Stephen Dinan

Obama EPA rule blocked, criticized as fed power grab over state waters

President Obama's push to extend the EPA's regulatory hand to ditches and small streams to enforce clean water rules was blocked Thursday by a federal judge, who said the administration had overstepped its bounds in trying yet another end run around Congress.

August 27, 2015

Solyndra lied to government to secure Obama stimulus cash, IG report finds

Solyndra, the solar panel manufacturer that took more than $500 million from President Obama's stimulus then went bust, sticking taxpayers for the loss, lied to federal officials to secure the loan, the Energy Department's inspector general said in a report released Wednesday.

August 26, 2015

Solyndra misled government to get $535M solar project loan: report

California-based solar company Solyndra provided false information and misleading reports to the federal government to secure an ill-fated $535 million loan for a solar project, according to the Department of Energy's inspector general.

August 26, 2015

2016 presidential field full of marijuana users: report

The 2016 presidential field could be the most doped-up in history.

August 26, 2015

Budget deficit smallest of Obama presidency, but economy still sluggish: CBO

The economy is sluggish but growing and inflation remains low, painting a decidedly mixed picture for the federal government, the Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday, saying the fiscal situation is improving this year but will snap back by 2018 to swelling deficits and unsustainable debt.

August 25, 2015

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

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

Twitter cancels Politwoops, warehouse of politicians’ gaffes

Twitter has done a huge favor for bungling politicians worldwide after the social media site canceled Politwoops, a series of dozens of accounts that preserved deleted posts the pols would have preferred the public not see.

August 24, 2015

Illegal immigrants with children released quickly under federal judge’s ruling

Immigrant rights advocates are cheering a federal judge's ruling that says illegal immigrant families fleeing violence in Central America must be processed quickly and released into the U.S., though the court order leaves room for many of them to be detained.

August 23, 2015

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

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 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

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

Congressional Democrats probe group that revealed Planned Parenthood videos

Congressional Democrats have opened their own investigation into the Planned Parenthood videos -- but into the group that took the footage in which officials haggle over the prices of organs and discuss keeping a baby alive so his brain can be harvested.

August 20, 2015

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

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

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

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

John Kasich: GOP made mistake in proposing to ‘kill’ Education Department

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Wednesday he and fellow Republicans made a "mistake" in the 1990s when they tried to eliminate the federal Department of Education, saying independent voters heard that and concluded Republicans were anti-education.

August 19, 2015

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