Breaking News

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) sent a letter to presumptive House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) today outlining his priorities for the House Energy & Commerce

The banking industry scored a major victory last week when a watered-down foreclosure bill passed the Senate. Next up is a bill to protect credit card users.

On Wednesday, the Union City, Calif.-based anti-abortion-rights group California Civil Rights Foundation (CCRF) announced it is submitting language to state

Nearly 1,000 labor union members and their supporters rallied in the state Capitol Monday, voicing their opposition to proposed legislation that would weaken collective bargaining rights for Iowa’s public employees. The group then filled the Iowa House chambers for a public hearing on the bill, with opponents vastly outnumbering the handful of supporters who spoke up for the legislation. “This is about the right for workers to be able to bargain in the workplace,” said Mark Cooper, president of South Central Iowa Federation of Labor.

In less than eight minutes, the Florida House of Representatives cut back decades of environmental regulations. # Friday was the deadline for bills to get heard so they could be available for final votes next week, before the end of the legislative session. As the House sped through dozens of bills, Speaker Dean Cannon repeatedly urged members to keep questions brief, reminding them, as the axiom goes, “Bills are dying.” # The bills only needed to be discussed and amended so they could be debated next week, but House Bill 991, an industry wish-list that streamlines environmental regulations, was immediately rolled over and passed in a 95-16 vote, without questions or debate from members of either party

The Atlantic Wire, in one of those Ouroboros moments that crop up whenever the media covers itself, is reporting that AP correspondents have filed a Freedom of

In response to my post earlier this afternoon on new polling numbers for the DISCLOSE Act, The Center For Competitive Politics’s Jeff Patch has supplied me with

A community protest against the planned CCA immigrant detention center (Pic courtesy Gail Tyree) The Southwest Ranches Town Counil announced Thursday night that a meeting between Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Corrections Corporation of America and Broward County residents who oppose a proposed immigrant detention center will be held on Nov. 5

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (Pic via myfloridalegal.com) Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is slated to co-host a Republican presidential candidate forum on Fox News’ Huckabee this Saturday, exactly one month before the Iowa caucuses. Bondi will interview candidates alongside Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and former Arkansas Gov

People have been tweeting at me to provide a roll call for yesterday’s OMG-worth vote to kill the F-22, so here’s one. As it appeared yesterday, the vote was

Here’s some persistence you don’t see everyday from a press corps charged with monitoring Congress: MSNBC’s David Shuster grilling Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)

A move by Minnesota Republicans to repeal school integration laws resulted in heated debate about the decades-long program that aims to diversify schools in the Twin Cities metro area and Duluth. During a floor debate on elimination of desegregation programs Thursday, Sen. Dan Hall, R-Burnsville, said, “I watched Minneapolis get destroyed, so I not only didn’t want my kids in the school system.

All you have to do is look toward the mountains to know something unusual is happening. It’s pushing June, and Colorado high country remains decidedly white. It’s not unusual to see snow on the mountains any time of year

Gov. Susana Martinez is keeping clear of the Republican Senate primary — for now.

In its latest effort to push the Bush administration into closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, Amnesty International is challenging Americans to

As we mentioned earlier, it’s been a hell of a time tracking down details on a stimulus deal that lacked for details. But a preliminary summary coming from

Conservatives are preemptively building a case against a potential Obama Supreme Court nominee.

This week, Louisiana’s legislature sidetracked a bill that would basically outlaw all abortions in the state. The bill would criminalize all abortions and define them as “feticide.” Louisiana is joining Mississippi in seeking “personhood” rights for fetuses. These proposed laws are aimed at banning abortions for all cases, including rape and incest

Progressive groups are stepping up efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the legislation that says no state can be required to recognize same-sex marriage. The groups are asking New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman, both Democrats, to support a repeal of the controversial law.

An environmental attorney who argued in favor of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule before a federal appeals court says there are only two legal options left for opponents of the Clinton-era rule and backers of state-specific rules like Colorado’s – and both are long-shots. Earthjustice attorney Jim Angell told the Colorado Independent that last week’s decision by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting a 2008 Wyoming federal court decision and backing the Clinton rule undermines Colorado’s contention that it needs its own rule because of legal uncertainty. “Really, for all intents and purposes this is the certainty we’re going to get in this region, and what’s really going on is the state wants its rule and is using alleged legal uncertainty as an excuse for its continued support for it,” Angell said.

“The moratorium is the biggest issue that has cropped up in the reelection campaign,” says the Louisiana Republican Party’s Aaron Baer.

The Las Conchas Fire has burned 147,642 acres and is 50 percent contained as of Monday afternoon, according to InciWeb . Rain this week and the monsoon season into September will speed the containment of the fire, but the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mountains are also under a Flash Flood Watch . Without vegetation, fast-moving water during torrential downpours increases the likelihood and severity of a mudslide