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Articles by Stephen Dinan

Visitors to Zion National Park take in the sights after the park opened on a limited basis Friday, Oct. 11, 2013 near Springdale, Utah. Earlier Thursday, the Obama administration said it would allow states to use their own money to reopen some national parks after a handful of governors made the request. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday he reached an agreement to pay $166,000 a day to the Interior Department to open Utah's five national parks, while Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says she'd consider paying for a partial reopening of Grand Canyon National Park. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Trent Nelson) DESERET NEWS OUT; LOCAL TV OUT; MAGS OUT

Grand Canyon to reopen despite shutdown

Arizona and the federal Interior Department agreed Friday to reopen Grand Canyon National Park for at least a week, with the state ponying up $651,000 to fund the National Park Service's operations in the midst of the government shutdown.

October 11, 2013
**FILE** A view of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah is seen here on April 27, 2002. (Associated Press)

Utah, Colorado parks to reopen amid shutdown; Arizona still waiting

Utah has agreed to pay the federal government $1.7 million to open up eight national parks during the government shutdown, and the National Park Service officials said they would consider similar agreements with other states — but were apparently "dragging their feet" with Arizona.

October 11, 2013
** FILE ** Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Reid says House debt offer won’t work

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that the six-week debt limit holiday House Republicans proposed is bad policy that would mean the government would be right back in the same situation soon.

October 11, 2013
Michael Chertoff, a former Homeland Security secretary, says if more immigrants were granted deferred action, it doesn't solve the problem for businesses that would have to decide whether to hire them and could halt momentum toward a full legalization solution. (associated press photographs)

Obama urged not to expand nondeportation policy for immigrants

A bipartisan group of immigration reform advocates urged President Obama on Thursday not to use executive action to expand his Dream Act nondeportation policy to all illegal immigrants, saying it would not only be potentially illegal but could ruin the chances for a big bill to pass Congress.

October 10, 2013
** FILE ** Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, pauses during a news conference on the ongoing budget battle outside his office on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Boehner to propose short-term debt increase: Report

House Speaker John A. Boehner will ask his fellow Republicans at a Thursday morning meeting to approve a short-term debt increase, the Associated Press reported — a move that would give them time to negotiate a broader deal.

October 10, 2013
A child looks longingly through the locked gates of the National Zoo in this shutdown photograph posted on the social media site, Reddit.

First Amendment used to break Park Service barriers during shutdown

Taking their lead from the veterans who first pushed through the barricades to visit the World War II Memorial, Americans nationwide are defying the federal government shutdown, tossing aside traffic cones and toppling wooden fences to get to national parks and other federal lands that the administration has deemed out of bounds.

October 9, 2013
Sarah Hall Ingram, director of the Affordable Care Act Office at the Internal Revenue Service, told a House committee Wednesday that she was "not conscious of ever sharing 6103 data information at the White House." She said the agency is keeping Obamacare applicants' information private. She also said she had "no recollection" of hearing about IRS targeting of conservatives. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Republicans say Obamacare official leaked IRS data

House Republican investigators Wednesday accused the woman in charge of the IRS' Obamacare compliance office of having leaked private taxpayer information to the White House, saying that calls into question the agency's trustworthiness in administering the new health care reform law.

October 9, 2013
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. presided as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could lift restrictions on campaign donations to political parties and candidates. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Supreme Court skeptical of campaign finance cap

Supreme Court justices signaled Tuesday that they aren't sold on current campaign finance laws that limit how much Americans can contribute directly to candidates and political parties, as the court met for the first major oral argument of its new term.

October 8, 2013
United States Park Rangers Josh Clemons, left, and Peter Zahrt close a trail at Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky. Tuesday, Oct., 1, 2013. National Parks across the country are closed due to the federal government shutdown. (AP Photo/The Daily News, Alex Slitz)

Alaska slams feds for keeping hunters off land

Alaska lawmakers accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of violating federal law by shutting down hunting on its lands during the government shutdown, saying a 1980 law guarantees state residents must have access to the land.

October 8, 2013
**FILE** The Supreme Court in Washington is seen June 27, 2012. (Associated Press)

Supreme Court signals skepticism of campaign finance limits

The Supreme Court seemed skeptical Tuesday of the web of campaign finance regulations they and Congress have left in place, as the justices heard a case that legal analysts said could end up erasing one of the remaining campaign finance limits on individuals.

October 8, 2013
**FILE** Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican (Associated Press)

Lawyer bilked Social Security while representing hundreds of clients

In testimony more befitting a legal thriller than a congressional hearing, Social Security employees told the Senate on Monday of an agency office in West Virginia rife with intimidation, retaliation and corruption — including a successful scheme that allowed a lawyer to bilk more than $4 million in taxpayers' money from the disability system.

October 7, 2013