Leaders in House Block Earmarks to CorporationsThe ban, announced by House Democratic leaders, wipes out one of the most lucrative and controversial means of awarding no-bid contracts to private firms.
Disease Cause Is Pinpointed With GenomeIt now appears possible to sequence a patient’s genome at reasonable cost and with sufficient accuracy to be useful.
E-Mail Messages Are Disclosed in Ensign’s Ethics CaseE-mails provide evidence of Senator John Ensign’s efforts to steer work to the husband of his former mistress.
Obama’s Student Loan Overhaul EndangeredHouse Democrats were desperately trying to prevent an ambitious overhaul of student loan programs from becoming a casualty of the health care battle.
Panel Proposes Single Standard for All SchoolsThe new standards, which experts said could well be adopted by a majority of states, would replace the nation’s checkerboard of locally written standards.
Ben Quayle, the Former Vice President’s Son, Enters PoliticsBen Quayle has a familiar last name, but he is little known in Arizona. Now he is fighting to change that.
Kansas City to Close Nearly Half Its SchoolsThe Board of Education in Kansas City, Mo., accepted a sweeping and contentious plan to shrink its school system in the face of dwindling enrollment, budget cuts and a $50 million deficit.
Texas Hearing Considers Deeper Conservative Stamp on TextbooksThe Texas school board held hearings on proposed changes to the state’s social studies curriculum that would portray conservatives in a more positive light.
Views of ‘JihadJane’ Were Unknown to NeighborsThe ex-husband of the woman who called herself “JihadJane” said she “was just like anyone else.”
Planned Electric Rate Increase in Los Angeles May Affect Solar PowerProceeds from an electric rate increase would be earmarked for renewable energy purchases and programs.
Panel Urges New Look at Caesarean GuidelinesThe medical experts told an National Institutes of Health conference that the trend of “once a Caesarean, always a Caesarean” may be safely reversed.
Obama Gets Tough on Health Care FraudThe president said he would unleash auditors in a crackdown on Medicare and Medicaid waste and fraud, a move to please both liberals and conservatives.
Sushi Spot Is Charged With Serving Whale MeatFederal prosecutors have filed criminal complaint accusing a Japanese restaurant in Santa Monica and its chef of serving whale meat, a violation of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Governor Proposes Rise in Income Tax for IllinoisGov. Patrick J. Quinn’s proposal to raise the tax by one percent was just one measure aimed at closing a budget deficit that some now estimate at $13 billion.
TARP Oversight Panel Finds Fault With GMAC BailoutsA report to be released Thursday questions the Bush administration’s decision to rescue “a company that apparently posed no systemic risk to the financial system.”
Senate Passes Bill That Would Extend Unemployment Benefitsthe Senate on Wednesday approved a $138 billion measure that would extend unemployment benefits and provide additional aid to states
Obama Faces Criticism Over Pace of Action on Trade IssuesThe question is whether the U.S. is prepared to lead or whether protectionist pressures will make it impossible to engage fully with trading partners.
Driven to Distraction: Distracted Driving in Ambulances and Police CruisersDespite efforts to get drivers to stop texting and talking on the phone, police and paramedics use an array of dashboard devices, a boon for their jobs that also presents a clear risk.
Northrop Withdrawal Brightens Boeing’s FutureBoeing will now have some welcome certainty about its future as a major builder of military aircraft.
Dan Senor Encouraged to Join New York Senate RaceDan Senor, an author and adviser in the last Bush administration, is said to be seriously considering a political challenge against Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand.
On the White House: Rove on Rove: A Conversation With the Former Bush Senior AdviserThe Times caught up with Karl Rove to talk about democracy in Iraq, the impact of the C.I.A. leak case and questions about his family life.
Bush Intervened in Northern Ireland DisputeIt was the former president’s his first known direct involvement in a public policy debate since leaving the White House nearly 14 months ago.
Bill to Include Agency That Tracks Financial RiskThe main purpose of the agency, sometimes referred to as the National Institute of Finance, would be to flag problems in the industry before they spread and threaten the wider economy.
House Rejects Kucinich Plan for Swifter Afghanistan PulloutDebate on the measure offered a preview of Congressional consideration later this year of the Obama administration’s request for money to pay for the Afghan war.
Gary Gensler’s Conversion to Financial ReformerGary Gensler, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is the leading contender to oversee the instruments that played a key role in the financial crisis.
National Briefing | Washington: White House Responds to Chief JusticeThe White House hit back against complaints from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. about a pep-rally-like atmosphere during the President’s State of the Union message.
National Briefing | New England: Massachusetts: New Book for New SenatorSenator Scott Brown has been in office barely a month, but he already has a story to tell, and HarperCollins is publishing it.
National Briefing | South: Virginia: Opting to Refuse Health OverhaulThe state legislature approved a measure that bucks any effort by President Obama and Congress to carry out a national health care overhaul in individual states.
National Briefing | South: Mississippi: Prom Canceled Over Same-Sex Date PolicyThe Itawamba County school district decided not to host a high school prom after a lesbian student demanded she be able to attend with her girlfriend.
World Briefing | Europe: Italy: Crackdown on Crime Families in Italy and U.S.Authorities arrested 25 men in Sicily, New York, North Carolina and Florida on charges of taking part in a range of criminal activities under the umbrellas of the Gambino and Santa Maria di Gesù crime families.
National Briefing | Midwest: Michigan: Ex-Councilwoman SentencedA federal judge denied the request of former member of the Detroit City Council to withdraw her guilty plea and sentenced her to more than three years in prison.
Names of the DeadThe Department of Defense confirmed the deaths of the following Americans yesterday.
With New Homes, Town Makes Amends for Discrimination Decades AgoA Michigan city settled a discrimination suit by offering homes to descendants of residents forced off their land.
Ahmadinejad Calls 9/11 'A Big Fabrication'Perhaps concerned that his repeated suggestions that the Holocaust might not have happened have become less shocking over time, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad upped the ante on Saturday, telling intelligence officials in Tehran that the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 was staged.
Suspected Pentagon Gunman Outlined Theories OnlineInvestigators and bloggers are trying to make sense of a series of statements posted on the Web that appear to have been the work of a gunman wo attacked the Pentagon on Thursday evening.
