TheRepublic.com - Political issues News

Syrian troops push into strategic rebel-held town

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:08:46 -0400

BEIRUT - Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border on Sunday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air as President Bashar Assad tried to strengthen his grip on a strategic strip of land running from the capital to the Mediterranean coast.

Analysis: Missouri GOP success in eye of beholder

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:56:20 -0400

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri - Success. That desirable word can have different meanings to different people.

Charlotte remembers 1963 desegregation 'eat-in'

Sun, 19 May 2013 19:39:23 -0400

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - In the spring of 1963, a prominent civil rights leader led dozens of protesters on a four-mile march from a predominantly African-American college campus to the center of Charlotte's downtown.

Police face difficult deadline in destroying guns

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:04:12 -0400

PHOENIX - Phoenix police are in a race against time in processing guns that the city purchased at recent gun buyback events.

Brewer wrestled with decision on Medicaid proposal

Sun, 19 May 2013 16:23:11 -0400

PHOENIX - The weekend before Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer made her State of the State address in January, she practiced two versions of her speech: One with a Medicaid expansion in it and one without it.

Quinn pushes for ban on high-capacity ammunition

Sun, 19 May 2013 16:06:14 -0400

CHICAGO - Illinois' top Democrats joined parents of Connecticut school shooting victims Sunday to call for a state ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, a push made as lawmakers face a tight deadline on a contentious measure to legalize concealed carry.

Most Ark. schools opting out of campus gun law

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:00:16 -0400

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas - A new Arkansas law that leaves the decision on whether to allow faculty and staff to carry concealed handguns on campus up to colleges and universities isn't finding any takers so far among the state's higher education institutions.

Snohomish transit organization rejects anti-gun ad

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:56:05 -0400

EVERETT, Washington - The main transit organization in Snohomish County is declining to run advertisements from a statewide gun control group on public buses.

Chinese premier visits India to boost ties

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:48:15 -0400

NEW DELHI - Just weeks after a tense border standoff, China's new premier visited India on Sunday on his first foreign trip as the neighboring giants look to speed up efforts to settle a decades-old boundary dispute and boost economic ties.

Portland revisits issue of public fluoridation

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:28:38 -0400

PORTLAND, Oregon - While soaking up the rays in what's been an unusually sunny season, Portlanders have broken away from their polite chatter about food, wine and outdoor adventure to fight about whether to fluoridate the water supply.

Woes notwithstanding, GOP savors a week of gifts

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:45:04 -0400

RICHMOND, Virginia - Ken Cuccinelli and Virginia's Republican Party ticket heading into the state's November bellwether elections couldn't have imagined how the headlines that vexed them a week ago could unite and galvanize the party in a few short days.

Gun safety top priority at Gettysburg 150th

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:28:19 -0400

YORK, Pennsylvania - The document is 39 pages long. And this year it is going to contain some of the most important words read in Gettysburg - maybe not timeless, Gettysburg Address important. But important nonetheless.

Ga water negotiator's role may be seen as conflict

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:56:01 -0400

ATLANTA - One of Georgia's negotiators in a tri-state water dispute also is president of a lobbying firm that has sought to commercially develop a technology billed as a partial solution to that feud, a situation that a top state official and others say could look like a conflict even though it is legal.

White House insists Obama was not involved in IRS

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:28:25 -0400

WASHINGTON - A top White House adviser insisted Sunday that President Barack Obama learned the Internal Revenue Service had targeted tea party groups only "when it came out in the news" while Republicans continued to press the administration for more answers.

Springfield looking at local concealed carry law

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:50:26 -0400

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois - Another community is exploring a possible ordinance on concealed guns in the event state lawmakers fail to pass a law by a federal court's deadline.

Washington scandals intrude on Mass. Senate race

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:38:41 -0400

BOSTON - The controversies swirling around the Obama administration - from the IRS targeting of conservative groups to lingering questions about last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya - are threatening to engulf Massachusetts' special U.S. Senate election.

Ill. lawmakers face tough votes before adjourning

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:14:29 -0400

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois - The Illinois General Assembly has just two weeks left in Springfield before it adjourns for the summer, leaving lawmakers with a tight deadline for action on issues including tackling the state's pension crisis, gay marriage and how guns will be allowed to be carried in public.

NY Assemblyman accused of sex harass resigns

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:23:55 -0400

ALBANY, New York - The New York assemblyman accused of asking young female staffers to massage him, touch his cancerous tumors and join him in hotel rooms said Saturday he will resign rather than possibly be expelled from the Legislature amid sexual harassment allegations.

Calif. law takes effect on microstamping guns

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:41:13 -0400

LOS ANGELES - A California law that requires all semi-automatic handguns to be equipped with technology that stamps its identifying information on bullet casings is now in effect after years of delays.

Mass. lawmaker: Recoup benefits from terrorists

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:13:04 -0400

BOSTON - A Republican lawmaker is pushing for a law allowing Massachusetts to recoup public benefits given to anyone later convicted of using of a weapon of mass destruction.

Myanmar leader, Obama to meet while reforms stall

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:56:55 -0400

WASHINGTON - Myanmar President Thein Sein's historic White House visit next week is the culmination of U.S. outreach to a former pariah regime. That's been based on a principle of taking "action for action" by deepening ties in response to democratic reforms.

IRS probe ignored most influential groups

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:44:42 -0400

WASHINGTON - There's an irony in the Internal Revenue Service's crackdown on conservative groups.

Politics, bribery charges swirl around Ugandan oil

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:37:27 -0400

KAMPALA, Uganda - Even before the first drops flow, Uganda's oil sector is beset by bribery allegations against officials, tax-related cases abroad that cost the government millions in legal fees, and the alleged interference of a president whose firm control of the sector worries transparency campaigners.

Afghan lawmakers block law on women's rights

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:36:46 -0400

KABUL, Afghanistan - Conservative religious lawmakers in Afghanistan blocked legislation on Saturday aimed at strengthening provisions for women's freedoms, arguing that parts of it violate Islamic principles and encourage disobedience.

Abortion-rights group, Dems rally at GOP gathering

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:59:04 -0400

RICHMOND, Virginia - A few dozen reproductive rights activists clad in pink T-shirts quietly picketed alongside Democrats in the rain outside the Virginia Republican Convention that will nominate anti-abortion Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for governor.