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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

** FILE ** Tea party supporter William Temple of Brunswick, Ga., protests President Obama's health care law outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Thursday, June 28, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

‘Obamacare’ contraception mandate hits legal hurdles

President Obama's mandate that most private companies provide health insurance plans that cover the costs of contraceptives has met with considerable headwinds in the legal system, where nine of the 14 federal courts to rule so far have sided with employers who say the mandate violates their beliefs and infringes on their religious liberties.

January 17, 2013
"Kudos to the President for agreeing to a small but larger than life sign of his commitment to the District and its residents," said Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's non-voting member of Congress. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Obama to use D.C. ‘taxation’ plates on his limo

President Obama has agreed to place license plates on his presidential limousine that call attention to the District’s lack of voting rights in Congress, White House officials said Tuesday.

January 15, 2013
D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan (The Washington Times)

Panel OKs plebiscite on budget autonomy

The D.C. Board of Elections on Tuesday rejected arguments from the city's top lawyer and will let voters decide this spring if they want to divorce the city's local budget from the spending process on Capitol Hill — a long-sought goal known as "budget autonomy."

January 8, 2013
D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan (right) testifies Monday at the Board of Elections on his opposition to a referendum that could give the city more budget freedom from Congress. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

D.C. elections board approves budget autonomy referendum

The D.C. Board of Elections on Tuesday rejected arguments from the city's top lawyer and will let voters decide this spring if they want to divorce the city's local budget from the spending process on Capitol Hill — a long-sought goal known as "budget autonomy."

January 8, 2013
D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan (right) testifies Monday at the Board of Elections on his opposition to a referendum that could give the city more budget freedom from Congress. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

D.C. AG says budget autonomy referendum is wrong approach

D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan asked city election officials on Monday to reject a ballot question designed to free the city's local budget from the grip of Congress, citing the maneuver's shaky legal ground and potential backlash from powerful politicians on Capitol Hill.

January 7, 2013
**FILE** Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican (Associated Press)

States surrender to health care law, set up exchanges

President Obama's signature health care reforms are accelerating into the new year, with a growing number of state-run insurance markets getting the green light from the federal government, even as critics decry the law as a dagger to small businesses and a tea party icon attempts to repeal it for the 34th time.

January 6, 2013
The U.S. Capitol building is seen Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, in Washington. The six Democrats and six Republicans on the supercommittee, as it's familiarly called, have until next Wednesday, Nov. 23, to come together on a deficit reduction plan. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

GOP eyes shutdown as ‘fiscal sanity’ jolt

The appetite for a government shutdown is growing among Republicans, who shied away from one during the debt and spending fights in the last Congress but now say one may be needed.

January 4, 2013
Senators line the steps to the Senate door of the Capitol to watch Sen. Mark Kirk, Illinois Republican, (second from left), accompanied by Sen. Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat, as he returns to Congress on the first day of the 113th Congress on Thursday after suffering a stroke last January. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Mr. Kirk “an inspiration.” (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Senate welcomes new members

After two years marked with partisan gridlock, the Senate kicked off the new Congress on Thursday with 13 new members and welcomed back Sen. Mark Kirk, who made an emotional return to the Capitol after suffering a stroke almost a year ago.

January 3, 2013
House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, left, performs a mock swearing in for Rep. Donna Edwards, Maryland Democrat, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington as the 113th Congress began. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Religious diversity in Congress expands list of holy texts

The Bible and Torah, for years the standard religious texts used to swear in members of Congress, have been joined by the Constitution, the Koran — and, Thursday, for the first time ever, the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita.

January 3, 2013
** FILE ** New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie walks to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, to talk about aid to help his state recover from superstorm Sandy. President Obama is expected to ask Congress for about $50 billion in additional emergency assistance. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Boehner sets votes on Sandy relief after taking bipartisan criticism

After withering criticism from New Jersey and New York lawmakers, House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that his chamber will rush immediate Superstorm Sandy relief money through Congress on Friday, and take up a bigger bill by the middle of the month.

January 2, 2013
Pedestrians, veterans and members of the media walk around the grounds of the newly renovated District of Columbia WWI Memorial after a rededication ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 10, 2011. (T.J. Kirkpatrick/ The Washington Times)

Bill leaves out national memorial to WWI veterans

Congress approved a bill on Monday that makes sure the 100-year anniversary of World War I is recognized in the coming years, but a long-sought memorial to Americans who fought and died in the Great War is not part of the deal.

December 31, 2012
One California law that takes effect Tuesday has drawn opposition. In September, parents and their children rallied outside the Capitol to protest legislation requiring parents to get waivers saying they have received information about the benefits and risk of immunization. (Associated Press)

New year rings in new laws for gays, Web privacy, bears

Employers and college officials in several states no longer can ask people to pony up their Facebook passwords. Drivers in Florida earn the right to warn fellow motorists of cops lurking around the bend. And folks in California cannot let their dogs chase bears or bobcats "at any time," even for hunting.

December 31, 2012
** FILE ** Medical marijuana is packaged for sale in 1-gram packages at the Northwest Patient Resource Center medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle on Nov. 7, 2012. (Associated Press)

First marijuana growers in D.C. clear regulatory hurdles

Fifteen years after voters gave the green-light to a medical marijuana program in the nation’s capital, a pair of locations approved to grow or sell the drug have cleared regulatory hurdles and will set up shop a few months into the new year, according to city officials.

December 25, 2012
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray says the city should 'double down' on its gun laws in the wake of the school shooting in Newton, Conn. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

Mayor Gray says D.C. should ‘double down’ on gun restrictions

D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray said his city should "double down" on gun laws that are among the most stringent in the country, as leaders in the nation's capital and other cities view the sudden debate over guns as a pressing issue that afflicts youth both inside and outside of school walls.

December 21, 2012

Census: D.C. growing faster than most states

New census data show the nation's capital is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country, adding more than 30,000 residents since early 2010 and recently eclipsing Vermont in overall population.

December 20, 2012
D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier wrote a letter to council Chairman Phil Mendelson urging him not to rush council member David A. Catania’s proposal to increase the privacy of personal email accounts. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

D.C. lawmakers consider bill to protect emails

The sudden resignation of former CIA Director Gen. David H. Petraeus over an extramarital affair turned heads for many reasons — not least of which was the way a few Gmail messages brought down a man who handled sensitive information for a living.

December 19, 2012
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, showed resistance to a proposal to cap money-order contributions to campaigns at $25, saying the cap seemed too low and that money orders do leave some record of the purchase. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

D.C. Council pushes campaign finance to ’13

Despite months of rhetoric and proposals, D.C. lawmakers failed to pass sweeping campaign finance reforms by the end of a legislative period that was historic for all the wrong reasons.

December 18, 2012