President Barack Obama “hates white people,” according to Gov. Paul LePage. The comment, heard by two state lawmakers, was given at a private function on Aug. 12. According to a Portland Press Herald report, the lawmakers, who did not want to disclose their identities out of fear of political retribution, heard the remarks at a […]
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Noise from air guns could be opening shots in war over offshore drilling
WASHINGTON — The use of “seismic air guns” to determine how much oil and gas lies beneath a vast swath of the ocean floor off the southeast coast of the United States is provoking an early skirmish in a battle over oil drilling that is still years away. The devices, towed behind vessels that trace […]
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Congress split on cutting off aid to Egypt
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress are split over whether the U.S. should cut off military aid to Egypt, highlighting the difficult choices facing the Obama administration amid spiraling violence on the streets of an important Middle East ally. Democratic leaders have generally supported the president’s approach. But on Sunday, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said […]
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Obama plays final golf round before vacation ends
EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — President Barack Obama returned to the golf course Sunday to play a sixth and final round before heading back to Washington after a weeklong vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. Obama played at Vineyard Golf Club in Edgartown, his third visit there since arriving on the Massachusetts island on Aug. 10. World Bank […]
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Obama: Progress made on disability claims backlog
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — President Barack Obama assured disabled veterans Saturday that his administration is making progress on reducing a backlog of disability claims and said the number of requests for assistance has fallen by nearly one-fifth since peaking at more than 600,000 just a few months ago. In an address at the Disabled American […]
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Obama says phone spying not abused, will continue
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama made it clear Friday he has no intention of stopping the daily collection of American phone records. And while he offered “appropriate reforms,” he blamed government leaks for creating distrust of his domestic spying program. In an afternoon news conference, the president acknowledged the domestic spying has troubled Americans […]
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Congress: Divided, discourteous — taking a break
WASHINGTON (AP) — The accomplishments are few, the chaos plentiful in the 113th Congress, a discourteous model of divided government now beginning a five-week break. “Have senators sit down and shut up, OK?” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blurted out on Thursday as lawmakers milled about noisily at a time Sen. Susan Collins was trying […]
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Obama: Korean War veterans ‘deserve better’
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama praised veterans of the Korean War at a ceremony Saturday marking the anniversary of the armistice, using their return to an apathetic America decades ago as a promise to better care for the generation returning from distant battlefields today. After three and an half years of fighting on the Korean […]
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U.S. to send two Gitmo detainees back to Algeria
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Friday its intention to repatriate two prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Algeria, the first such transfers in nearly a year. White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement that the Defense Department notified Congress of the transfers, which will be done “in a responsible […]
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Obama speaks on race, Trayvon Martin
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare and public reflection on race, President Barack Obama called on the nation Friday to do some soul searching over the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his shooter, saying the slain black teenager “could have been me 35 years ago.” Empathizing with the pain of many black […]