Latest blog headlines Obama Nov. 23 schedule update: Meeting with war cabinet tonight (11/23/2009 12:48:35 PM) Dick Durbin on health care public option: variations possible. (11/23/2009 5:06:16 AM) President Obama official schedule and guidance, Nov. 22, 2009. Science, math, human rights (11/23/2009 3:46:11 AM) Burris in Iraq with three other senators (11/22/2009 5:23:45 PM) Al Gore on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Green Routine (11/22/2009 9:07:26 AM) Saturday Night Live Skit Scorches Obama (11/22/2009 8:15:58 AM) White House report on Illinois Gitmo reveals plan for 2,000 (non-Gitmo) inmates, up from 1,600. (11/22/2009 8:00:09 AM) Valerie Jarrett hosts Obama family at her place on Saturday night (11/21/2009 8:52:46 PM) Senate Democrats get 60 votes to bring health care bill to floor; real showdown to come (11/21/2009 7:24:18 PM) Obama plays golf Saturday with male aides....female player a one-time special? (11/21/2009 4:31:06 PM)
WASHINGTON -- A day after the Senate ethics committee handed him a stinging rebuke, Sen. Roland Burris on Saturday voted to advance the Democratic health-care bill to the Senate floor and then departed for an official visit to Iraq.
Lynn Sweet: A White House analysis of a federal purchase of the nearly vacant northwestern Illinois prison to house Guantanamo detainees and other federal prisoners, obtained by the Sun-Times on Saturday, concludes that in the first year 2,290 to 2,960 jobs would be created, and local residents would be "excellent candidates" for 1,240 to 1,410 of those jobs.
Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) was admonished today by the U.S. Senate ethics committee over his testimony in Springfield concerning how he got appointed to Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. But his actions following his appointment by then Gov.-Rod Blagojevich did not rise to level of pursuing ethics charges against Burris, the committee ruled.
WASHINGTON -- Trying terrorist suspects now detained at Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba in U.S. federal courtrooms -- rather than military tribunals, which operate under different rules -- met with skeptical questioning by some senators at a Wednesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Going Rogue is really two books: about half an interesting telling of growing up in Alaska, an outdoor and sport-filled life -- and a good chunk of the second half whacking her McCain campaign crew of handlers.
WASHINGTON -- About a year ago, thousands jammed Grant Park in Chicago to celebrate Barack Obama's election to the White House, a communal civic defining moment. But those giddy days are long gone as Democrats in Illinois face the potential of losing the Senate seat President Obama once held next November.
WASHINGTON -- Detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba may be transferred to a nearly vacant maximum-security state prison in northwest Illinois, the Obama White House said Saturday.
WASHINGTON -- A lot of lives have changed since Barack Obama won the presidential election one year ago last Wednesday, none so much as the life of Chicago's Sam Kass, the engaging, shaved-head assistant White House chef and food initiative coordinator, a crusader for healthy eating who has shot to fame in the almost 10 months the Obamas have been in the White House.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Mark Kirk, who casts himself as a moderate, on Monday dodged questions about whether he wanted help from conservative former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in his race for Senate -- only to have the truth surface Wednesday. He is indeed soliciting her support -- when she hits Chicago later this month to appear on the "Oprah Winfrey Show."
WASHINGTON -- Gov. Quinn raised campaign cash, huddled with members of the Illinois congressional delegation, pitched a plan to help military families and visited President Obama and Chicago pals at the White House on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Roland Burris is critical of the compromise health plan Senate leaders crafted to allow states to opt out of a government-sponsored "public option" insurance plan. With Burris' vote potentially crucial, I've learned that the Obama White House will be paying attention to him for the first time today, dispatching the health "czar" to his Senate office.
And on President Obama's 24th golf game as president he finally invited a woman in his foursome, with Melody Barnes, his chief domestic policy adviser, joining him on the links at the U.S. Army's Fort Belvoir course on Sunday. Barnes' invitation to golf with the president came as Obama was catching some flak for playing sports just with men.








