Author: Philip Elliott
-
AP sources: Senators reach deal on student loans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Heading off a costly increase for returning college students, a bipartisan group of senators reached a deal Wednesday that would offer students better rates on their loans this fall but perhaps assign higher rates in coming years. The deal would offer students lower interest rates through the 2015 academic year, but then…
-
Schools must provide sports for disabled, US says
WASHINGTON — Students with disabilities must be given a fair shot to play on a traditional sports team or have their own leagues, the Education Department says. Disabled students who want to play for their school could join traditional teams if officials can make “reasonable modifications” to accommodate them. If those adjustments would fundamentally alter…
-
Schools must provide sports for disabled, US says
WASHINGTON — Students with disabilities must be given a fair shot to play on a traditional sports team or have their own leagues, the Education Department says. Disabled students who want to play for their school could join traditional teams if officials can make “reasonable modifications” to accommodate them. If those adjustments would fundamentally alter…
-
White House used Clinton to get Sestak out of Pa. race
WASHINGTON — The White House used former President Bill Clinton to offer an unpaid advisory position to Rep. Joe Sestak in hopes of persuading him to drop his Pennsylvania Senate primary challenge to President Barack Obama’s favored candidate, according to an internal report issued Friday. Seeking to quiet the clamor from Republicans and some Democrats…
-
White House eyes a compromise on gays in military
WASHINGTON — A proposal to step up the repeal of the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military but still allow the Pentagon time — perhaps even years — to implement new policies was being discussed Monday by administration officials and gay rights activists. The White House had hoped lawmakers would delay…
-
Obama welcomes jobs report as rare good news
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Barack Obama took to the road Friday to push his administration’s plans to create jobs, a crucial campaign issue for Democrats as they look toward November’s congressional elections. Obama spoke Friday at a North Carolina company that has hired new workers and expanded its operations with grants from the economic stimulus…
-
Obama clears way for oil drilling off parts of U.S. coasts
WASHINGTON — Reversing a ban on oil drilling off most U.S. shores, President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced an expansive new policy that could put new oil and natural gas platforms in waters along the southern Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and part of Alaska. Speaking at Andrews air base outside Washington, Obama…
-
Obama signs law finalizing health care, loan redo
WASHINGTON — Finalizing two major pieces of his agenda, President Barack Obama on Tuesday sealed his health care overhaul and made the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process. Both domestic priorities came in one bill, pushed through by Democrats in the House and Senate and signed into law…
-
They saved Obama’s bill; can he save their seats?
WASHINGTON — Their votes helped deliver President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Now, dozens of Democrats are politically imperiled in a contentious environment where emotions are raw and likely to remain so. Obama plans to use his political heft — and the momentum of victory — to try to prop up lawmakers who stuck with…
-
Obama blames ‘mix of human and systemic failures’ in airliner incident
HONOLULU • President Barack Obama said today that the intelligence community had bits of information that should have been pieced together that would have triggered “red flags” and possibly prevented the Christmas Day terrorism attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. “There was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potential catastrophic breach…