Boston.com -- Top political stories

Obama holds war council to unveil Afghan plan

2009-11-30T16:31:59Z

The White House spokesman says President Barack Obama held an unannounced meeting with members of his war council on Afghanistan in the Oval Office Sunday night.

Court turns down Calif. death row inmate's appeal

2009-11-30T15:21:30Z

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a California death row inmate who was convicted in the gruesome murders of four people in 1983.

Court won't hear appeal on airplane crash

2009-11-30T15:21:28Z

The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a woman who wants to sue the government because air traffic controllers told the pilot of a homemade airplane to continue flying in a thunderstorm before it fatally crashed.

Court won't revive student's suit over grad speech

2009-11-30T15:21:25Z

The Supreme Court won't revive a student's lawsuit against a school that punished her for talking about her religion during her high school graduation speech.

Court sides with Gov't in detainee photo case

2009-11-30T15:11:36Z

The Supreme Court has thrown out an appeals court ruling ordering the disclosure of photographs of detainees being abused by their U.S. captors.

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2009-11-30T15:11:36Z

Health care issues: Using parliamentary maneuvers

The Associated Press — 2009-11-30T15:11:32Z

A look at key issues in the health care debate: THE ISSUE: If congressional Republicans continue to oppose Democratic plans to overhaul the nation's health care system, should majority Democrats employ a process called reconciliation to pass parts of it without Republican support?

Release of secret reports delayed

Bryan Bender, Globe Staff — 2009-11-29T05:25:09Z

WASHINGTON - President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year, according to administration officials.

Tax break on profits again in jeopardy

Michael Kranish, Globe Staff — 2009-11-27T03:50:11Z

An effort in Congress to eliminate a generous tax break for hedge fund managers, private-equity specialists, and venture capitalists, which could be taken up next week in the House Ways and Means Committee, is being met with resistance by opponents who say the move would weaken the economy.

N.E. governors’ races give GOP a chance to build on gains

Sasha Issenberg, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-25T06:03:59Z

Invigorated by state house victories earlier this month in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans are turning their attention to governorships in New England, where they believe the retirement of four incumbents and a competitive race in Massachusetts has created wide-open opportunities.

Senators voice optimism on public option

Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff — 2009-11-23T06:31:25Z

WASHINGTON - Buoyed by their weekend victory on a vote beginning the health care debate, several Senate Democrats expressed optimism yesterday they could find a way to keep a government-run insurance plan in the sweeping bill.

Health overhaul narrowly advances

Lisa Wangsness and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-22T06:07:27Z

The Senate narrowly overcame the first of two critical hurdles to passing sweeping health care legislation last night, mustering the minimum of 60 votes required to begin debate on the bill and opening a volatile floor fight likely to last weeks.

Catholic Church pushes, and some push back

Susan Milligan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-21T05:12:12Z

Representative Louise Slaughter has a consistent record advocating abortion rights. So the New York Democrat was stunned recently to receive, for the first time, a letter from a Catholic diocese in western New York, demanding that she explain her vote this month against a health care amendment prohibiting insurance companies from paying for abortions.

Latinos, blacks take harder hit amid recession

Joseph Williams, Globe Staff — 2009-11-21T05:11:44Z

Latinos and African-Americans in Massachusetts and across the country are facing high unemployment rates that could spiral to levels not seen in decades as the jobless economic recovery drags on, analysts and urban community advocates say.

Attack ads to spice up Senate primary

Alex Beam, Globe Columnist — 2009-11-20T05:00:00Z

People say that the Democratic primary race for Ted Kennedy's seat is boring, and they are right. There's not a doughnut's worth of difference among the pretenders. Each claims to be a super-liberal, eager to empty out the US Treasury to placate whatever interest group they happen to find themselves in front of.

Push to curb credit-card rates fades

Michael Kranish, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T05:09:48Z

Efforts in Congress to cap credit-card interest rates are faltering because of opposition from Democrats and a lack of specific support from the White House, despite growing consumer outrage over a rush by banks to impose rates as high as 30 percent.

Obama domestic agenda largely a one-party effort

Susan Milligan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-17T06:14:25Z

Despite early pleas for bipartisanship, President Obama is forging ahead with his domestic agenda with a largely single-party strategy, unable to corral more than a handful of Republicans on a wide range of major legislation before Congress.

Adding insult to infamy

Bryan Bender, Globe Staff — 2009-11-14T05:43:26Z

On Veterans Day, Christine Devlin stood in the cold in Westwood for the unveiling of a new memorial to local soldiers lost overseas, including her son Michael, one of the 241 servicemen killed in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983.

Love the poor

Tiziana C. Dearing — 2008-12-29T05:00:00Z

What issue should Barack Obama make a top priority? In a Boston.com essay series leading up the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, local figures and readers weigh in. In the first essay, Tiziana C. Dearing, president of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Boston, expresses hope that Obama will work to ease the scourge of poverty.