Dec
21

NRA: Guns in schools would protect students

Updated: 6:44 p.m. ETIn a press conference reflecting on last week's massacre in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre today called on Congress to put armed law enforcement agents in every American school, insisting that guns in schools -- not tougher gun laws -- would most effectively protect children from school shootings. Play VideoA "good guy with a gun" in every school?...
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Obama Still an 'Optimist' on Cliff Deal

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON D.C. – Ten days remain before the mandatory spending cuts and tax increases known as the “fiscal cliff” take effect, but President Obama said he is still a “hopeless optimist” that a federal budget deal can be reached before the year-end deadline that economists agree might plunge the country back into recession.“Even though Democrats and Republicans are...
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Dec
20

Goodbye, U.S. Postal Service?

This Christmas could be the Post Office's last, says John Avlon. STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe U.S. Postal Service is bleeding money and heading toward insolvency John Avlon: Congress can save the postal service in deal on the fiscal cliff He says the urgency is clear, let's hope for a Christmas miracle Avlon: But be prepared that Washington dysfunction can doom the postal service Editor's note: John Avlon...
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Madoff's brother sentenced to 10 years for fraud

NEW YORK: Peter Madoff, brother of shamed US financier Bernard Madoff, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison for cooking the books at the family investment firm.Peter Madoff, 67, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud during his role as book keeper for Bernard Madoff's once widely heralded but in fact fraudulent Wall Street firm.The brother has also been slapped...
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Boehner scraps his fiscal cliff plan after failing to get votes

STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: "The president will work with Congress to get this done," the White House saysThe House Speaker says his Plan B wasn't voted on because it didn't have "sufficient support" A bill to alter cuts did narrowly pass the House; the White House says it would vetoThe fiscal cliff's tax hikes and spending cuts are set to take effect in JanuaryWashington (CNN) -- House Speaker John Boehner's...
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Obama to hold moment of silence for Conn. victims

President Obama speaks at a memorial service for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 16, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. / MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images WASHINGTON President Barack Obama plans to observe a moment of silence at the White House on Friday morning in honor of the victims of the Connecticut elementary school massacre. The White House says the president will...
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Fiscal Cliff 'Plan B' Is Dead: Now What?

Dec 20, 2012 11:00pm The defeat of his Plan B — Republicans pulled it when it became clear it would be voted down — is a big defeat for Speaker of the House John Boehner.  It demonstrates definitively that there is no fiscal cliff deal that can pass the House on Republican votes alone.Boehner could not even muster the votes to pass something that would only allow...
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Dec
19

On gun control, look to Biden

Rebecca Puckwalter-Poza says Vice President Joe Biden was a leader on gun control in the Senate.STORY HIGHLIGHTSRebecca Buckwalter-Poza: Obama has apparently tapped Biden as gun control point manShe says he was leader in Senate on issue, shepherding 1994 gun control legislationIt banned manufacture of many semi-automatic guns,criminalized high-capacity magazinesWriter: Biden worked across aisle; he's...
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Mexico empties prison of inmates after deadly riot

DURANGO, Mexico: Officials have removed all of the prisoners -- about 500 inmates -- from a prison in northern Mexico, one day after the facility erupted in violence, leaving 15 inmates and nine guards dead.The prison "has been totally emptied as a preventive measure," Durango public safety spokesman Fernando Rios told AFP, who said the inmates had been distributed to penal facilities...
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Blizzard warning issued for large swath of Midwest

Drivers in Colorado contend with heavy snow Wednesday.STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: 156-mile stretch of freeway closed in Colorado23-car pileup in Texas dust storm kills one, injures 17Heavy snow, high winds stretch from Colorado to Wisconsin in season's first blizzardStorm to crawl from Midwest to New England by Friday(CNN) -- People traveling early for Christmas in the center of the country will be dashing...
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