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The Senate Thursday began what promises to be a bitter, lengthy battle over the future of health care in America, and taxes, abortion, affordability and federal deficits emerged as key flashpoints. » read more
Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT
The rising sound of protests.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver wanted people to stop complaining for a day and count their blessings. What he got, however, was just more complaints. » read more
The Confederate flag must be removed from the State House grounds if South Carolina is to attract jobs, according to one Democrat running for governor. Mullins McLeod, a Charleston attorney, released a plan to create jobs and reopened an old S.C. wound about whether it's appropriate to fly the flag on Capitol grounds. » read more
Fort Bragg has asked Sarah Palin, who will make a stop at the base on her book tour on Monday, not to make a speech at the public book-signing. The base also wanted to bar reporters from the event because it determined that by keeping out the media, the base would prevent Palin, a Republican and possible candidate in 2012, from having a platform from which to attack President Barack Obama, a Democrat. » read more
During a heated forum for U.S. Senate candidates Thursday at a Kentucky Association of Counties conference, Republicans Trey Grayson and Rand Paul exchanged sharp words on the issue of Guantanamo Bay, and at one point, Paul, the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, responded that Grayson should learn how to read. » read more
Pay for California's top elected officials will be slashed by 18 percent next month, one year earlier than expected, to abide by an opinion issued Thursday from Attorney General Jerry Brown. Just in time for the holiday season, lawmakers will have their salaries cut by $20,917 annually while California's 12 top state officials will see reductions of at least $28,644 apiece. » read more