Sean Lengell

Planned Parenthood offers gift vouchers

Indiana residents in need of a quick stocking stuffer this holiday season have an unusual option: Planned Parenthood gift certificates.

November 29, 2008

Florida tourism agency now backs drilling

A Florida tourism group has dropped its long-standing opposition to offshore oil and gas drilling, saying that a cheap national fuel supply would trigger a boom for the Sunshine State's No. 1 industry.

November 28, 2008

Interior punishes partying workers

The Interior Department disciplined several employees in a conflict-of-interest scandal in which workers partied and in some cases had sex and used drugs with oil industry representatives who do business with the government.

November 22, 2008

Swan song for Senator Stevens

Recent convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens, who this week lost his re-election bid after serving Alaska for four decades, gave an emotional farewell address on the Senate floor Thursday morning that brought tears those in the chamber.

November 20, 2008

Democrats say no to drilling ban

A top House Democrat on Tuesday said his party will not push to reinstate a ban on offshore oil and natural-gas drilling next year.

November 19, 2008

Hoyer: Dems won’t push drilling ban

A top House Democrat on Tuesday said his party will not push to reinstate a ban on offshore oil and natural gas drilling next year.

November 18, 2008

Senate to resume push for auto bailout

The Senate will return from a six-week break Monday to work on a $25 billion bailout package for Detroit's "Big Three" automakers, Democratic leaders said Friday.

November 14, 2008

Drugmaker ads to target Obama idea

The nation's largest pharmaceutical lobbying group is preparing a multimillion-dollar campaign to tout free-market health care and undercut an expected push by the Obama administration for price controls of prescription drugs.

November 14, 2008

Hedge funds agreeable to light supervision

Several leading hedge fund managers told Congress on Thursday they support some new regulation of hedge funds and the complex derivative securities that are partly blamed for the global financial crisis.

November 14, 2008

Hedge fund managers: Market changes needed

Several leading hedge fund managers told Congress Thursday they support a new central exchange to try to foster greater transparency in the hazy world of credit default swaps.

November 13, 2008

Treasury gives AIG $40 billion cash infusion

The credit crisis continued unabated Monday as the Treasury Department handed American International Group another huge chunk of cash and mortgage company Fannie Mae's third-quarter profits plummeted.

November 11, 2008

Byrd resigns from committee post

Sen. Robert C. Byrd stepped down as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday after weeks of speculation that his party's leadership was pressuring the 90-year-old West Virginia Democrat to resign the post.

November 8, 2008

Senate icon Byrd steps down from committee post

Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the longest serving Senator in history, stepped down as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee Friday.

November 7, 2008

Who will fill Obama’s Cabinet?

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel is a top candidate for chief of staff. A three-term Democratic congressman from Chicago and the fourth-ranking leader of his party in the House, Mr. Emanuel was a senior adviser to President Clinton from 1993 to 1998.

November 6, 2008

Veterans take battle in run for Congress

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans competing in Tuesday's general election is about double that of 2006. With veterans of other military campaigns running in congressional contests throughout the country, 2008 may have more veterans on the ballot in generations.

November 4, 2008

Obama, McCain promise respect for Congress

Voters for the first time in almost five decades on Tuesday will send a sitting member of Congress to the White House, with Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain both promising to thaw the prickly relationship between the two branches of government.

November 2, 2008

Reaction mixed to Fed rate cut

Wall Street trading was mixed Wednesday, one day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average skyrocketed to its second-largest point gain.

October 30, 2008

Market closes mixed on heels of Fed rate cut

Trading on Wall Street was mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut its key lending interest rate half a point in an effort to halt the credit crisis from pushing United States into a sustained recession.

October 29, 2008

Markets steady, await interest rate cut

Morning trading on the financial markets was tepid Wednesday ahead of an expected afternoon announcement that the Federal Reserve will cut its key leading rate target interest rate to the lowest level in years.

October 29, 2008

McCain urges Stevens to resign

Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Tuesday urged Senate colleague Ted Stevens to resign from office after his conviction Monday in federal court for lying on ethics reports - the same day the embattled Alaskan picked up a re-election endorsement from a constituency group.

October 29, 2008