• Obama to Stop Deporting Undocumented Youths

    (The Root) — In one of his biggest moves on immigration, on Friday President Obama announced that his administration will stop deporting some undocumented youths and provide them with work authorization. The immigrants in question are those who would qualify under the mired DREAM Act (pdf) — young people up to age 30, who were…

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  • Security Leaks Draw Scrutiny of White House

    (The Root) — The White House is facing another case of leaked information with the release on Wednesday of a document detailing the Obama administration’s trade negotiations. Posted on the website of the consumer-rights advocacy group Public Citizen, the leaked document reveals that a proposed trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region would controversially give broader…

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  • Mrs. Obama Celebrates Her Favorite Dads

    (The Root) — She’s already active on Facebook and Twitter, where this week she crossed the 1 million-followers mark. On Wednesday Michelle Obama further expanded her social media footprint with the launch of a Pinterest page. The account, which is run by the Obama re-election campaign but features personal photos captioned by the first lady…

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  • Federal Panel to Review 'Stand Your Ground'

    (The Root) — The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced on Friday that it will launch a special investigation into “Stand your ground” laws and whether racial bias plays a role in how they are enforced. The legislation — which allows people to use deadly force, without any obligation to retreat first, when they believe…

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  • Obama Jobs Plan: Second Time's a Charm?

    (The Root) — Not-so-distant history repeated itself on Friday as President Obama urged Congress to pass his legislative jobs proposals. The president first presented this plan, the American Jobs Act, before a joint session of Congress last September. While Congress agreed to pass a few parts of the bill — including an expansion of the…

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  • Florida Refuses to Stop Voter Purge

    (The Root) — Last week the U.S. Department of Justice ordered Florida’s Secretary of State Ken Detzner to halt the state’s plan to purge thousands of registered voters from the voter rolls. Florida’s database-matching process for deciding which residents are ineligible noncitizens had not been cleared with the Justice Department — a step that the…

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  • Ex-Democratic Star on Blacks and the GOP

    (The Root) — In Part 1 of our interview with former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, he explained his reasons for crossing the aisle to the Republican Party. “There is no center right in the Democratic Party. There is in the Republican Party, and it fits, in many ways, how I see the world,” explained the…

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  • Artur Davis: Why I Left the Democratic Party

    (The Root) — It didn’t exactly come as a shock last week when Artur Davis announced his switch to the Republican Party. Although the former U.S. congressman from Alabama served as a top surrogate to Barack Obama in 2008 and was once widely anticipated to become a Democratic power player, he frequently walked out of…

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  • Scott Walker Wins Wisconsin Recall Election

    (The Root) — The dramatic Wisconsin recall election came to an end Tuesday night, as Republican Gov. Scott Walker defeated his Democratic challenger, Tom Barrett. Although Walker’s victory was largely expected, with multiple public polls showing him ahead of Barrett — not to mention his campaign vastly outspending Barrett’s ($45.6 million for Walker, compared with…

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  • Obama Administration on Race and Asthma

    (The Root) — Nearly 26 million Americans are affected by asthma, including 7 million children, and research has shown for decades that poor and minority children bear the greatest burden of the respiratory disease. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, asthma rates for African-American children are at 16 percent — and 16.5…

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