by Stephanie Haines | Mar 12, 2014 | Politics
WASHINGTON – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday approved legislation that would impose sanctions on Russia for its intervention in Ukraine. The Senate bill would also provide a $1 billion loan to Ukraine and reform the U.S. participation in the...
by Jeanne Kuang | Mar 12, 2014 | Education
WASHINGTON — The Education Department isn’t doing a great job helping students who are trying to clear their student loan defaults, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday. A borrower who defaults on his or her student loans has...
by Ellen Garrison | Mar 12, 2014 | Living
Data from un.org and Kristina Koch WASHINGTON — The biggest obstacle to recruiting women for the United Nations’ peacekeeping missions as senior managers in the field is not sexism, it’s a lack of qualified female applicants U.N. recruiter Kristina...
by Cat Zakrzewski | Mar 12, 2014 | National Security
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry told a House subcommittee Wednesday that isolating Russia could jeopardize U.S. interests in Iran and Syria, but “we will do what we have to do.” The hearing came a day before Kerry plans to depart for London to meet with the...
by Lauren Caruba | Mar 12, 2014 | Health & Science
WASHINGTON – Republicans aggressively cross-examined Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the rocky implementation of the Affordable Care Act Wednesday, saying the law isn’t working as promised. At a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the...
by Jane Herman | Mar 12, 2014 | Immigration
WASHINGTON—The growing number of refugees who are children fleeing Central American countries because of violence, abuses and hardships is a top priority for the U.N., United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said Wednesday. “Even if we have to...
by Mary Kate Hayes | Mar 12, 2014 | Politics
WASHINGTON – An anticipated wave of baby boomer retirements over the next 20 years has the U.S. Labor Department worried. On average, 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 per day. This large number of retirees requires resources to help them choose retirement plans. A 1974 law...
by Christophe Haubursin | Mar 11, 2014 | Politics
WASHINGTON — Connecticut’s members of Congress welcomed a cycling team from Newtown, Conn. outside the Capitol Tuesday, urging their colleagues on Capitol Hill to tighten gun control laws 15 months after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Team 26, a...
by Sara Olstad | Mar 11, 2014 | Politics
WASHINGTON – A seven-foot-tall, bronze statue of Iowa’s Norman Borlaug, “the man who saved a billion lives” by developing new varieties of high-yield wheat during the Great Depression, will be unveiled at the U.S. Capitol on March 25, the 100th anniversary of his...
by Preetisha Sen | Mar 11, 2014 | Politics
WASHINGTON – Federal budget director Sylvia Burwell said this is “the week of hearings” for her and various cabinet departments to help lawmakers digest the basics of President Barack’s Obama’s the $3.9 trillion budget. But the budget and its defenders will...
by Sylvan Lane | Mar 11, 2014 | Politics
WASHINGTON—The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee said Tuesday that the GOP is honing in on seven House Democratic seats that the majority party hopes to flip in this year’s midterm elections. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., told reporters that...
by Jonathan Palmer | Mar 11, 2014 | Politics
WASHINGTON — A bill to reauthorize major child care legislation will be voted on this week in the Senate with a key Republican joining Democrats to champion the proposal after years of inaction. The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 would update and...
