Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Hispanic vote unclear as border surge clouds immigration politics
Immigrant rights advocates unveiled a campaign billboard in North Carolina on Thursday attacking Democratic Sen. Kay R. Hagan for being too strict on illegal immigrants, raising questions of how Hispanic voters will approach this year's elections. Published October 23, 2014
Federal judge tosses tea party suit seeking permanent protection from IRS targeting
A federal court shot down a tea party group's effort to permanently bar the Internal Revenue Service from targeting conservative groups for special scrutiny, issuing a ruling Thursday that says the tax agency has taken enough steps to correct the problem. Published October 23, 2014
Tom Coburn highlights ridiculous government spending in final Wastebook
This year's Wastebook does not show the $5,210 that the State Department tried to spend on a blowup, human-size foosball field for an embassy in Belize. But the fact that the project isn't in Sen. Tom Coburn's annual report on ridiculous spending choices is probably one of the biggest victories of the report, because it means the State Department canceled the project after the senator's staffers asked about it. Published October 22, 2014
Government waste includes Swedish massages for rabbits, monkey gambling lessons
More than a dozen lucky rabbits were given Swedish massages four times a day, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, as part of a study to figure out whether massage can help recovery times after strenuous exercise — a practice Sen. Tom Coburn says makes a mockery of federal spending. Published October 22, 2014
Ebola-country travelers to be funneled to five airports
The Homeland Security Department announced Tuesday that it will force travelers from three Ebola-outbreak countries to enter the U.S. through the five airports where federal officials are prepared to screen them for the disease, marking the latest tightening of travel restrictions. Published October 21, 2014
Feds pay thousands of workers to stay home on ‘administrative leave’: study
Taxpayers paid the salaries of tens of thousands of federal employees who were put on paid administrative leave for misconduct but weren't fired from their jobs, according to an audit this week that suggests agencies aren't doing a very good job of getting rid of bad workers. Published October 21, 2014
Ebola guidelines updated as U.S. struggles to control outbreak
The World Health Organization declared that Nigeria has overcome its Ebola outbreak, giving Africa's most populous country a clean bill of health even as federal officials in the U.S. still struggled to control their own outbreak, releasing new guidelines for health workers late Monday. Published October 20, 2014
Bobby Jindal orders Louisiana to develop Ebola plans
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered state officials Monday to come up with rules governing how some state residents can travel to Ebola-stricken countries, stepping in to fill what he said was a gap left by President Obama's failure to act. Published October 20, 2014
Illegal immigrant child service contractors governed by strict rules
Want to bid for a contract to care for the illegal immigrant children coming across the border? Make sure your staff members get Hepatitis vaccines and regular TB tests and can speak foreign languages — probably Spanish but maybe Mandarin, suggesting a surprising number of the children are coming from China. Published October 19, 2014
Obama urged by GOP senators to halt visas from Ebola countries
Republican senators told President Obama on Friday to stop issuing visas to travelers from West African countries affected by Ebola, saying each of those is a potential entry point for the deadly disease to get into the U.S. Published October 17, 2014
Ebola travel ban would let Africans sneak into U.S. undetected, CDC chief says
President Obama authorized calling up military reserves to help combat Ebola on Thursday, and one of the two nurses who contracted the disease in the U.S. was transferred from Texas to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, as federal officials continued to scramble to gain ground on the disease here and the outbreak abroad. Published October 16, 2014
Obama’s deportation policy leaves most illegal immigrants untouched: study
President Obama has generally kept true to his vow to deport only criminals and repeat immigration violators, according to a new report from the Migration Policy Institute Wednesday that undercuts many of the fears immigrant-rights advocates have about the severity of his policies. Published October 16, 2014
Court strikes down Arizona’s no-bail law for immigrants
Illegal immigrants have the same constitutional right to bail that U.S. citizens do, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in a decision striking down an Arizona statute designed to make sure criminals without any community ties didn't flee in the face of a looming trial. Published October 15, 2014
Feds’ tax-take hits all-time high
The federal government collected a record amount of taxes in fiscal year 2014, topping $3 trillion in revenue for the first time in its history, according to Treasury Department numbers released Wednesday that show the influx helped drop the deficit to its lowest level under President Obama. Published October 15, 2014
Benghazi indictment confirms 2012 attack was terrorist plot
Federal prosecutors won an 18-count indictment against accused Benghazi attacker Ahmed Abu Khatalla on Tuesday, which charges him with leading the assault that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and makes him eligible for the death penalty. Published October 14, 2014
Ebola sparks political battle over research funding
The Ebola finger-pointing kicked into a higher gear Monday as politicians in Washington blamed each other for cutting research funding, even as the federal government's top disease chief apologized for suggesting workers at a Dallas hospital failed to follow protocols, leading to this weekend's first U.S.-contracted case of the deadly virus. Published October 13, 2014
Ebola nurse’s dog in Texas won’t be euthanized
The search is on for a location to take care of the dog belonging to the nurse who was diagnosed over the weekend with Ebola, said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Published October 13, 2014
Disease chief says more doctors, nurses could have Ebola in Texas
The chief of the Centers for Disease Control said Monday he would "not be surprised" if more doctors or nurses come down with Ebola from the Dallas patient who died last week, after the first U.S.-contracted case was diagnosed over the weekend in one of the patient's nurses. Published October 13, 2014
Hispanics want Obamacare for illegal immigrant ‘dreamers’
Top Hispanic leaders asked President Obama last week to grant some illegal immigrants access to Obamacare, saying the "dreamers" to whom the White House has given tentative work permits are already paying taxes, so they deserve government benefits. Published October 12, 2014
Lawmakers clamor for their airports to be added to Ebola screening list
Prominent Texas Republicans requested Friday that the Homeland Security Department add two of their state's international airports to the list where officers will be doing extra screening to try to weed out passengers with Ebola. Published October 10, 2014
