Breaking News

UPDATED Nov. 3, 2011 with a correction* Plans to draw money and support from Maryland’s African-American churchgoers to fight next year’s marriage-equality

McClatchy and Kaiser Health News are reporting that recent decisions by Florida lawmakers have leaders of the state’s children’s hospitals worried about their budgets. McClatchy/Kaiser report : After years of being largely immune to concerns about costs, children’s hospitals are being buffeted by powerful economic and political forces.

Rep. John Kline, who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, slammed President Obama’s plan for student loan relief Monday as a “mistake,” saying it will do nothing to help workers looking for jobs

The EPA announced today that it is now prepared to withdraw a portion of its proposed numeric nutrient criteria (a set of standards governing water pollution in inland waters) and delay the portion related to estuarine waters, to allow the state Department of Environmental Protection to develop its own criteria. # From a statement released by the EPA earlier today: # EPA recognizes that states have the primary role in establishing and implementing water quality standards for their waters. Therefore, EPA is prepared to withdraw the federal inland standards and delay the estuarine standards if FDEP adopts, and EPA approves, their own protective and scientifically sound numeric standards

A new survey from the Pew Research Center shows record high enthusiasm among Republicans: Fully 56% of Republican voters say they are more enthusiastic

Bruce Watzman, spokesman for the National Mining Association, told Senate lawmakers Tuesday that no new legislation is required to prevent the next mining tragedy.

Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio is already being sued by the federal government for alleged racial profiling and related civil rights violations.

Friends of the Earth , the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Physicians for Social Responsibility have filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding U.S. government data on radiation releases from the Fukushima nuclear complex

In a statement to be sent to supporters, J Street, the pro-Israel-pro-peace American Jewish lobby group, is urging members of Congress not to pass to

Michele Bachmann’s legislative endorsements in Iowa are quite the mixed bag: A state senator who served jail time for selling pot; a former mayor who allegedly

A new Voter System Scorecard by Rock the Vote indicates that Iowa ranks second in the nation in engaging young voters. That’s the good news. The bad news is if Iowa’s overall percentage was a letter grade, the Hawkeye State would earn a mediocre D.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer (Pic via ice.gov) The congressional showdown over payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits continues after the GOP-led House voted Tuesday against a Senate bill approved over the weekend. The bill to extend payroll tax cuts and extend unemployment benefits is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012, H.R.

National Journal is reporting that the Federal Election Commission has called on a secretive campaign committee backed by Karl Rove to reveal its donors. # Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, aka Crossroads GPS, is one of a slew of 501(c)4 groups that proliferated in the wake of the U.S.

Carly Fiorina’s Senate campaign, which made sure reporters checked out the truly strange Boxer Blimp web video over the weekend, fires off a press release

A political nonprofit labeling itself the “nation’s largest grassroots opponent of radical environmentalism” sarcastically welcomed the anticipated presidential candidacy of Republican Newt Gingrich on Monday, calling the former U.S. Speaker of the House “Al Gore hiding under a Phil Donahue wig.” Newt Gingrich American Tradition Partnership (ATP), which, along with its sister nonprofit Western Tradition Partnership, has a long history of controversial campaign tactics in Colorado , issued a release on Monday in response to a facebook posting by Gingrich about his expected official announcement on Wednesday

McChrystal forcefully defended the Obama administration’s revised strategy, its weeks-long decision-making process and President Obama’s ultimate decision to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops for the war effort.

So just who are those civil liberties groups that have encouraged the Obama administration to issue an executive order creating a system of prolonged

As expected, the House approved Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s (R-Fla.) resolution condemning South African judge Richard

The progressive Iraq/Afghanistan veterans group VoteVets has been, to the best of my knowledge, supportive of a properly resourced and focused Afghanistan

From The New York Times this morning: “As every student of American history knows, this country’s core founding principles included nonpunitive taxation,

Add Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) to the growing list of conservative state officials who are preaching fiscal restraint while also vying for federal stimulus