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Articles by Stephen Dinan

A New Jersey Transit Police sergeant talks on a radio while patrolling the Secaucus Junction Station on Jan. 31, 2014. The Transportation Security Administration and New Jersey Transit Police began screening bags at the station in preparation for Sunday's Super Bowl at the Meadowlands. All passengers with bags will be screened by TSA officers before they will be allowed to board trains to Met Life Stadium on Sunday. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Taxpayer money funds faulty radios for police, firefighters: Audit

Homeland Security still allows local police and fire departments to spend billions of dollars on communications equipment that isn't "interoperable," meaning agencies can't easily communicate with each other, hampering their response in emergencies, the department's inspector general said.

August 20, 2015
Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks during an education summit Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015, in Londonderry, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) ** FILE **

Common Core education standards divide Republican presidential candidates

The Common Core education standards continue to cleave the Republican presidential field, with two of the contenders defending them Wednesday as successful ways to raise students' achievement, but others who have now abandoned their support, insisting the standards are a symptom of dangerous federal overreach.

August 19, 2015
Then-Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker gestures during an interview with The Associated Press following the first U.S.-Ukraine Business Forum co-hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Commerce Department in Washington on July 13, 2015. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Federal patent employee skipped 18 weeks of work

A federal patent examiner skipped out on more than 18 weeks of work last year, bilking the government out of more than $25,000 in salary, the Commerce Department's inspector general said in a report Wednesday that concluded it's too far easy to cheat the patent office.

August 19, 2015
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at a town hall meeting in North Las Vegas, Nev., on Aug. 18, 2015. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

State Department destroyed Hillary Clinton aides’ BlackBerrys

The State Department likely destroyed the BlackBerry devices issued to two top aides of Hillary Rodham Clinton and never issued Mrs. Clinton a device at all, officials told a federal court Wednesday in a filing that raises still more security questions about the former secretary's email practices.

August 19, 2015
Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican and the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking member (Associated Press) **FILE**

Chuck Grassley probes bias on Hillary Clinton email screening team

A top Republican senator demanded Wednesday that the State Department probe fears that staffers biased toward former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton are part of the process reviewing her emails, and may be shielding some of her documents to protect her from public embarrassment.

August 19, 2015
A mangled street sign stands among tornado debris in Joplin, Mo, last May. The twister killed 161 people and cost $2.8 billion in damage. Insurance is expected to cover most of the loss, but taxpayers could foot $500 million. (Associated Press)

Joplin wasted millions in tornado assistance: Audit

Joplin, the Missouri city devastated by a tornado in 2011, wasted a lot of taxpayers' money in the rush to rebuild, including doling out sweetheart contracts to politically connected firms that never did any work or that ended up bilking taxpayers, and hiding their decisions behind closed doors, breaking sunshine laws, a state auditor concluded Tuesday.

August 19, 2015
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greats the crowd at the Iowa State Fair Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015, in Des Moines. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Donald Trump immigration plan wins praise from GOP hardliners

Donald Trump's immigration plan has won widespread backing from conservatives in the hours since he announced it, sparked stern condemnation from immigrant-rights activists -- and instantly reshaped a policy debate that's raged for more than a decade.

August 17, 2015
Crystal A. Diaz, a U.S. Border Patrol agent with the Tucson Sector in Arizona, rides her ATV while on patrol.  (AP Photo/U.S. Border Patrol)

Border braces as number of illegals swells

The number of illegal immigrant mothers and children jumping the Southwest border swelled in July, according to new Border Patrol statistics that suggest last year's surge could be repeating.

August 17, 2015
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton answers reporters questions about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after announcing her college affordability plan at the high school in Exeter, N.H., on Aug. 10, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Hillary Clinton aides had other unreported email accounts: State Dept.

Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's top aides, used personal email accounts to conduct government business in addition to a State Department email and an account on the controversial server Mrs. Clinton kept at her New York home, the State Department confirmed to a federal court Friday.

August 14, 2015
A man applying for a U.S. visa holds his U.S. Department of State forms and Cuban passport as he waits in line outside the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on July 1, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

State Department employee sentenced for selling visas at up to $70K

A State Department employee who sold U.S. visas on the black market in Vietnam for up to $70,000 a pop was sentenced Friday to 64 months in prison, after a scam authorities said allows hundreds of travelers who had previously been denied entry to sneak into the U.S.

August 14, 2015
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks with the media in Phoenix on Jan. 9, 2013. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Appeals court rejects Arpaio challenge to Obama deportation amnesty

Sheriff Joe Arpaio can't sue the Obama administration to stop the president's deportation amnesty, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in a decision saying it was too tenuous to try to argue that the amnesty will entice other illegal immigrants to try to make the crossing.

August 14, 2015