Las Vegas Sun

February 11, 2012

Currently: 61° | Complete forecast | Log in

Associated Press: News from Washington

White House

Obama budget seeks to boost trade enforcement

7 hours, 59 minutes ago

(AP) President Barack Obama's new budget proposal will ask Congress to devote millions for a new trade enforcement center and more U.S. inspectors in China as the administration takes aim at unfair trade practices abroad, a senior administration official said Saturday.It's all part of Obama's focus on boosting U.S. manufacturing and ...

National Elections

A look at Maine, where Romney and Paul are vying

8 hours, 5 minutes ago

(AP) A profile of Maine, site of the Republican caucus on Feb. 11:NUMBERSPopulation: 1,328,361AGEMedian age: 42.7Percentage of population 65 and over: 15.9 percentRACE AND ETHNICITY95.2 percent white, 1.3 percent Hispanic or Latino origin, 1.2 percent black, 1 percent AsianLANGUAGELanguage other than English spoken at home: 7.1 percentEDUCATIONHigh school graduate or higher: ...

Federal Government

First lady walks 'the platypus walk'

8 hours, 32 minutes ago

(AP) Add another dance move to Michelle Obama's repertoire. This one has to do with a certain celebrity platypus.The first lady gave "the platypus walk" a try on Saturday during a visit to Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.The dance was inspired by Disney's "Phineas and Ferb" show, whose ...

National Elections

First lady's trips boost health _ and her husband

9 hours, 10 minutes ago

(AP) In just the past few days, she's danced with cheering school kids, chatted with troops, swapped ideas with busy parents and engaged in a friendly cooking competition with stars from "Top Chef."Michelle Obama's national tour was intended to promote the second anniversary of her campaign against childhood obesity. The images ...

SPIN METER: Gov. Romney quiet on birth-control law

11 hours, 19 minutes ago

(AP) Mitt Romney faulted President Barack Obama's original push to require church-affiliated employers to pay for birth control as an "assault on religion," but as Massachusetts governor, Romney was largely silent about a state law that required virtually the same contraceptive coverage.The Massachusetts law, which essentially mirrored Obama's proposal, was signed ...

White House

White House didn't foresee birth control backlash

11 hours, 46 minutes ago

(AP) It's not like he wasn't warned.As President Barack Obama considered a decision on birth control that would turn into an unexpected political nightmare, he heard it from inside and outside his White House: He risked a fierce backlash if he required religious employers to provide insurance coverage for contraception in ...

National Elections

Faces beyond the numbers of long-term unemployed

12 hours, 57 minutes ago

(AP) J.R. Childress is up before the sun, bustling about in the French colonial brick house he built. He helps pack his wife's lunch, downs some eggs or cereal for breakfast, pores over online and newspaper job listings and hopes _ even prays _ this will be the day when his ...

Romney thanks Maine voters _ in a statement

17 hours, 11 minutes ago

(AP) Mitt Romney is thanking Maine voters after the state party chairman declared him the winner of that state.The former Massachusetts governor issued a statement instead of delivering a speech.Romney had visited Maine earlier in the day but he wasn't in the state when he was declared the winner. He was ...

White House

US rallies 'Friends of Syria' for meeting

17 hours, 25 minutes ago

(AP) The Obama administration is working with its European and Arab allies to organize the inaugural meeting of the "Friends of Syria" to explore ways to further isolate President Bashar Assad, support his foes and end ongoing violence.The State Department said Thursday that its top Mideast envoy, Jeffrey Feltman, has been ...

National Elections

Santorum's surge means new strategy for Romney

19 hours, 26 minutes ago

(AP) Staggered by Rick Santorum's surge, Mitt Romney is trying to reset his presidential campaign by defining himself as a strict conservative.The former Massachusetts governor had focused on his business credentials and played down his ideology, four years after he failed in his attempt to win the GOP nomination by running ...

White House

Navy names ship for former congresswoman Giffords

20 hours, 18 minutes ago

(AP) Gabrielle Giffords, the recently retired congresswoman from Arizona who was shot in an assassination attempt 13 months ago, returned to Washington Friday for double honors. The Navy named a ship after her and she saw President Barack Obama sign the last piece of legislation she authored into law.In a ceremony ...

National Elections

Pelosi says 5 states will lift House Democrats

1 day, 3 hours ago

(AP) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicts that five large states will put Democrats in striking distance of gaining control of the House after the November elections.Pelosi said Friday in San Diego that she expects gains in California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas will leave Democrats only about a half-dozen ...

White House

US to raise human rights when China's Xi visits

1 day, 4 hours ago

(AP) The White House said Friday it won't recoil from raising grave human rights concerns during a getting-acquainted visit next week by China's likely future leader.China's Vice President Xi Jinping's trip would be for him to understand issues that are important to America, including the situation in Tibet, and freedom of ...

National Elections

Santorum opposes allowing women to serve in combat

1 day, 5 hours ago

(AP) Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he thinks it would be wrong to allow women to serve in combat.As one reason, Santorum cites "the emotions of men." The White House hopeful says there is the potential that men will not be focused on their combat mission but on what he ...

White House

First lady: Girls can choose to have campaign role

1 day, 5 hours ago

(AP) Michelle Obama says her daughters' main concern about the coming presidential election is all about them.In an interview Friday in Dallas, Mrs. Obama said a child in a campaign always asks, "What happens in my life?"The first lady says she's trying to assure 10-year-old Sasha and 13-year-old Malia that they'll ...

National Elections

Romney and Paul: Not allies but not foes, either

1 day, 5 hours ago

(AP) Mitt Romney and Ron Paul rarely even acknowledge each other in the Republican presidential race, focusing their attention and attacks on rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum instead. That curious detente is being tested in Maine's caucuses this week, where Romney's reputation as a political shape shifter is going head-to-head ...

White House

Navy names ship for former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

1 day, 7 hours ago

(AP) The Navy has named a ship for Gabrielle Giffords, the recently retired congresswoman from Arizona who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head received in January 2011.In a ceremony at the Pentagon, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus unveiled an artist's rendering of the USS Gabrielle Giffords.The littoral combat ship ...

US bishops voice objections to birth control rule

1 day, 8 hours ago

(AP) The nation's Roman Catholic bishops are expressing grave doubts about President Barack Obama's revamped health care rule on birth control. They say it raises serious moral concerns and lacks clear protections for certain employers, insurers and individuals.In a statement issued Friday evening, the United States Conference of Bishops said Obama's ...

National Elections

Romney edges Santorum in conservatives' straw poll

1 day, 8 hours ago

(AP) Mitt Romney has won The Washington Times/CPAC Presidential Straw Poll of conservative activists.The former Massachusetts governor is favored as the Republican presidential nominee by 38 percent of the 3,408 respondents. Rivals Rick Santorum drew 31 percent, and Newt Gingrich was favored by 15 percent. All three candidates addressed the Conservative ...

White House

Obama budget: New spending with recycled tax ideas

1 day, 8 hours ago

(AP) The White House is focusing on re-election themes such as jobs and public works projects in President Barack Obama's new budget blueprint while relying on familiar but never enacted tax increases on the wealthy and corporations to reduce future deficits after four years of trillion dollar-plus shortfalls.Obama's 2013 budget, set ...

Report: Non-Solyndra energy loans could cost $3B

1 day, 9 hours ago

(AP) The government could lose nearly $3 billion on Energy Department loans for green energy programs _ far less than the $10 billion Congress set aside for the high-risk program, according to an independent review.The White House ordered the review after criticism of a $528 million loan to Solyndra Inc., a ...

AP

Obama: Birth control policy meets everyone's needs

1 day, 9 hours ago

(AP) President Barack Obama declared Friday he's found a solution to a birth-control uproar that will protect religious liberty but also ensure that women have access to free contraception, as he rushed to defuse an election-year issue that threatened to overtake his administration. Capping weeks of growing controversy, Obama announced he ...

Congress

Appeals court: No rehearing on Texas sonogram rule

1 day, 11 hours ago

(AP) A federal appeals court has denied a request to reconsider a lawsuit challenging a Texas law that requires doctors to perform a sonogram before an abortion.The Center for Reproductive Rights filed the suit on behalf of doctors saying the state Legislature had passed a law that wrongly dictates how a ...

Obama signs Giffords' final bill into law

1 day, 11 hours ago

(AP) President Barack Obama signed into law Friday a final bill authored by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in an Arizona shooting rampage a year ago.Giffords took part in the signing ceremony at the White House. She resigned from Congress last month as she continues to recover from a ...

National

AP sources: Obama revamping birth control policy

1 day, 11 hours ago

(AP) Rushing to end a political uproar, President Barack Obama on Friday will announce that religious employers will not have to cover birth control for their employees after all, The Associated Press has learned. The administration instead will demand that insurance companies will be the ones directly responsible for providing free ...

Spotlight »

21 - The Movie
“21” Movie: The Recap

Plus, critic Joe Brown say watching someone else gamble is as suspenseful as watching someone talk on the phone."

Plane Takes Off
Calculate Flight Delays

Last year, more than one in every five flights – 22.15 percent – arriving at McCarran Airport was late. See statistics nationwide.

Construction Deaths
Construction deaths

Nine construction workers have died since the end of 2006 at the towers that are redefining the Las Vegas skyline.

Joe Gibbs
Caption contest winner

See the winning caption for the Tony Stewart cartoon caption contest.

Most Popular

  • Viewed
  • Discussed
  • E-mailed
  • Facebook