President Donald Trump invited the Dodgers to the White House. Many of their fans feared that the team, by accepting, would humiliate themselves and betray the team’s large Latino, Asian and African-American fan base. Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, along with co-owner Magic Johnson, have proposed a solution. Trump has promised that if he can keep the championship trophy, the Commissioner’s Trophy, he will end all seizures and deportations of immigrants.   read more

The decline in use was greatest in thermoelectric use, where it fell by 20%. Getting the credit for that is power plant closures, less use of coal-fired plants and more efficient cooling technologies. Next was irrigation use with a 9% drop and public supply, which fell by 5%. The decline in public supply usage was a first and came despite a 4% population increase.   read more

In 2010, Lynch was again appointed to serve as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. She led the prosecution for embezzlement of former New York state senate majority leader Pedro Espada Jr. Her office filed charges in 2013 on a $45 million cyberattack on ATMs, made arrests this year in the 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport, dramatized in the movie Goodfellas, and is now prosecuting Rep. Michael Grimm (R-New York) for tax fraud.   read more

In the U.S. House, women hold fewer than 20% of the seats (81 out of 435). That number might improve as four outstanding races that involve women are decided. The Senate will still have the same number of female senators—20—but that number could increase to 21 if Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) survives a runoff next month. The honor of being the 100th woman in Congress goes to Rep. Alma Adams (D-North Carolina), who won a special election Tuesday and thus will take office immediately.   read more

A report by Justice’s Inspector General showed that between 2007 and 2012, about 16% of the interns hired in that office were related to employees who worked there. At least seven of the 19 temporary and permanent board members of the Board of Immigration Appeals had children working in paid student positions at the EOIR between 2005 and 2012.   read more

Hundreds of American soldiers exposed to chemical weapons during the occupation of Iraq didn’t receive proper care, the Department of Defense now admits. In fact, many were sent on their way with no treatment and told not to talk about the injuries they sustained from the exposure. The Pentagon now has established a phone number, 1-800-497-6261, for veterans to report possible exposure.   read more

Weller was named acting chief in November 2012 after Dave White stepped down. At NRCS, Weller has had a hand in overseeing the BP Oil Spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico, helping Western farmers and ranchers prepare for drought and even in organizing a tractor trade-in in California’s San Joaquin Valley, in which farmers could swap an old heavily polluting model for a somewhat newer, cleaner one.   read more

In 2007, he co-founded KSC&W, a lobbying firm and in 2009 he deregistered as a lobbyist and became president of K Street Research, an organization that does research for companies interested in government work but avoids some restrictions placed on lobbyists. In 2011, Mitchell returned to government as associate director of the USDA’s Office of Advocacy and Outreach, a job he held until taking over his current post.   read more

The Pentagon's inspector general essentially concluded that the department should do a better job of monitoring development of new weapons systems to avoid soaring costs. Not that there haven’t been a lot of examples of this problem. Among them is the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport dock ship, that took three years longer than planned to build and consumed an extra $846 million along the way. The IG recommended an oversight office but the Defense Department is resistant.   read more

The Nov. 4 turnout was so Republican friendly that even Sherri Ybarra won her race. The much-maligned GOP candidate for Idaho superintendent for public instruction narrowly defeated her Democratic rival, Jana Jones. Numerous missteps plagued Ybarra’s campaign. These included plagiarsm, claiming non-existent endorsements, and failing to vote in 15 of the past 17 state elections. Her opponent, Jones, had nearly twice the experience, having served for two former superintendents.   read more

Residents of the Big Apple have long (and proudly) claimed that there were so many rats in the city that the rodent population was on par with the human one. That meant the metropolis had about 8 million rats. Not so, says statistician Jonathan Auerbach, who calculated that New York’s rat population was closer to 2 million. Rat expert Robert Sullivan concurred. “But...everybody loves the idea of eight million rats," he said. "The one-rat-per-person scenario is too good.”   read more

Saldaña helped handle a corruption scandal involving Dallas city officials charged with bribery and extortion in connection with affordable housing contracts. She saw Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill sent away for 18 years. When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he had a chance to appoint the U.S. attorney in Dallas. Saldaña, a Democrat, had the backing of Republican Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchinson, but not of the Texas Democratic congressional delegation.   read more

Karsting considered a new career in the restaurant business, but returned to Capitol Hill in 2004 to work in the office of Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl (D). He began as a legislative assistant, moved up to appropriations coordinator in 2005 and in 2006 was made Kohl’s deputy chief of staff. In 2009, Karsting was made chief of staff for the senator, a job he held until Kohl retired in 2013.   read more

If there was a silver lining in Tuesday’s rather dark outcome for Democrats, it was the many progressive ballot measures embraced by voters around the country. Advocates for legalized marijuana were successful in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. Despite heavy opposition from the soft drink industry, voters in Berkeley, California approved a 1-cent-per-ounce general tax on sugary beverages and sweeteners. Opponents of fracking also celebrated in three states where communities banned drilling.   read more

There were a lot of winners on the conservative side of the political spectrum this week. That includes powerful right-wing groups that spent tens of millions of dollars on Republican campaigns and causes. The Koch brothers received an 85% return on their $21.5 million investment in the election. GOP strategist Karl Rove's Crossroads had a 96% success rate in races in which it had put money, spending 16 times as much on negative ads as on positive ones.   read more

While having little or no presence in Luxembourg, corporations have enjoyed huge tax breaks through various accounting schemes and legal maneuvers. FedEx established two Luxembourg affiliates so it could move money country to country. The plan resulted in its paying only one quarter of 1% on the earnings involved. PepsiCo arranged several loans with Luxembourg’s help to cut its taxes on $1.4 billion spent to obtain controlling interest in a Russian juice producer.   read more

If Americans dislike Congress now, what will they think if its size increased by 245 lawmakers? Some political reformers argue that, no matter how frustrating the U.S. House might be now, it needs to expand in size. After all, the last time the number of representatives—currently at 435—changed was 1911. That was when the nation’s population was 93.9 million. Now, it’s up to 316.1 million, an increase of more than 200% over 100 years.   read more