Tom Howell Jr.

Forgotten vial of smallpox found in NIH storage room

A forgotten sample of smallpox dating back to the 1950s was found in a storage room at the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.

July 8, 2014

Vials of smallpox virus found where they shouldn’t have been: CDC

The Centers for Disease Control announced Tuesday that government employees found old vials labeled "variola," better known as smallpox, in an unused portion of an FDA lab in the Beltway area — a remarkable and unusual discovery because an international pact says smallpox samples may only be held at labs in Atlanta and Russia.

July 8, 2014

Mitch McConnell highlights Obamacare’s problems, renews call for alternative

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called on Democrats Tuesday to start over on health reform, rattling off a litany of problems and broken promises that surround Obamacare.

July 8, 2014

Judge hears arguments in Sen. Ron Johnson’s Obamacare lawsuit

A lawyer for Republican Sen. Ron Johnson told a federal court Monday that the Obama administration overstepped its bounds and gave members of Congress and their staffs illegal preferential treatment under Obamacare.

July 7, 2014

Republicans: Obama ignored brewing border crisis

Republicans said Sunday that President Obama ignored the tide of illegal immigrant children pouring across the border for years and may have even invited it with his policy of deferring deportations, making him responsible for the current crisis of exploitation and violence.

July 6, 2014

Israel says teen murder suspects will be tried

Israeli officials vowed to prosecute six suspects arrested Sunday and accused of killing a Palestinian youth in what has been viewed as revenge for last week's murder of three Jewish teenagers.

July 6, 2014

Texan bishop: Think about why children are fleeing to U.S. border

A Texan bishop said Sunday the debate over a flood of unaccompanied youths to the southern U.S. border has focused on their illegal status and what to do with them but has ignored the root causes of the problem.

July 6, 2014

Rep. Darrell Issa to DOJ: Time to move on IRS case

The House's top investigator said the investigation into the IRS political targeting scandal is being held up by a Justice Department that refuses to go after Lois Lerner, the former official at the heart of the probe.

July 6, 2014

Homeland Security Secretary vows to ‘stem the tide’ at the border

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Sunday he thinks the U.S. can turn back the influx of illegal immigrants, particularly unaccompanied children, who are causing a crisis at the southern border.

July 6, 2014

Perry: Obama administration knew about border problem for years

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Sunday he warned the administration for years about the incoming tide of young illegal immigrants and begged for additional resources to deal with it, only to be rebuffed and left with a crisis along his state's southern border.

July 6, 2014

Texas bishop: Think about why children are fleeing to U.S. border

A Texan bishop said Sunday the debate over a flood of unaccompanied youths to the southern U.S. border has focused on their illegal status and what to do with them but has ignored the root causes of the problem.

July 6, 2014

Issa to DOJ: Time to move on IRS case

The House's top investigator said the investigation into the IRS political targeting scandal is being held up by a Justice Department that refuses to go after Lois Lerner, the former official at the heart of the probe.

July 6, 2014

U.S. lawmakers want Israelis and Palestinia​ns to commit to justice

U.S. lawmakers and officials said Sunday they expect both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to seek justice after a spate of back-and-forth violence that began with the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens last week.

July 6, 2014

Birth control issues rattle high court; female justices outraged by stance on nonprofits

The Supreme Court's decision to let a Christian college to temporarily avoid responsibility for Obamacare's "contraception mandate" has drawn a sharp rebuke from the court's female justices, who say the body is hedging on language in the high-profile "Hobby Lobby" case it issued just days prior.

July 4, 2014

July Fourth holiday fever sweeps through … Colombia?

Everyone knows Friday is a holiday in the U.S., but Colombia is getting in on the action, too — well, kind of.

July 3, 2014

Washington state announces Obamacare sign-up period for newly married same-sex couples

Washington state officials announced Thursday they will offer a 60-day special enrollment period on its Obamacare exchange for same-sex domestic partners whose unions were converted to marriages at the end of last month.

July 3, 2014

Pew Research: Only a quarter of Americans tracking Iraq violence

As Sunni militants sweep across Iraq, sending the war-damaged nation into sectarian chaos, only a quarter of Americans say they are paying close attention to the growing instability, a new survey said.

July 3, 2014

Voters blame Bush for Iraq situation, but Obama still gets poor marks: poll

Six in 10 American voters say the war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do and a majority think President Obama's decision to pull U.S. troops out in 2011 was the right thing to do, said a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

July 3, 2014

GOP primary foes in Kansas vow to push Obamacare repeal

A Washington-based conservative group is hailing Sen. Pat Roberts and his Republican primary foe for signing a pledge to fight for Obamacare's repeal, according to wire reports.

July 3, 2014

Most veterans satisfied with GI Bill: Poll

Nearly 8 in 10 veterans are satisfied with the GI Bill's education benefits, a promising statistic as Congress and others scrutinize the failings of medical care for those who served.

July 3, 2014