Skip to content

Watch

Kerry Picket: A look at the 10 gun bills that could reshape Virginia

TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

File - In this Aug. 27, 2013 file photo, Sergio Garcia speaks at The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles news conference in Los Angeles. The California Supreme Court granted a law license on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, to Garcia, who is living in the United States illegally. Garcia, who graduated from law school and passed the state bar exam, can begin practicing law despite his immigration status. He arrived in the U.S. illegally 20 years ago to pick almonds with his father. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

Illegal immigrant granted law license in California

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an illegal immigrant can join the bar and begin to practice law in that state, granting a major symbolic victory to immigrant rights advocates who say it's a step on the path to equal treatment in employment law. Published January 2, 2014

2014 begins with $54 billion in tax hikes

A final congressional stalemate in late December means the New Year's expiration of a host of tax breaks, amounting to a $54.2 billion increase for green-energy businesses, teachers, homeowners, college students and others. Published December 31, 2013

** FILE ** Illegal immigrants prepare to enter a bus after being processed at Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. New strategies being implemented by the U.S. government, including the halting of one-way flights back to the interior cities in Mexico, are in place to streamline processing and expedite a return to Mexico. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

U.S. population level drops due to low birth rates, immigration trends

The U.S. population this year grew at its lowest rate since the Great Depression, according to the latest Census Bureau estimates Monday that suggest the sluggish economy continues to tamp down on immigration, and birth rates are still low for those already here. Published December 30, 2013

Desert beauty: The saguaro cactus grows only in the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona and Mexico. It flowers in late spring. (Associated Press)

Implanted radio chips help park rangers protect precious cactus from poachers

TUCSON, Ariz. — Theft in the Wild West goes back for centuries, but it's not often you think of the landscape itself being stolen — in this case, the saguaro cactus, the jaunty, multi-armed icon of Arizona that turns out to be a desired addition to many homeowners' front yards. Published December 29, 2013

** FILE ** (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FAA safety data kept hidden from inspectors

The Federal Aviation Administration is finally collecting a trove of confidential safety data from commercial airline operators, but the agency is still "years away" from analyzing the information to predict problems and doesn't even allow its own inspectors to look at the data. Published December 26, 2013

Jewell

Alaska residents upset feds side with environmentalists on road plan

The Obama administration handed environmentalists a significant victory Monday when the Interior Department decided against allowing a road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, dashing the hopes of locals who said the route was critical for safety. Published December 23, 2013

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, gestures as she speaks to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Pelosi: Obamacare will be ‘glorious’

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Monday defended Obamacare amid fellow Democrats' concerns, saying that while the politics may be tricky right now, eventually having voted for the health care law will be a boon. Published December 23, 2013

"Our view of the law is that it — if somebody is here without sufficient documentation, that is not reason for deportation," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said in an interview with Telemundo, a Spanish-language network. "If somebody has broken the law, committed a felony or something, that's a different story." (associated press)

Pelosi: Tack cost of more unemployment benefits onto deficit

Democrats have already signaled their first fight for the new year — trying to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless for the 12th time since the economic downturn began and saying it's a test of the income inequality campaign message they'll use in this year's elections. Published December 23, 2013

** FILE ** Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, speaks with reporters following a closed-door briefing by intelligence agencies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (Associated Press)

Top lawmakers fight to save NSA snooping program

The top four lawmakers who oversee the U.S. intelligence community said Friday that President Obama should reject his own review panel's recommendations that bulk collection of government of Americans' phone records should be curbed. Published December 20, 2013

President Barack Obama speaks during an end-of-the year news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2013. At the end of his fifth year in office, Obama's job approval and personal favorability ratings have fallen to around the lowest point of his presidency. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Obama: 2014 will be ‘breakthrough year’ for U.S.

President Obama said Friday that he "screwed it up" in the rollout of his health care law, though he said the system is now working much better and hundreds of thousands of people have been able to sign up for coverage. Published December 20, 2013

"We haven't debated the [National Security Agency]. We haven't debated this issue of sexual assault, the [Iran] sanctions, the detainee issue," Arizona Sen. John McCain said of a defense policy bill. But the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said he would vote for the bill. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Senators work late on ‘take it or leave it’ defense bill that ignores big issues

The Senate labored into the night Thursday on a vote to clear a massive defense policy bill that ignores many of the big issues such as Iran's nuclear program and government mass-snooping programs, after Democratic leaders blocked all amendments and forced what one senator called a "take it or leave it" vote. Published December 19, 2013

Illegal immigrant girl smuggled into U.S. by federal agents: judge

A federal judge in Texas late last week accused the Obama administration of aiding drug cartels, saying that instead of enforcing immigration laws, agents knowingly helped smuggle an illegal immigrant girl into the U.S. to live with her mother, also an illegal immigrant, in Virginia. Published December 19, 2013

** FILE ** Illegal immigrants prepare to enter a bus after being processed at Tucson Sector U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. New strategies being implemented by the U.S. government, including the halting of one-way flights back to the interior cities in Mexico, are in place to streamline processing and expedite a return to Mexico. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Deportations under Obama plunged to just 1 percent last year

The Obama administration deported just 1 percent of illegal immigrants living within the interior of the U.S. last year, according to statistics released Thursday, which signals that most illegal immigrants face little chance of being kicked out of the country. Published December 19, 2013

White House press secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013 in Washington. Carney answered questions about a Congressional budget deal. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

White House says it’s open to 45 of panel’s proposed 46 NSA changes

A long-awaited review of U.S. mass surveillance and data-collection programs produced a laundry list of recommendations for how the Obama administration should clean up its intelligence-gathering efforts to better protect sensitive information and the privacy of American citizens. Published December 19, 2013