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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Lois Lerner's emails became an issue after she was singled out as a key figure in the IRS's treatment of tea party and conservative groups who sought tax-exempt status. The IRS improperly delayed hundreds of applications and sent out intrusive questionnaires asking what the agency now says were inappropriate inquiries. (Associated Press)

IRS finds yet another Lois Lerner email account

Lois Lerner had yet another personal email account used to conduct some IRS business, the tax agency confirmed in a new court filing late Monday that further complicates the administration's efforts to be transparent about Ms. Lerner's actions during the tea party targeting scandal.

August 24, 2015
Speculation is increasing that Vice President Joseph R. Biden will make a run for the White House, following a weekend meeting with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, and Mr. Biden's hiring of new communications director, Kate Bedingfield. (Associated Press)

Is Joe Biden running for president?

Speculation over a possible presidential bid by Vice President Joseph R. Biden kicked into high gear Monday after he met over the weekend with Democratic kingmaker Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and the White House seemed to give him a public nudge of sorts, saying he's ready for the top job.

August 24, 2015
Immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala who entered the country illegally board a bus after they were released from a family detention center in San Antonio, in this July 7, 2015, file photo. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Judge orders illegal immigrant families quickly released

The Obama administration must begin releasing illegal immigrants mothers and children by October, a federal judge ordered late Friday in a ruling that punctures the last remaining get-tough part of President Obama's immigration policy and, the administration believes, sets the stage for a new surge of illegal immigration.

August 22, 2015
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leaves the courthouse after serving on jury duty in New York, Monday, Aug. 17, 2015. The Republican presidential candidate reported for jury duty in Manhattan on Monday and spent much of the day like everyone else, filling out forms and wondering whether he would get picked. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Mexico condemns attack on immigrant attributed to Trump rhetoric

Mexico waded into the American political debate over immigration Friday with a plea to tone down the rhetoric after an older Mexican man was beaten in Boston earlier this week and one of the suspects made comments praising GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's call to get tough on illegal immigrants.

August 21, 2015
Donald Trump's six-page illegal immigration crackdown plan included calls to build more fencing, require illegal immigrants to go home before being readmitted with legal status and to end the policy granting automatic citizenship to almost everyone born in the U.S., including to illegal immigrant mothers. (Associated Press)

Donald Trump pushes birthright citizenship to forefront of political debate

Birthright citizenship, an issue long kicked about in Republican circles, has leaped to the forefront of the political debate, with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leading the charge and drawing fierce fire from critics who say he and his fellow candidates are messing with a fundamental principle of American history.

August 20, 2015
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, on Aug. 15, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Court says Hillary Clinton emails broke ‘government policy’

A federal judge said Thursday that former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's unique email arrangement violated government policy and prodded the department to talk with the FBI to determine what documents can be recovered from the computer server and flash drives used to store her emails.

August 20, 2015
A New Jersey Transit Police sergeant talks on a radio while patrolling the Secaucus Junction Station on Jan. 31, 2014. The Transportation Security Administration and New Jersey Transit Police began screening bags at the station in preparation for Sunday's Super Bowl at the Meadowlands. All passengers with bags will be screened by TSA officers before they will be allowed to board trains to Met Life Stadium on Sunday. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Taxpayer money funds faulty radios for police, firefighters: Audit

Homeland Security still allows local police and fire departments to spend billions of dollars on communications equipment that isn't "interoperable," meaning agencies can't easily communicate with each other, hampering their response in emergencies, the department's inspector general said.

August 20, 2015
Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an education summit Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015, in Londonderry, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) ** FILE **

Common Core education standards divide Republican presidential candidates

The Common Core education standards continue to cleave the Republican presidential field, with two of the contenders defending them Wednesday as successful ways to raise students' achievement, but others who have now abandoned their support, insisting the standards are a symptom of dangerous federal overreach.

August 19, 2015
Then-Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker gestures during an interview with The Associated Press following the first U.S.-Ukraine Business Forum co-hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Commerce Department in Washington on July 13, 2015. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Federal patent employee skipped 18 weeks of work

A federal patent examiner skipped out on more than 18 weeks of work last year, bilking the government out of more than $25,000 in salary, the Commerce Department's inspector general said in a report Wednesday that concluded it's too far easy to cheat the patent office.

August 19, 2015
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at a town hall meeting in North Las Vegas, Nev., on Aug. 18, 2015. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

State Department destroyed Hillary Clinton aides’ BlackBerrys

The State Department likely destroyed the BlackBerry devices issued to two top aides of Hillary Rodham Clinton and never issued Mrs. Clinton a device at all, officials told a federal court Wednesday in a filing that raises still more security questions about the former secretary's email practices.

August 19, 2015
Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican and the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking member (Associated Press) **FILE**

Chuck Grassley probes bias on Hillary Clinton email screening team

A top Republican senator demanded Wednesday that the State Department probe fears that staffers biased toward former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton are part of the process reviewing her emails, and may be shielding some of her documents to protect her from public embarrassment.

August 19, 2015
A mangled street sign stands among tornado debris in Joplin, Mo, last May. The twister killed 161 people and cost $2.8 billion in damage. Insurance is expected to cover most of the loss, but taxpayers could foot $500 million. (Associated Press)

Joplin wasted millions in tornado assistance: Audit

Joplin, the Missouri city devastated by a tornado in 2011, wasted a lot of taxpayers' money in the rush to rebuild, including doling out sweetheart contracts to politically connected firms that never did any work or that ended up bilking taxpayers, and hiding their decisions behind closed doors, breaking sunshine laws, a state auditor concluded Tuesday.

August 19, 2015