National Govt & Politics Stories for February 2013
Stories for Thursday, February 28
Medicare paid $5.1B for poor nursing home care
Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found. The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in ...
Obama urges court to overturn gay marriage ban
In a historic argument for gay rights, President Barack Obama on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country. The Obama administration's friend-of-the-court brief marked the first time a U.S. president has urged the high court ...
White House tells Woodward he'll 'regret' criticism
Veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward says a senior official from the White House told him he will “regret” a claim he made in an op-ed piece. Last week, Woodward wrote that President Obama is “moving the goal posts” by demanding a package of tax revenues and spending cuts to ...
Stories for Monday, February 25
East Bay vigil to honor Newtown victims, call for tighter gun control
A number of Contra Costa County residents who are pushing for stricter federal gun control laws are coming together Monday evening for a rally and vigil in Pleasant Hill. The candlelight vigil will honor those killed in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting last December, said Sandra Ruliffson, president of the ...
Stories for Sunday, February 24
All condemn pending budget cuts, spread blame
The White House and Republicans kept up the unrelenting mudslinging Sunday over who's to blame for roundly condemned budget cuts set to take effect at week's end, with the administration detailing the potential fallout in each state and governors worrying about the mess. But as leaders rushed past each other ...
Stories for Saturday, February 23
Anti-communist oaths persist despite court rulings
It has been just shy of 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Washington state law barring members of the Communist Party from voting or holding public-sector jobs is unconstitutional. Evidently, that is not enough time to remove it from the books. Washington is one of a ...
Stories for Friday, February 22
APNewsBreak: National park cuts detailed in memo
The towering giant sequoias at Yosemite National Park would go unprotected from visitors who might trample their shallow roots. At Cape Cod National Seashore, large sections of the Great Beach would close to keep eggs from being destroyed if natural resource managers are cut. Gettysburg would decrease by one-fifth the ...
Stories for Wednesday, February 20
Former Sen. Domenici acknowledges having son outside marriage with colleague's daughter
Former Sen. Pete Domenici has disclosed that he fathered a secret child in the 1970s with the 24-year-old daughter of one of his Senate colleagues — a startling revelation for a politician with a reputation as an upstanding family man. Domenici and Michelle Laxalt sent statements to the Albuquerque Journal ...
Obama considers weighing in on gay marriage case
The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, a step that would mark a political victory for advocates of same-sex unions and a deepening commitment by President Barack Obama to rights for gay couples. Obama raised expectations among opponents of the ...
Stories for Sunday, February 17
GOP foes of Hagel nomination say vote should go on
Republican opponents of former Sen. Chuck Hagel's stalled bid to become defense secretary said Sunday that they'll probably allow his Senate confirmation vote to proceed unless material more damaging to the nominee — and, by extension, the Obama administration — surfaces in the coming week. Critics said the decorated Vietnam ...
Stories for Thursday, February 14
Senate GOP blocks Hagel vote for now
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the nomination of former GOP senator Chuck Hagel as the nation's next defense secretary over unrelated questions about President Barack Obama's actions in the aftermath of the deadly raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. Obama accused Republicans of playing politics with national security ...
Stories for Wednesday, February 13
Boehner voices skepticism on budget prospects
House Speaker John Boehner expressed doubts Wednesday that the Republican-led House and Democratic-controlled Senate could reach agreement on a budget and avoid automatic spending cuts that could jeopardize economic growth. In a post-State of the Union interview with The Associated Press, Boehner was also skeptical about President Barack Obama's new ...
Stories for Tuesday, February 12
Obama: Nation stronger, GOP should back his plans
Uncompromising and politically emboldened, President Barack Obama urged a deeply divided Congress Tuesday night to embrace his plans to use government money to create jobs and strengthen the nation's middle class. He declared Republican ideas for reducing the deficit "even worse" than the unpalatable deals Washington had to stomach during ...
First lady will host 102-year-old determined voter
A determined Florida centenarian who had to make two trips and wait several hours to vote for President Barack Obama last fall was invited to sit with first lady Michelle Obama during Tuesday's State of the Union. Her resolve became a symbol of early voting obstacles in the presidential election. ...
Obama to announce large Afghan troop pullout
President Barack Obama will announce the pullout of nearly half of American forces still in Afghanistan and denounce North Korea's latest nuclear test Tuesday in his State of the Union speech. The highly anticipated announcement on the next phase of the Afghanistan troop withdrawal will cut the size of ...
Stories for Friday, February 8
Republicans scramble for the center on immigration
It was little surprise when freshman Republican Rep. Mike Coffman in 2010 voted against a bill to grant citizenship to some young illegal immigrants. After all, the Marine Corps veteran had just won the seat in Congress formerly held by firebrand Rep. Tom Tancredo, who had pushed the GOP to ...
Stories for Thursday, February 7
Brennan defends drone strikes, even on Americans
Nominated to head the CIA, John Brennan told a protest-disrupted Senate confirmation hearing Thursday the United States employs drone strikes only as a deterrent against imminent terrorist threats, not as punishment for previous actions, firmly defending the controversial attacks that have killed three Americans and an unknown number of foreigners. ...
Stories for Wednesday, February 6
Senate panel postpones vote on Hagel nomination
A Senate panel on Wednesday abruptly postponed a vote on Chuck Hagel's nomination to be defense secretary amid Republican demands for more information from President Barack Obama's nominee about his paid speeches and business dealings. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, had hoped to vote ...
Boy Scouts delay decision on admitting gays
The Boy Scouts of America put off a decision Wednesday on whether to lift its ban on gay members and leaders, saying the question will be taken up at the organization's national meeting in May. "After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those ...
Postal Service to cut Saturday mail to trim costs
Apparently trying an end-run around an unaccommodating Congress, the financially struggling U.S. Postal Service says it will stop delivering mail on Saturdays but continue to disburse packages six days a week. In an announcement scheduled for later Wednesday, the service is expected to say the Saturday mail cutback would begin ...
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