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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

**FILE** This image provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows the packaging for the "Plan B" pill. (Associated Press)

Judge strikes down age restrictions on ‘morning-after’ pill

A federal judge ordered the Food and Drug Administration on Friday to make a morning-after birth control pill available without a prescription for girls younger than 17 within 30 days — a blunt opinion that rebuked decisions by the Obama administration as politically motivated.

April 5, 2013
** FILE ** President Obama signs the Affordable Care Act in 2010 at the White House.

Taxes heat up battle against ‘Obamacare’; focus turns to partial repeals

A tax on everything from X-ray machines to oxygen tanks took effect at the beginning of this year — one of about 20 taxes and fees included in President Obama's health care law — and has emerged as the central battleground in the fight by the law's opponents to repeal parts of the president's overhaul.

April 3, 2013

Advantage plans under Medicare to get payment boost

The Obama administration reversed course Monday and said it now anticipates boosting rather than cutting payments to insurers who offer Medicare Advantage plans — the private health plans that the president had at one time deemed wasteful.

April 1, 2013
**FILE** Smokers without medical insurance receive free nicotine patches and gum at the Remote Area Medical (RAM) clinic inside the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles on April 27, 2010. (Associated Press)

FDA: No warning required for nicotine gum, patches

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that manufacturers of products designed to help people quit smoking can alter or remove previously required safety warnings that may be discouraging people from trying to kick the habit.

April 1, 2013
**FILE** The United Nations building is reflected on the window of the U.S. mission to the U.N. as portraits of President Obama (left), Vice President Joseph R. Biden, and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hang in the lobby on Sept. 18, 2010, in New York. (Associated Press)

Gun groups promise fight as U.N. inches toward override of Second Amendment

American gun rights advocates said Thursday that they remain determined to block a far-reaching U.S. agreement on international arms sales, warning that the pact could lead to a national firearms registry and disrupt the U.S. gun market, even as the accord ran into an unexpected last-minute snag in negotiations in New York.

March 28, 2013
**FILE** House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi addresses an audience in Boston during an event held to mark the 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act on March 25, 2013. (Associated Press)

Pelosi ‘optimistic’ DOMA will be struck down

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she is "very optimistic" the Supreme Court will strike down a 1996 law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for all federal purposes, leading a chorus of Democratic lawmakers asking the judges to do so.

March 27, 2013
Vanessa Torres (center) and her fiance Rachel Broussard (right) of Hampton, Va., console Vanessa's daughter Gabriela, 12, as they listen to speakers during a rally for marriage equality outside the Supreme Court in Washington as the justices begin hearing two days of arguments in cases involving gay marriage on March 26, 2013. Torres and Broussard each have two children from previous marriages and are getting married in August. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Both sides optimistic, uncertain as gay marriage arguments end

Attorneys who are challenging and defending California's ban on gay marriage before the Supreme Court struck an optimistic tone as they emerged from arguments on Tuesday, even if they conceded they have no idea how the justices will rule about three months from now.

March 26, 2013
Qween Amar (left) from Orlando, Fla., dances March 26, 2013, by Margie Phelps (right), a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, outside the Supreme Court in Washington,where the court will hear arguments on California's voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. (Associated Press)

Key justice: ‘Immediate injury’ in gay marriage ban

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, often pegged as a key swing-vote between the court's conservative and liberal blocs, has signaled that children of same-sex couples suffer an "immediate legal injury" from California's ban on gay marriage, according to an account of the high court's oral arguments provided by Bloomberg News.

March 26, 2013

Corporation rights drive divergent rulings on contraception

A federal judge has rejected a Michigan company's urgent plea for protection from the contraception mandate in President Obama's health-care law, noting that a corporation's rights are not always the same as an individual's.

March 25, 2013
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele chats following the annual Red Mass for the U.S. Supreme Court at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Ex-RNC head Michael Steele knocks down Christie criticism

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele said Monday that conservatives' decision to ostracize popular New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for embracing President Obama in a time of crisis was "nothing short of moronic."

March 25, 2013
**FILE** Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. walks out of the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 4, 2013, following the counting of Electoral College votes. (Associated Press)

Senate narrowly passes first budget in four years

Saturday's razor-thin, predawn approval of a spending plan in the Senate is being called a victory by Democrats — but Republicans emerged from the all-nighter with momentum on two key issues: deficit reduction and the Keystone XL pipeline.

March 22, 2013
** FILE ** Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Firefighters, birth control lead off Senate budget votes

The Senate kicked off what promises to be a lengthy "vote-a-rama" session tied to their budget plan Friday afternoon by swiftly approving funds for forest firefighters out West and then defeating, largely along party lines, an amendment that would have let secular employers refuse to insure contraception.

March 22, 2013
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during her Capitol Hill news conference Thursday. The California Democrat wants President Obama’s health care law expanded to mandate that drug companies give Medicare better rebates on prescription drug purchases. (Associated Press)

‘Obamacare’ still a work in progress

Marking the third anniversary of the health care law's passage in Congress, Republicans and Democrats agreed on one thing Thursday — President Obama's signature legislative achievement could use some changes.

March 21, 2013