Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page is the latest in a series of journalists to criticize the White House on transparency. At a White House Correspondents’ Association seminar on Saturday, Page described the Obama administration as “more restrictive” and “more dangerous” to the press than any other administration in history. The Washington Post reports…
Mitt Romney had some harsh words about what he called President Obama’s plan to “unilaterally” grant amnesty to illegal immigrants after next week’s midterm elections. “[It is] is a very shameful thing,” the 2012 Republican presidential nominee said yesterday in an interview with MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow. “It’s very clear that what he wants to do…
It has cost New Mexico taxpayers $218.5 million to construct, and its anchor tenant, headed by a flamboyant billionaire, has yet to get off the ground. Nonetheless, backers of Spaceport America remain confident the investment in the first site built specifically for commercial flights going into suborbital space will pay off. “When it comes to…
An illegal immigrant charged with the fatal shootings of two California law officers had been deported to Mexico twice but returned twice to the U.S. Authorities charged Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte, 34, with murder, attempted murder and carjacking in a shooting rampage Friday that left two Northern California sheriff’s deputies dead, another injured and a civilian seriously wounded. The Los…
Talk about a political football. With midterm elections right around the corner and football season well under way, how better to commemorate fall than by marrying the two obsessions? Bloomberg Politics joined forces with Resonate Insights, a Virginia-based analytics firm, to determine the political leanings of the various fan bases for teams within the National Football League….
When Ebola hit America and a cascade of unfortunate events followed, Tim Mosher began nudging his hospital to enhance its planned response in case the deadly virus were to come there. Mosher, who had confronted the disease in West Africa and treated it successfully, is the only person at the Ohio-based hospital with such experience….
Jimmy Carter doesn’t think marriage laws should be decided at the federal level. “I’m kind of inclined to let the states decide individually,” the former president told WFAA, an ABC affiliate, in an interview that aired Sunday. “As you see, more and more states are deciding on gay marriage every year,” Carter said. “If Texas…
Imagine a law enforcement agency with four arrests since 2003. That’s one arrest every 3 1/2 years. Not a lot of bang for the bucks. But that’s the present state of affairs at the Mississippi Gaming Commission’s Charitable Gaming Division, which regulates the multi-million-dollar bingo industry. With four bingo arrests in 11 years for the…
As Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley considers a 2016 White House run, he’s cozying up with groups key to positioning him as the anti-Hillary candidate. The governor and billionaire Tom Steyer joined forces Wednesday night at the Mercedez-Benz Superdome in New Orleans to speak to thousands of architects, designers and central planners attending Greenbuild 2014, a…
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced mandatory quarantines for health workers returning from West Africa. However, such a policy could have negative, unintended consequences, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned today. During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Fauci said that…
The deadly shooting on Parliament Hill in Canada and hatchet attack on police officers in New York City–coupled with the Boston Marathon bombings and beheading in Moore, Okla.–represent the growing threat of lone-wolf terror attacks, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned today. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., discussed the continuing presence of these attacks…
RICHMOND, Va. — Dominion Power is firing back at opponents by shooting down what it calls “myths” over the utility’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. A hot-button issue is the potential use of eminent domain to seize private property along the natural gas pipeline’s projected 550-mile route across the state. Rural groups in Augusta and neighboring…
If you’ve ever tried to board a plane, cash a check or rent a car, you’ve almost surely had to show some form of identification with your picture on it. For most people, that takes the form of a driver’s license, but there are other forms of photo ID. Millions of Americans produce them every…
Perform same-sex wedding ceremonies or pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines and spend months behind bars. That’s the choice their Idaho town gave one Christian couple who have made marriage ministry their life's work. Donald and Eyelyn Knapp, ordained Pentecostal ministers, are married to each other. Together, they have run Hitching Post Lakeside Wedding Chapel in…
AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., used money taken from workers to pay its officers and employees an average of $89,328 during fiscal year 2014. Including every individual for whom AFL-CIO who reported a gross salary to the U.S. Department of Labor — from president Richard Trumka on down — the union coalition spent more than…
LAS VEGAS — Your next representative in Congress could end up being, well, somebody like Mike Monroe, if something isn’t done about the electoral system, critics say. Fed up with voting machine discrepancies, some folks are taking matters into their own hands and are organizing grassroots efforts to reduce voter fraud and electoral errors. Citizen…
That much-mentioned, so-called millennial generation in Virginia is facing an uphill economic climb. The average student loan debt of 18- to 35-year-oldspolled by Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Public Policy is $33,500. Four out of five say they believe the economic challenges they face are greater than the ones their parents did at the…
“Hands Across New Jersey.” That was the name given to the grassroots movement that came together in response to the $2.8 billion tax increase New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio pushed through after taking office in 1990. Florio, a Democrat, had said throughout the campaign that he saw “no need for new taxes.” When he went…
After three patients in the United States tested positive for Ebola–with a fourth diagnosed yesterday–federal health officials stepped up efforts to assist hospitals nationwide. Now, Americans heading to emergency rooms and medical rooms can expect to be prescreened before they even walk through the door. During a visit Wednesday to a medical center in Fairfax,…
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., delivered a speech on Thursday outlining his foreign policy philosophy. Paul, widely regarded as a potential 2016 presidential candidate, delivered his remarks at the Center for the National Interest, a non-partisan think-tank. “I want to spell out for you what I believe to be the principles of a national security strategy…