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Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen warns that the unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan may result in a catastrophic radiation release that will reach American shores. Gundersen, a nuclear engineer with 39 years of experience and chief engineer with Fairewinds Associates , told the Global Post that he doesn’t have much faith in official pronouncements about the scale of the disaster. Here are some experts: GlobalPost: Officials have said the possibility of a large-scale radiation release is small.

As the Taliban’s fighting and governing prowess improves, Sean Kay puts together a Plan B for Afghanistan over at Foreign Policy’s AfPak Channel. Rather than

A committee of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a plan to fund an attorney that will be dedicated to helping homeowners battle the growing number of foreclosures based on faulty documents. In a meeting Tuesday night, the General Services Committee of the Board approved a contract worth up to $60,000 for Legal Services of South Central Michigan.

On Friday, I noted how the Obama campaign was happily circulating an Associated Press article reporting that President George W. Bush, in a break with

Al Franken is certainly behaving as if it’s inevitable that he’ll eventually be seated as Minnesota’s junior senator. This morning the Democrat tapped

Anyone who thinks they’ll be able to repeal ObamaCare is kidding themselves, said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. If they want to stop it, they need to stop it now.

Democratic California Rep. Barbara Lee on Friday introduced legislation aimed at addressing the on-going criminalization of persons living with HIV infection and Reps. Hansen Clarke and John Conyers of Detroit have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.

Supplemental Security Income payments go only to the elderly and disabled with less than $2,000 to their name. Now, Congress has let the safety net payments lapse for refugees fleeing persecution in their home countries and seeking refuge in the United States.

The anti-abortion movement can claim a small victory in its crusade against Planned Parenthood. A recent Florida statewide survey of 807 likely voters in 2012 found a majority supports cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood. # The survey conducted by Viewpoint Florida found total support for cutting federal aid to the chain of reproductive health service providers is 54 percent, and opposition was 38 percent.

The Aid for Women abortion clinic in Kansas City, one of the three abortion clinics left in Kansas, has lost its license to operate in the state. All three clinics had to meet new regulations that were part of a bill aimed at shutting down abortion clinics, and so far Aid for Women did not. # The new law signed by the governor set standards for all clinics that includes “having an emergency door that can accommodate a gurney … maintaining proper emergency equipment, drugs and protocols, having proper lighting and ventilation, lavatory areas, and spaces for the sterilization of surgical equipment

It was a small, shotgun-style, wooden frame house in a modest neighborhood on Cleveland’s East Side. It was home to the Maynards, a family with six

From FreedomWorks’ pro-freedom positions to Senate hopefuls’ campaign platforms, national security and foreign policy ideas are strikingly absent.

ASPEN, Colo--It is true that in the rare instances when I actually look up from my laptop, where I spend most of time doing political research or working hard

While much of the mainstream media -- Charlie Savage at The New York Times and John MacKinnon at The Wall Street Journal, among others -- were reporting

Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the U.S. economy grew at a 1.6 percent annual pace in the second quarter. The report was a second analysis,

Oil Spill claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg marked this week’s anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (the rig exploded on April 20, 2010) by highlighting the fund’s progress and defending the fact that the bulk of the claims paid by the fund have been so-called quick payments. # Since the final payment process began, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility has paid Floridians nearly $425 million in “quick payments,” in which individuals and businesses who have already received emergency payments can collect $5,000 and $25,000 respectively without documenting additional damages. # The fund has paid Floridians another $34 million in interim payments, which allow claimants to come back for more money every three months, and $55 million in final payments, which require them to waive their right to sue

As The New York Times reports, the Pentagon is sitting on a document that claims one in seven Guantanamo Bay detainees released by the Bush administration

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a boost to congressional Democratic leaders, bolstering their plan for additional economic infusion.

If Smithfield Foods, which I wrote about in an earlier post, rang a bell, it may be because the company has recently gotten some bad press for its troubled

In the coda to yet another Washington ethics scandal, Paul Magliocchetti, founder of the once influential defense lobbying firm PMA Group, was indicted

The message from the Senate was clear: More screenings, not fewer, are better for women’s health.

A radio version of The Colorado Independent’s story Monday on the Koch brothers influence in environmental politics has now been aired on more than 400 radio stations in more than 30 states. The radio story was produced by Kathleen Ryan for Public News Service.