sweet
Lynn Sweet biography
Lynn Sweet is the Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief. She writes a column, a blog and files on Twitter. Find and follow her at http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet …Read More
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Roskam takes ‘target’ practice on departing IRS chief
WASHINGTON — At the first congressional hearing on the IRS scandal, the soon-departing acting IRS chief Steve Miller balked each time lawmakers used the word “target” Friday to describe, well, the targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. After a four-hour House Ways and …Read More
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When it rains, it pours for Obama
WASHINGTON — Add sexual assault in the military as another scandal for the Obama White House — one that is being overshadowed by the three other scandals commanding most of the attention in recent days. Obama held a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip …Read More
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Taxing situation: Obama forces out IRS chief
WASHINGTON — Juggling three big problems — with the IRS scandal sparking scorching bipartisan criticism — President Barack Obama and his team Wednesday scrambled to contain the damage. The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven Miller, was forced out over the targeting of …Read More
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Nomination pulls back curtain on Pritzker fortune
WASHINGTON — The portfolio of Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker, the Commerce secretary nominee, reflects vast holdings in hotels, casinos, parking lots, student and elderly housing, a stake in the show “Singin’ in the Rain,” and last year, $53.6 million from a family trust in the Bahamas. Pritzker filed a required 184-page disclosure document with the U.S. Office of Governmental Ethics on Wednesday, along with other papers outlining how she will avoid conflicts of interest if confirmed for the post.
Labor unions not raising a fuss over Pritzker
WASHINGTON — Penny Pritzker, President Barack Obama’s Commerce secretary nominee, has long been a target of organized labor — with the drive against her led by the Chicago Teachers Union and Unite Here Local 1, representing the city’s hotel workers. Yet as Pritzker is lining …
Lynn Sweet: Black Caucus chair asks for lenient sentence for Jesse Jackson Jr.
WASHINGTON — I wandered into a nuance-free zone on Tuesday, reading the first wave of letters (there were 14) that the public sent to a federal judge regarding the July 1 sentencing of Jesse Jackson Jr. and wife Sandi. People who know the couple are …
Sweet: How Penny Pritzker became the most public face of a private family
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s pick for commerce secretary, Chicago’s Penny Pritzker, is leaving the world she has dominated for decades — as a business tycoon, civic leader and philanthropist — to become, if confirmed, the storied clan’s first major public official. “She has always …
Duckworth launches PAC, aims at leadership role
WASHINGTON—Freshman Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is positioning herself for a leadership role, launching a political action committee to boost other Democrats running for the House as her profile — and buzz — are growing. Papers creating Duckworth’s “Perimeter PAC” were sent to the Federal Election …
Streisand, Obama movie spoof among top sights at Correspondents’ Association dinner
WASHINGTON — Takeaways from the just-concluded White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner weekend: ◆ Barbra Streisand was my favorite celebrity to spot at the giant Saturday night dinner. I am not above gawking — you all knew, right? I just happened to be hanging near the …
Obama moving cautiously on reports Syria used chemical weapons
WASHINGTON — While President Barack Obama was attending the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on Thursday — prompting stories about former President Bush plunging the U.S. into the controversial Iraq War — he was moving cautiously on U.S. intelligence reports of “varying degrees of confidence” the Syrian government is using chemical weapons. Obama doesn’t want to get Syria wrong.
Hillary in 2016? Axelrod calls her ‘first among equals’
WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hits Chicago on June 13 to be honored by CURE, the epilepsy research foundation — this while a new poll and the start Wednesday of a new chapter in her life are sparking even more speculation …
Will Boston bombings derail immigration reform?
WASHINGTON — The question asked on various Sunday shows was whether the Boston bombings will slow or derail immigration reform; it came up because the suspects are immigrants: The now deceased Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was a legal permanent resident and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, 19, …
Sweet: Hadiya law faces defeat, too
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a series of gun-control measures on Wednesday with an anti-trafficking provision named after Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teen shot to death in a park, expected to be sidelined with the rest of the gun bill on Thursday. Two items of …
LYNN SWEET: First lady’s tough stand against violence is long overdue
The usually cautious first lady Michelle Obama came home Wednesday to voluntarily plunge herself into a controversy, speaking out for the first time on two life-and-death matters: On preventing youth violence in Chicago and the need for Congress to at least vote on gun control …
First lady coming home to boost mayor’s initiative
LYNN SWEET: As the Senate is poised to take up measures to curb gun violence, likely Thursday, first lady Michelle Obama comes home Wednesday to bolster Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to help at-risk youth and visit Harper High School — where 29 present or former students were shot in the last year, leaving eight dead.
LYNN SWEET: Sen. Mark Kirk ‘unshackled since he came back from his stroke’
WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Kirk announced Tuesday he supports gay marriage, the result of a new appreciation for life and love he’s gained as a survivor of a stroke that almost killed him. He opposed gay marriage when he started running for the Senate in 2009 — worried about a challenge from the right in the 2010 GOP primary. Supporting gay marriage early — that is for a Republican — helps Kirk burnish a moderate credential.
Michelle’s special push to combat Chicago violence
First Lady Michelle Obama comes home on April 10 to address youth violence in her city — and bolster Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new $50 million fund to help at-risk kids. I’m told that Mrs. Obama’s White House team reached out to Emanuel’s City Hall — …
Obama talking energy at Argonne National Lab today
President Barack Obama visits Argonne National Laboratory in suburban Lemont on Friday to deliver a speech on weaning the nation from oil and gas, following up on an energy plan unveiled in his State of the Union address.
Obama to give major speech in Jerusalem
WASHINGTON — A highlight of President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel next week will be a major speech in Jerusalem — with an audience full of students — where he will speak directly to Israelis for the first time. That’s just one stop of Obama’s …Read More
GOP: President’s overtures overdue but welcome
WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama was motorcading to the Capitol on Tuesday — the first of three visits this week to huddle with GOP and Democrat lawmakers, known here as his “charm offensive” — I asked Sen. Susan Collins if the mixers could make …Read More
