Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
A federal agency has taken controversial new steps to marginalize its own ethics body, according to new information revealed by the watchdog group Public Citizen. That after the federal ethics body criticized a government study that resulted in the deaths of some premature babies. The government-backed study in question was called “SUPPORT.” It was conducted from…
In a gripping interview on Fox News’ “The Kelly File,” a Wisconsin sheriff last night blamed the looting and arson in Ferguson, Mo., on something other than the police force. Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke cited anger and frustration growing out of a weak job market, failing schools and a welfare state that gets “individuals in…
Four Democrats took to the House floor to display the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture that has come to be symbolic of the Ferguson protests. Expressing solidarity Monday night with Michael Brown, the young man shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., were Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Yvette Clarke, Al Green and Sheila…
Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., asked Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson a seemingly simple question yesterday in a House hearing: How will President Obama’s move to grant “de facto amnesty and work permits” to up to 5 million illegal immigrants affect the 20 million American citizens who are unemployed or underemployed? Johnson, author and champion of…
In a crowded Pennsylvania shopping mall on Black Friday, an Army veteran spots a suspicious-looking man in uniform. “Where’d you get your three CIBs at?” asks Ryan Berk, a sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan in 2010-11, referring to Combat Infantryman Badges and recording the encounter at Oxford Valley Mall on his phone….
Virginia farmer Martha Boneta’s desire to have an environmental conservation group replaced as overseer of her property has moved a step closer to reality. Officials of the Piedmont Environmental Council have agreed to a meeting Friday to talk about ending a bitter standoff with Boneta by handing off enforcement duties for a conservation easement on…
Common Core in Mississippi might be on the chopping block if Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has his way. Reeves said this week he supports scrapping Common Core and replacing it with another curriculum. The Republican said he wants to form a task force of parents, teachers and business leaders to investigate a new curriculum to replace Common…
RICHMOND, Va. — Market-minded Virginia farmers aren’t buying into Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s government initiative aimed at feeding more hungry children. “If the governor really wants to help, he should call off his bureaucratic army that tyrannizes affordable, local food commerce,” said Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm in Swoope. Bernadette Barber, head of Virginia Food…
Breaking with House Republican leaders, conservatives are pressing for a short-term plan to fund the government while blocking President Obama’s move to grant legal status to millions of illegal immigrants. The measure would allow the new Congress to weigh in on the president’s unilateral action and shape the spending debate. Speaking yesterday during Conversations with…
Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, today criticized members of the news media for failing to do their homework on the history of President Obama and immigration reform, urging them to “stop being shills for this president.” Addressing reporters at the monthly Capitol Hill gathering Conversations with Conservatives, Labrador began by noting that the House Judiciary Committee has passed…
ISIS may surpass al-Qaeda in terms of power in the Middle East, according to a Heritage Foundation Middle East expert. “Ideologically, they [ISIS] are on the march and perhaps ambitiously seeking to eclipse al-Qaeda as [the] core group,” said James Phillips during an interview with Fox News national security analyst KT McFarland. Watch the latest…
The monthly Conversations with Conservatives forum takes place today at 11 a.m., shortly after House Republicans gather for a closed-door meeting to plot their strategy for the lame-duck session of Congress. Immigration figures to be among the topics up for discussion as conservatives seek a strong response to President Obama’s recent executive order shielding an…
With two weeks left in the 113th Congress, lawmakers are scrambling to address a few key issues in their lame-duck session, most divisive being a bill to fund the government in the wake of President Obama’s unilateral action to allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay and work here. In a speech yesterday on the…
Vermont lawmakers say they’re skeptical of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s forthcoming single-payer financing plan because it relies on economic modeling provided by Jonathan Gruber. As Shumlin gets ready to present a health-care financing plan to the legislature in January, key lawmakers who will decide its fate are saying Gruber’s explosive video confessions severely damage the proposal….
MADISON, Wis. – Marve Munyon and his two fellow members on the Rock River Patriots board of directors finally were forced to throw up their hands. The Internal Revenue Service has a way of doing that to people. After being hounded for years, the group with the tea party-sounding name gave up its pursuit of…
FERGUSON, Mo.—Terrence Williams, 23, is a St. Louis native working hard to change the narrative that has inundated this city over the past several weeks. While riots and looting have turned Ferguson into a catalyst for the race debate in the 21st century, Williams takes to the streets with a garbage bag in hand—helping to clean…
What are Americans thankful for? A new study of our Facebook posts offers some insight. Facebook Data Science sought to learn what Americans are thankful for, according to their Facebook posts. The study examined “a set of anonymized English status updates that contained 'grateful' or 'thankful,' as well as the word 'day' preceded or followed by…
Minnesota high schools may soon be affected by a proposed policy that would allow students to participate in sports based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex. On Dec. 4, the board of directors of the Minnesota State High School League will vote on the policy. According to the draft of the policy,…
Pro-life Americans long have criticized the Obama administration for failing to disclose coverage of abortion under the Affordable Care Act. Now, taking matters into their own hands, they’ve come up with a solution. Two leading pro-life organizations, the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Family Research Council, teamed up to design a state-by-state map that clearly…
A union operative generously praised New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman when he announced he was taking a Papa John’s pizza franchisee to court on behalf of workers who claim they were underpaid. The state attorney general, like the unions, called it "wage theft." The thing is, the union official knew about the government’s lawsuit…