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

Building new coal-fired or nuclear power plants is going to cost the nation more money next year, compared to what it took to construct them in 2010. But committing to more solar plants in 2011 will be less expensive than it was this year, accor...   read more

For a little more than half a million dollars in lobbying, U.S. banks and multinational corporations have won themselves a $9 billion tax break from Congress.   Slipped into the mammoth tax compromise bill passed before Christmas, the tax deal...   read more

Sometimes a policy or concept becomes popular because it acquires a catchy name. The Car Allowance Rebate System, for example, would not have captured the public’s imagination had it not become better known as “Cash for Clunkers.” Here are four co...   read more

The Obama administration has decided to restore a wilderness protection policy that was eliminated during George W. Bush’s first term in office.   The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will once again reassert its longstanding efforts to grant t...   read more

With Congress preparing to forbid the closure of Guantánamo Bay and ban the transfer of detainees to the U.S., the Obama administration may use an executive order to formalize the policy and practice of indefinite detention without trial for sus...   read more

Much to the frustration of environmentalists but the delight of the oil industry, the Obama administration has stuck by its assessment of the polar bear being a threatened—but not endangered—species. Choosing the latter classification, which env...   read more

Having lost both his legs, one eye and three relatives in an airstrike conducted by the CIA, 17-year-old Sadaullah Wazir is intent on suing the spy agency in a Pakistan court for wrongful death. Wazir’s attorney, Shahzad Akbar, admits there is l...   read more

American companies aren’t supposed to be doing business with Iran or other nations hit with economic sanctions, unless they’re providing food or humanitarian aid. But thanks to a broadly written law whose original intent was to limit exports to ...   read more

Northern Oregon is set to host the world’s largest wind farm, now that the U.S. Department of Energy has decided to provide Caithness Energy’s Shepherds Flat project with a $1.3 billion loan guarantee. Once constructed near Arlington, Oregon, th...   read more

Like other branches of the military, the U.S. Air Force is struggling with increased numbers of suicides. With less than two weeks remaining in 2010, the Air Force reported 54 suicides this year, the highest total since 1993. It is the leading c...   read more

Having served at embassies throughout Africa, Donald G. Teitelbaum finally was given his first ambassadorship by President George W. Bush, who nominated the career diplomat in 2008 to lead the U.S. mission in Ghana. His term began on July 16, 20...   read more

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, John R. Bass has served as U.S. ambassador to Georgia since October 1, 2009.   Bass was born and raised in upstate New York, and is a graduate of Syracuse University.   He worked as a newspaper ed...   read more

In Missoula, Montana, prosecutor Andrew Paul wanted to try Touray Cornell for possession of marijuana. But he couldn’t find enough people in the jury pool open to the idea of sending Cornell to jail for holding a 16th of an ounce of pot. The so-...   read more

Congress has decided it’s time to administer lie detector tests to those seeking work with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service, the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, which has been the subject of corruption allegations.   Ne...   read more

Laurence D. Wohlers was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic (CAR) on September 8, 2010.   Wohlers’ parents worked as Foreign Service officers in Japan, Pakistan, and the former Yugoslavia, where father Lester served as ...   read more

Christopher W. Murray was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo on August 5, 2010, and reported for duty in Brazzaville on September 16.   The son of David and Lee Murray of Syracuse, New York, Murray graduated from Notting...   read more