Government - Nation

WASHINGTON – There’s an irony in the Internal Revenue Service’s crackdown on conservative groups.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama tried to defuse a trio of controversies Thursday, pledging to work with Congress to ensure the IRS doesn't abuse its power, urging legislators to provide more money to strengthen security at U.S. diplomatic outposts and promising to seek "a balance" between national security and a need to protect freedom of the press.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the resignation of the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following a controversy over the agency's targeting of conservative political groups.

WASHINGTON – Then CIA-Director David Petraeus objected to the final talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used five days after the deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, because he wanted to see more detail publicly released, including a warning issued from the CIA about plans for an embassy attack, a newly released email shows.

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder says he played no direct role in the Justice Department's secret review of Associated Press phone records but called it part of an investigation into what he termed a grave national security leak.

ST. LOUIS – Six federal marshals were honored Monday for bravery for their actions during a 2011 St. Louis gunfight that killed one of their own, along with a drug suspect they were looking to arrest.

WASHINGTON – High-tech companies looking to bring more skilled workers to the U.S. pushed Monday for more concessions in an immigration bill pending in the Senate. Labor unions said the Silicon Valley had already gotten enough in the legislation and further changes risked chipping away at protections for U.S. workers.

WASHINGTON – Acting Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Steven T. Miller repeatedly failed to tell Congress that tea party groups were being inappropriately targeted, even after he had been briefed on the matter.

Watchdog group says state must address pensions

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama tried to swat down two brewing controversies Monday, denouncing as “outrageous” the targeting of conservative political groups by the federal IRS but angrily denying any administration cover-up after last year’s deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday called reports that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups "outrageous" and said anyone responsible should be held accountable. He pushed back strongly against fresh Republican criticism of the administration's handling of last year's deadly Benghazi attacks, calling it a "political sideshow."

WASHINGTON – Beyond the Air Force’s embarrassing suspension of 17 nuclear missile launch officers lie two broader questions.

ATLANTA – Even with Republicans holding unprecedented political power across the South, Democrats remain mostly in charge of urban centers in otherwise conservative states. Yet increasingly that control is threatened, not at the ballot box, but by Republican-led legislatures reaching into local governing decisions, often over objections.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he’s determined to answer any questions related to the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as the House Republican leader pushed for more information from the Obama administration.