Politics

Without the fanfare of a signing ceremony, President Obama signed the 9/11 health bill into law on Sunday in Hawaii. “It came out with a member of the staff so that it could be signed in a timely fashion,” White House spokesman Bill Burton said. The bill provides health coverage to the first responders to…

At a Chicago concert on Saturday evening, Chuck Berry slumped over his keyboard and had to be escorted offstage after multiple attempts to continue his show.  “All I know is he felt faint, he felt weak and I was told to call 911,” said Michael Petryshyn, the concert’s promoter, backstage after Berry’s departure. Berry, who…

If you know anything about Chicago-style politics — particularly when it comes to the open mayoral seat that is available for the first time in more than a generation — you know that having a consensus African-American candidate is important to many black Chicagoans. If you know anything about black America in general, you know…

The Rev. Jesse Jackson held a meeting on Wednesday night to try to unify two of the black Chicago mayoral candidates: U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun. Jackson and other African-American leaders hope that if only one of these candidates runs for election, there will be a better chance for…

Haley Barbour, Mississippi’s governor, wants everyone to believe he is the good guy in the case of two black women who have spent nearly 20 years in prison because of an $11 robbery that they may not have even committed. Once the heat over his recent civil rights flap got a little too warm for…

Much was made of President Obama’s identification of “empathy” as a key attribute of a Supreme Court nominee. Republican derision of empathy as a desirable quality in a Supreme Court justice was, of course, a mere tempest in a teapot. Republican presidents have also touted the importance of empathy, including George H.W. Bush, who introduced…

By Jason Horowitz and Nia-Malika Henderson Republicans eager to knock Sarah Palin from her presumed perch at the head of the cluttered 2012 presidential primary field have found an unlikely wedge issue that includes an unlikely ally: The first lady and flab. In an odd turn of events, some conservatives have taken to defending Michelle…

Written by Krissah Thompson Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been battling the snow on his city’s streets tweet by tweet – and getting a lot of attention doing it. Since the Sunday storm that dumped about two feet of snow on the Newark area, he’s helped lift cars, shoveled driveways and promised to send road…

By Eugene Robinson It’s been not quite two months since Republicans won a sweeping midterm victory, and already they seem divided, embattled and — not to mince words — freaked out. For good reason, I might add. Sen. Lindsey Graham captured the mood with his mordant assessment of the lame-duck Congress: “Harry Reid has eaten…

First lady Michelle Obama helped kids keep track of Santa during her Christmas vacation. When her husband, President Barack Obama, and daughters, Sasha and Malia, went to the beach on their Christmas vacation in Hawaii, the first lady stayed behind to answer calls from children trying to pinpoint Santa’s whereabouts. She spent approximately 40 minutes…