By - Bridget Macdonald

Supreme Court debates cross on California national parkland

A cross erected in California's remote Mojave National Preserve captivated the Supreme Court on Wednesday, as the justices clashed over the most closely watched religion case of the year. The long-running dispute seemed to divide the court along ideological lines. Liberals voiced skepticism about government's support for the cross memorial, while conservatives suggested that they have little problem with the Latin-style cross, which was first installed 75 years ago. | 10/07/09 15:23:00 By - Michael Doyle

Napolitano vows continued enforcement of immigration laws

In response to widespread criticism from immigrant advocates, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced steps Tuesday to improve conditions of detainees and allow them easier access to attorneys. But Napolitano stood firm on the Obama administration's efforts to continue strict enforcement of the nation's immigration laws. | 10/07/09 07:09:40 By - Alfonso Chardy

Judge rejects late almond grower's bid to avoid taxes

WASHINGTON -- Cloyd F. Angle had a plan to avoid paying taxes. Unfortunately for the family of the late San Joaquin Valley almond farmer, it didn't work out too well. | 10/06/09 16:45:00 By - Michael Doyle

Republicans press Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan

Republican congressional leaders urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to send more U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying he should act quickly lest any delay endanger troops who already are there and are facing a deteriorating situation. | 10/06/09 19:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

Another faux issue: Obama's 'czars' are nothing new

Conservative talk show hosts and some Republican lawmakers have accused Obama of embarking on an unprecedented czar-appointment spree in a bid to circumvent Congress' authority over top executive appointments. But the allegations overlook the history of such appointments, experts told a Senate panel Tuesday. | 10/06/09 18:12:00 By - William Douglas

Democrats in Congress push Obama for Iran sanctions

Congressional Democrats pushed the Obama administration on Tuesday to get behind tough economic sanctions against Iran, and they voiced deep skepticism that direct negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions will prove fruitful. | 10/06/09 18:10:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Warren P. Strobel

U.S. public backs Obama in dealing with Iran on nukes

When it comes to dealing with Iran as a nuclear threat, two polls out Tuesday find that Americans agree with President Barack Obama's approach of combining diplomacy and the threat of sanctions. | 10/06/09 18:07:00 By - Margaret Talev

Reverse mortgages ripe for abuse, consumer group says

Consumer advocates say a growing number of older homeowners and a new crop of eager lenders could steer the reverse mortgage industry down the same financial course that toppled the subprime mortgage market and left taxpayers footing the bill. | 10/06/09 17:52:00 By - Tony Pugh

Health care facts: Women pay more for health insurance

Women of child-bearing age routinely pay more for health care because they're women. If they're pregnant, they can be legally denied coverage. Legislation now being considered by Congress to overhaul America's health care system would dramatically change the rules, and there's general agreement that this is a problem that needs fixing. | 10/06/09 17:00:00 By - David Lightman

Malpractice not to blame for rising health costs, panel says

Curbing medical malpractice litigation isn't the "silver bullet" that's needed to slay the werewolf of rising health care costs, a panel of academics said Tuesday. "Health policy myths become convenient truths," said Gregg Bloche, a graduate of the medical and law schools at Yale and a former visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. | 10/06/09 15:47:00 By - Markham Heid

Scientists seek to manage dopamine's good and bad sides

The good, the bad and the ugly: That's a quick summary of the effects of dopamine, a natural brain chemical that's linked to pleasure, addiction and disease. | 10/06/09 15:18:00 By - Robert S. Boyd

'Pay Czar' to scrutinize Lewis' Bank of America holdings

Kenneth Feinberg, the federal pay czar charged with curbing pay at banks that received federal aid, is reviewing Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis' accumulated benefits, including retirement and stock holdings. | 10/06/09 07:30:08 By - Stella M. Hopkins

Supreme Court refuses to review Florida's pledge law

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review a Florida law that requires students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance unless they have a parent's note letting them opt out. The case has roots in Palm Beach County, where then-high school junior Cameron Frazier refused to stand during the pledge in 2005. He said he was berated by his teacher and kicked out of class. | 10/06/09 06:57:18 By - Hannah Sampson

Gates to Army: We'll follow Obama's orders on Afghanistan

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a gathering of Army officers Monday that the Pentagon would follow any strategy that Obama orders. The comments, including what seemed to be a rebuke of Afghanistan commander Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, came amid growing Pentagon frustration with White House discussions of Afghan strategy. | 10/05/09 18:43:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

McClatchy Guantanamo probe wins online honors

A McClatchy series about the Guantanamo Bay detention center, "Guantanamo: Beyond the Law," was declared the top investigative project among large Web sites by the Online News Association during its annual convention over the weekend in San Francisco. | 10/05/09 17:41:00 By - McClatchy Newspapers

Minorities vow ad campaign to back health care overhaul

Black and Latino groups said Monday that they'd begin an ad campaign aimed at urging swing state lawmakers in Congress to back overhauling health care. The groups plan to place ads on television and in newspapers in Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas, where they hope minority voters will be moved to pressure their representatives in Washington. | 10/05/09 17:13:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas

Sotomayor shows she's no Clarence Thomas as Supreme Court opens

In just an hour, Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court's newest justice, asked more questions than Justice Clarence Thomas has asked over the course of several years. Sotomayor's aggressive role in a Fifth Amendment case, in turn, underscored how she could put her own stamp on a court whose 2009-2010 docket is still taking shape. | 10/05/09 15:44:00 By - Michael Doyle

Supreme Court's new session has court-watchers curious

The U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term today with one new member and with a cavalcade of court-watchers looking for clues to where this group is headed. The cases on the high court's docket may not rattle the rafters of justice — nothing expected to inflame the debates over abortion or gay marriage. But legal scholars see portals that could reveal much about the court's ideological split and whether incoming Justice Sonia Sotomayor changes the dynamics. | 10/05/09 07:18:45 By - Rick Montgomery

War's next steps will hit home in North Carolina

Whatever approach President Barack Obama takes in Afghanistan will have repercussions in North Carolina, home to two of the military's top bases, the Marines' Camp Lejeune and the Army's Fort Bragg. Nearly 17,000 troops from the twobases now serve in Afghanistan -- about one-fourth of the nation's military presence there. | 10/04/09 10:58:05 By - Barbara Barrett

Joe Wilson's Obama 'You lie' shout having a big payoff

The suddenly national congressional contest between Republican Rep. Joe Wilson and Democratic challenger Rob Miller has blown past the $4 million fundraising record for any U.S. House race in South Carolina — and is on pace to challenge the most expensive campaigns in the country's history. Despite saying they want to move beyond Wilson's now famous "you lie!" yell at Obama, Wilson and Miller continue to capitalize on the national attention. | 10/04/09 06:00:00 By - James Rosen

Fore! Chambliss' leadership PAC funds more golf outings than candidates

Over the past two years, deep-pocketed donors to Sen. Saxby Chambliss have helped the Georgia Republican enjoy a quarter of a million dollars worth of golf outings at some of the nation's ritziest resorts. | 10/04/09 06:00:00 By - Halimah Abdullah

Domestic violence as pre-existing condition? 8 states still allow it

ight states and the District of Columbia don't have laws that specifically bar insurance companies from using domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny health coverage, according to a study from the National Women's Law Center. | 10/04/09 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Firms are getting billions, but homeowners still in trouble

The federal government is engaged in a massive mortgage modification program that's on track to send billions in tax dollars to many of the very companies that judges or regulators have cited in recent years for abusive mortgage practices. | 10/04/09 06:00:00 By - Chris Adams

Several mortgage firms getting federal funds have spotty records

Several firms now participating in the Treasury's program to modify troubled mortgages have run into problems with federal or state regulators for their treatment of their customers over the years. | 10/04/09 06:00:00 By - Chris Adams

Will insurers balk at weakening of individual insurance mandate?

Health insurers have held their fire as Congress debates payment cuts, new fees and taxes and more regulation for their industry. Now the question is: Will they balk -- or walk -- if lawmakers continue to weaken a requirement that people carry insurance? | 10/03/09 14:56:00 By - Mary Agnes Carey

With Olympics, Obama takes a hit along with Chicago

The International Olympic Committee's stinging first-round elimination of Chicago on Friday as the site of the 2016 Summer Games probably won't count much in how history judges Barack Obama's presidency. | 10/02/09 18:15:00 By - Margaret Talev

Study: Recession still hurting Modesto, Fresno

San Joaquin Valley cities remain mired in the great economic meltdown, though a new study shows how some are suffering more than others. | 10/02/09 17:55:00 By - Michael Doyle

Democrats target federal law banning gay marriage

As one of 18,000 legally wed same-sex couples in California, Brad Levenson and Tony Sears file state income taxes as a married couple. But they file their federal taxes as single individuals, paying hundreds of dollars more each year. That's because a law called the Defense of Marriage Act bars federal agencies from recognizing gay marriages. | 10/02/09 16:26:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Despite Iran progress, Obama faces a world of hard trouble

When Iran agreed Thursday to let inspectors into its previously secret nuclear plant, it appeared to be at least a small victory for the United States and the coalition trying to stop the rogue nation from getting nuclear weapons. But it was just one step on a long road with the Iranians. And it was just one spot on the globe. | 10/02/09 15:46:00 By - Steven Thomma

Senate health care bill may be finished, but divisions remain

Both houses of Congress are poised to start a historic debate on sweeping legislation to overhaul America's health care system, yet despite months of committee deliberations, some major issues remain unsettled. The Senate Finance Committee, set for final approval of its proposal, has exposed sharp divisions among Democrats about the extent of government involvement in health insurance and how to pay for any changes; Republicans are all but universally opposed to the Democrats' terms. | 10/02/09 14:54:00 By - David Lightman

Health-care bill or no, Medicare Advantage premiums will rise

On average, beneficiaries currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans can expect to pay average premiums of about $39 a month next year, a $7 increase from this year. About 660,000 seniors will have to change plans or enroll in traditional Medicare because some insurers are dropping coverage. | 10/02/09 00:45:00 By - Phil Galewitz

Task force created to combat al Qaida in Afghan prisons

The Obama administration took steps Thursday to confront a troubling al Qaida presence in Afghanistan's prison system, announcing the creation of a military task force to oversee detention operations there and naming a prominent military lawyer to be its deputy commander. The Afghan prisons, including a U.S-operated detention center at Bagram Air Base, help create future insurgents, McChrystal said. | 10/01/09 20:35:00 By - Mark Seibel

Pregnant women urged to get seasonal, swine flu shots

U.S. health officials on Thursday renewed their call for pregnant women to get the seasonal and swine flu vaccines after new data showed that 100 pregnant women had been hospitalized with swine flu through late August and 28 of them had died from complications of the illness. | 10/01/09 18:45:00 By - Tony Pugh

Senate panel approves Cantwell amendment

By the narrowest of margins, the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved an amendment by Sen. Maria Cantwell that would allow other states to establish basic health care plans for low-income residents similar to the one in Washington, but with the federal government providing the funding. | 10/01/09 17:36:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Report: climate change threatens national parks

America's national parks are at risk of disappearing or being fundamentally changed as seas rise, glaciers melt, trees die and animal habitat changes as a result of climate change, according to a report Thursday from two environmental groups. | 10/01/09 17:16:00 By - Renee Schoof

Meet 'Ardi,' the newest oldest human ancestor

Move over, Lucy. A 4-foot- tall female nicknamed Ardi, who lived 4.4 million years ago in Africa, has replaced you as the earliest best known ancestor of the human species. | 10/01/09 16:47:00 By - Robert S. Boyd

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