Wire Politics

When President Barack Obama decided to attend a memorial service in Arizona for victims of a deadly mass shooting that severely injured then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, he needed a speech. And fast.

President Barack Obama's new chief speechwriter is a 32-year-old fellow Chicagoan who believes in public service.

Alleged misbehavior by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies gives the GOP something else to talk about and investigate as the economy clearly, if slowly, recovers on President Barack Obama's watch and robs Republicans of a central argument against Democrats.

Maj. Derrell Jeffords bounced his roaring Spooky 21 down and off the runway at Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam. It was just before 7:30 a.m., on Christmas Eve 1965. The big camouflaged belly of his twin-prop AC-47 was easily visible against a blue sky as he banked west.

The cargo plane-turned-gunship was on its way to Laos; its mission was top secret.

The collapse of an interstate highway bridge in Washington state brings new attention to the limits of the country’s infrastructure, especially older structures that were designed with little room for error and were never intended to carry the number of cars and trucks they see today.

A California bill that would have required manufacturers to figure out how to keep the most common plastic junk out of state waterways died in the state Assembly without a vote Friday.

A former Marine Corps judge who allegedly called those accused of sexual assault “scumbags” who deserve to be “crushed” is at the center of a widening inquiry into the impartiality of his court-martial rulings.

The international police agency Interpol has rejected a Russian push to locate and arrest a Britain-based investor who is a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin's regime.

President Barack Obama left plenty of ambiguity in new policy guidelines that he says will restrict how and when the U.S. can launch targeted drone strikes, leaving himself significant power over how and when the weapons can be deployed.

No one answered the tax-help hotline at the IRS on Friday. And you could forget about getting advice on avoiding foreclosures at the 80 Housing and Urban Development field offices nationwide.

The Ocean Conservancy, a Washington D.C.-based environmental organization, released its 2012 list of trash collected during its International Coastal Cleanup. More than 10 million pounds of debris was collected globally, with more than 769,000 pounds collected in California alone. The most common items found during the cleanup:

President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to award Congress' highest civilian honor to four girls killed in an Alabama church bombing during the civil rights movement. He called it a tragic loss that "helped to trigger triumph and a more just and equal and fair America."

Failure is OK, but continuing to work hard is more important, Michelle Obama said Friday.

Arizona's bitter debate over a signature part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul has sparked an investigation into lawmakers' safety after at least nine legislators received a threatening email over Gov. Jan Brewer's push to expand Medicaid access.

The 20-year-old son of a former aide to President George W. Bush was charged in a Washington, D.C., suburb on Friday, accused by police of killing a man with a hatchet.

Sri Srinivasan scores big on every court. As a standout basketball guard for Lawrence High School in Kansas, class of 1985, Srinivasan could both dish and shoot. As an attorney, he’s argued more than 20 cases before the Supreme Court. And as a newly unanimously confirmed appellate judge, he’s joining what’s often called the nation’s second-highest court.

Princess Cristina, the daughter of Spain's King Juan Carlos, is under investigation for possible tax fraud and money laundering, the latest blow to the Spanish royal family's reputation.

Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov next week in Paris to discuss peace talks in Syria.

President Barack Obama defended the United States' use of drone attacks as an important part of the U.S. counterterrorism policy on Thursday but signed new presidential policy guidelines to spell out for Congress and the public the standards that the U.S. will use before carrying out drone attacks.

With a growing sexual assault epidemic staining the military, President Barack Obama urged U.S. Naval Academy graduates Friday to remember their honor depends on what they do when nobody is looking and said the crime has "no place in the greatest military on earth."

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he will engage Congress in exploring a number of options for increased oversight of lethal drone strikes outside of war zones like Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama's pledge to more narrowly restrict and monitor the country's use of drones to strike targets overseas may garner some applause from allies abroad. But he was careful not to overpromise, signaling that the CIA's covert war in Pakistan is likely to continue at least for now.

Out with the global war on terror. In with more narrowly targeted counterterrorism policies that persistently zero in on violent extremists at home and abroad.

Some labor unions that enthusiastically backed President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are now frustrated and angry, fearful that it will jeopardize benefits for millions of their members.

Schools in Newtown, Conn., will receive $1.3 million in federal aid to recover after the shootings that left 26 students and educators dead last year.

Scott Walker tried to introduce himself to Iowa Republicans Thursday as so many would-be presidential candidates often do - one of their own.

Scott Walker tried to introduce himself to Iowa Republicans Thursday as so many would-be presidential candidates often do - one of their own.

President Barack Obama plans to give the Jersey Shore a boost with a post-Memorial Day visit to showcase recovery efforts in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Forecasting the changing nature of threats against the U.S. for years to come, President Barack Obama says "America is at a crossroads." And so, too, is his presidency's counterterrorism policy, which has long struggled to balance protecting the nation from terror attacks while upholding Americans' rights.

A day after she refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing, Lois Lerner was replaced Thursday as director of the Internal Revenue Service division that oversaw agents who targeted tea party groups.