Breaking News

State Sen.

Minnesota Democrats introduced a bill on Monday that would repeal the state’s Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits same-sex couples from benefiting from the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The bill, the Marriage and Family Protection Act , was offered just as heated debate at the Capitol continues over a proposed constitutional amendment that would write a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution. “Marriage is a legal institution recognized by the state to promote stable relationships and to protect people in those relationships and their children,” the bill states

In the wake of the Great Depression, a Congressional panel known as the Pecora Commission investigated Wall Street’s actions and set the stage for financial

New unemployment claims this week dropped to 409,000 according to the latest Department of Labor report , but that’s still too high to allow any serious progress in reducing the unemployment rate. The four-week average of 439,000 is the highest since November of last year.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum , of Pennsylvania, will seek the White House in 2012, he announced this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Perhaps channeling 2008 Hillary Clinton in Des Moines, Santorum said, “We’re going to be in this race and we’re in it to win it,” before launching into extensive criticism of President Barack Obama on foreign policy.

An interesting tidbit from this weekend’s New York Times article on lawyers who attempt to specialize on Supreme Court cases: Critics of such specialists argue

Megan pointed this out more than a week ago, but today the editorialists at The New York Times are also highlighting the central flaw of the updated foreclosure

This statement just came out from President Obama: Today marks the eleventh Anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya

A new report commissioned by the Center for American Progress finds that oil industry contracts with universities to conduct energy research may not adequately

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm hopes so.

Are there any judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit without substantial holdings in oil and gas? Not many, notes the Alliance for Justice in

Erick Erickson (whom, full disclosure, I’d asked about the story earlier today) posts a scorching attack on next month’s Tea Party Convention in Nashville,

A new Greenpeace report finds that the Koch Brothers, via their PAC, contributed $2.51 million since the beginning of the 2006 election cycle to lawmakers’

A report by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor found a number of problems with the state Pollution Control Agency’s accounting systems, including neglecting to scrub banking data that auditors said could be used to commit fraud.

Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech to the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council. He argued that the United States is on an

Speaking of the Afghan election, Brian Katulis, a foreign policy analyst with the Center for American Progress, is in Kabul to observe the vote, and Politico

I’ve cooled off on the birther movement after the forged Kenyan birth certificate debacle killed a lot of their enthusiasm. And one fringe benefit of the

Detainees moving through immigration courts lack certain rights that most Americans take for granted, and among them is the right to legal counsel. Although a

Author Frank Schaeffer told MSNBC on Wednesday that Michele Bachmann’s beliefs will be a liability for her with the general public if she gets the GOP nomination in 2012. And Schaeffer knows something about where Bachmann stands: His father, Dr

A representative of an organization whose research on oil shale production has been cited for years testified before Congress Friday that “decisions made by the federal government may have a profound impact on the residents in the northwestern quarter of Colorado …” James T. Bartis of the RAND Corporation testified on Friday (pdf) before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He was asked to speak to the alternative fuel provisions in HR 909, the “Roadmap for America’s Energy Future” bill sponsored by Devin Nunes, R-Calif