Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
INDIANOLA, Iowa—Jason Dinesen smiled politely and shook his head when asked about a new bill in the U.S. Senate that aims to improve how the IRS handles cases of identity theft by assigning one agent to deal with each individual case. “I’m skeptical about the bill. Having an assigned contact person is a good idea in…
Over two decades, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency paid an informant inside Amtrak nearly $1 million for information readily available to law enforcement. The DEA partners closely with the Amtrak Police Department, cooperating together on a joint drug task force. The narcotics agency chose to independently approach and maintain its own informant. According to a…
Much of the nation’s attention has been turned on the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo., this week as protesters continue to lash out at the circumstances surrounding the death of a local teen. One Democrat wants to prevent the public from having “any records … pertaining to police shootings.” The protests began after a…
It’s hard for Americans who fought in the war in Iraq to watch the rapid advances being made there by the brutal terrorist force that calls itself the Islamic State. Military veterans of the Iraq War told The Daily Signal that they were heartened that President Obama ordered airstrikes against the Islamic State. But, most…
SANTA FE, N.M.—A new school year is about to start for kids across New Mexico. That includes the children staying in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, which has been remodeled to house up to 700 immigrants, nearly all of whom came to the United States from Central America. But who has been contracted…
A day after President Obama declared the siege of Mount Sinjar broken and the crisis effectively over, Yezidi leaders say more than 100 of their men were executed Friday afternoon by Islamist terrorists in the village of Kocho, located southeast of Sinjar in northern Iraq. Fighters from the Islamic State terrorist group formerly known as…
Stephen Hadley, national security adviser for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2009, has experienced insight into what U.S. strategy in Iraq should entail. In a brief interview with The Daily Signal after a Heritage Foundation event yesterday on President Obama and Iraq, Hadley commended the administration for taking action against the terrorist force known as the Islamic State…
Police in Ferguson, Mo., this morning released stills from a video that they said shows 18-year-old Michael Brown strong-arming a smaller, older man during a robbery inside a convenience store shortly before Brown was fatally shot Saturday by a town police officer. https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/500279952160600064 Police said the video shows Brown as he grabs the store employee by the…
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal still wants your kid to take rigorous exams. He just doesn’t want the federal government to proctor them. Jindal said Common Core has become more bureaucratic than educational. The potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough that decisions about testing should come from parents and teachers at the local,…
After being shot at with rubber bullets and sprayed with tear gas, The Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery was in no mood for MSNBC host Joe Scarborough’s lecture about his reporting in Ferguson, Mo. Following Lowery’s arrest Wednesday while covering the Ferguson riots, Scarborough criticized journalists for disobeying police. Lowery responded with some choice words for…
President Obama appealed for calm in Ferguson, Mo., as tensions mounted between some black residents and police in the St. Louis suburb on the fifth day since the fatal police shooting of a young black man. Relative peace returned to the town last night after one of its own, a captain with the Missouri Highway Patrol, assumed…
Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson is taking the federal government to court. Attkisson, a senior independent contributor to The Daily Signal, filed the lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services to obtain information about the troubled Obamacare rollout last year. The former CBS News reporter and Emmy award-winning journalist won’t be going alone; the…
STILLWATER, Minn.—With its waitress and single cook, its retro-style booths with pale green cushions and its stainless steel wrap-around countertop, the Oasis Cafe could be any local diner in any town in the Midwest. But what makes the Oasis Cafe different is an extra 35-cent “minimum wage fee” tacked onto each patron’s check. A patron…
Federal regulators have backed away from pressuring banks to stop doing business with legal enterprises that the Obama administration labeled “high risk” — including selling guns, making payday loans, and trading in rare coins. Late last month, the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation told banks that it had removed a list of 30 examples of “high…
OMAHA, Neb.—In an office building near Omaha’s airport, stern-faced, gray-haired immigration judge Jack Anderson presides over removal hearings in a courtroom filled with juveniles, most of them from Central America, all of them hoping to be allowed to stay in the United States. Josue, 13, sits in the front row with his mother and two…
Over the past 50 years, the Edward C. Mazique Parent Child Center became a familiar backdrop for advocates of Head Start. Pictures of President Obama and his Cabinet secretaries dot its D.C. office. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even invited a Mazique Center child to a Head Start signing ceremony on Capitol Hill. Now, the…
An influx of undocumented and even unaccompanied minors coming to Virginia may be new—and news—to many, but it won’t be to those who work in the commonwealth’s public school systems. Since the beginning of the year, the federal government has released more than 2,000 undocumented students to sponsors—most relatives—in Virginia. Many will start at their…
Police in Ferguson, Mo., fired tear gas at Al Jazeera America TV crews last night as they recorded footage of the violent protests over the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. According to KSDK.com, “police took down the crew’s light kit, and pointed their camera at the ground” minutes later. >>> Overmilitarization: Why Law Enforcement Needs to…
A new study finds the government’s Cash for Clunkers program hurt the industry it intended to help, leaving taxpayers to cover the $3 billion price tag. The Texas A&M University study reveals that any benefit “was completely offset” by a consumer’s tendency to purchase cheaper vehicles with the federal credit. Altogether, researchers estimate the auto…
BRISTOW, Va. — Corey Stewart, who made his name in politics by implementing what he calls the nation’s “toughest” crackdown on illegal immigration, lives in a house steeped in history. The top elected official in Virginia’s second-largest locality, Stewart resides in the oldest house in Prince William County, located abruptly off a road lined with…