Day: April 12, 2009

Nearly half the country is a danger zone, raising a difficult question: How can it hold presidential elections in less than five months?

President Obama’s daughters, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, have settled on a black and white puppy as a pet, a White House official told The Associated Press.

The federal estate tax is an issue that simply won’t die.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested that torture should not be used even when it might yield important information and reflected on her role as the Supreme Court’s only female justice.

Disclosures that information was withheld from the defense of former Senator Ted Stevens did little to erase much of the evidence that he regularly accepted gifts.

A large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets, often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time.

The same-sex marriage battle is being fought in the states, not least to avoid another Roe v. Wade.

Richard Holbrooke embodies a new paradigm that includes military force but emphasizes a wider range of tools, like diplomacy, persuasion and money.

President Obama has already made a down payment on many of his campaign promises. But a noisy and partisan debate has erupted over whether he has even begun to make good on his pledge to turn the page on the divisive politics of the past.

In a remarkable illustration of the power of lobbying in Washington, a study released last week found that a single tax break in 2004 earned companies $220 for every dollar they spent on the issue — a 22,000 percent rate of return on their investment.