By Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, Jan 2/3, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly a year after legislatures in Wisconsin and several other Republican-dominated states curbed the power of public sector unions, lawmakers are now turning their sights toward private sector unions, setting up what is sure to be another political storm.
Washington Post with Bloomberg Business, Dec 28, 2011
Slideshow: These lawmakers had the lowest net worth in 2010 according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, based on disclosures filed by the leaders
(All on the list have negative net worth, more debt than assets.)
Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said the key break in the L.A. serial arson investigation came Saturday night when federal officials recognized a "person of interest" in the fires.
By Craig Whitlock, Washington Post, Dec. 28/29, 2011
[....] Pentagon officials said they have eliminated 27 jobs for generals and admirals since March, the first time the Defense Department has imposed such a reduction since the aftermath of the Cold War, when the collapse of the Soviet Union prompted the military to downsize.
By Tara Parker-Pope, Dec. 28, 2011 for the Jan. 1, 2012 New York Times Sunday Magazine
[....]“What we see here is a coordinated defense mechanism with multiple components all directed toward making us put on weight,” Proietto says. “This, I think, explains the high failure rate in obesity treatment.”
No excerpt will suffice; if you're interested in the topic, you need to read this. As Ta Ne-hisi Coates put it:There's a lot to chew on in Greg Miller's piece on the expansion of the drone program under Obama.
WASHINGTON —[....] “This is not a Lincoln bedroom guy,” said James Carville, the Democratic strategist, referring to the guest bedroom at the White House where President Bill Clinton put up supporters and donors. “In fact, he’s the anti-Lincoln bedroom guy. He doesn’t seem to relish, or even like, having politicians around.”
Washington • Why do kids believe a chubby guy in a flying sleigh can deliver joy across America? Because their parents do. A whopping 84 percent of grown-ups were once children who trusted in Santa’s magic, and lots cling to it still. [....]
By Ed Pilkington and Matt Williams in Fort Meade, Guardian.co.uk, Dec 18, 2011
A forensic investigator who examined Bradley Manning's army computers following his arrest discovered thousands of US embassy cables and Guantánamo detainee reports that matched exactly the documents published by WikiLeaks, the soldier's pretrial hearing was told on Sunday.
By Eric Schmitt and Salman Masood, New York Times, Dec 18/19, 2011
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A tense showdown between Pakistan’s powerful army and its besieged civilian government brought President Asif Ali Zardari hurrying back from Dubai early on Monday, after weeks of growing concerns by his supporters that the military has been moving to strengthen its role in the country’s governance.
By Kara Scannell in New York, Financial Times, Dec 18, 2011
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil fraud charges against six former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives brings the total number of senior executives charged in connection with the financial crisis to 45, a statistic the agency is promoting as it seeks to rebuff criticism of its enforcement efforts [....]
By Dave Cook, Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 16, 2011
Stanley Greenberg, a major Democratic pollster, says unhappy and undecided voters make a third-party presidential candidate likely in 2012, introducing uncertainty into the battle to control Congress.
FORT MEADE, Md. — The U.S. military is making its case for why Army Pfc. Bradley Manning should be court-martialed on charges of endangering national security by stealing and leaking an enormous trove of government secrets.
Manning, 23, was to make his first public appearance Friday at the opening of his pretrial hearing at Fort Meade. [....]
After nearly nine years, about 4,500 American fatalities and $1 trillion, America’s war in Iraq is about to end. Officials marked the finish on Thursday with a modest ceremony at the airport days before the last troops take the southern highway to Kuwait, going out as they came in, to conclude the United States’ most ambitious and bloodiest military campaign since Vietnam.
REPORTING FROM RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil’s huge northern state of Pará is about three times the size of California, home to much of the Amazon rain forest and is the second-largest producer of the nation's most important export, iron ore.
But poverty levels are well above the national average. [....]
Lawmakers reached an agreement Monday on the $662 billion Defense authorization bill they believe will satisfy White House demands to avoid a veto over the detention of terror suspects. [....]
WASHINGTON — The tax plan by GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich would provide big tax breaks to the rich and blow a huge hole in the federal budget deficit, according to an independent study released Monday.
By Keith Stuart and Mark Sweney, The Guardian, Dec. 12, 2011
[....] The latest instalment of the video game series Call of Duty has become the fastest-selling entertainment product of all time, hitting $1bn in sales through retailers in just 16 days, [....]
Lakefront jogger critically injured by pit bulls: 'They wouldn't let the man go'