Threats, deals got drug companies on board with Obama

Top administration officials cut backroom deals with the nation's top drug companies to win support for President Obama's health care overhaul, threatening them with steeper taxes if they resisted and promising a better financial deal for the industry if they acquiesced, according to internal documents released Thursday by House Republicans.

Romney: Obama had little to lose in Solyndra

Standing outside the shuttered California headquarters of Solyndra on Thursday, Mitt Romney said President Obama must answer to voters for the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars he gambled on the politically connected solar technology company, which went belly-up in 2011.

Boston court hands same-sex marriage backers big victory

A Boston federal appellate court ruled Thursday that the federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman is unconstitutional, handing gay-marriage proponents their biggest judicial victory to date and driving the issue closer to a Supreme Court showdown.

Congressional fight gives peek at intelligence spending

Most of the recent battles over government spending have been dramatic, bloody and excruciatingly fought in public, but disputes over the approximately $80 billion budgeted every year for the intelligence community has generally been hidden - until now.

Discrimination lawsuits double as definition of 'disability' expands

The number of employment discrimination lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has nearly doubled in the past five years and seen a sharp increase in recent months, federal court records show, as the definition of "disability" has expanded and what many believe are baseless lawsuits are filed.

Demonstrators heckle Bilderberg attendees

International power brokers arriving in Chantilly for the 2012 Bilderberg conference were treated to a rude welcome by a raucous crowd of about 200 demonstrators Thursday afternoon.

Appeals court: Heart of Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional

A federal appeals court on Thursday declared that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married gay couples, a groundbreaking ruling all but certain to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fans, dignitaries laud go-go icon Brown at memorial

More than 9,000 Chuck Brown fans flocked to the Washington Convention Center for the musician's memorial service Thursday to pay tribute to the man whose music has provided the District a party soundtrack for decades.

Bush steals the show at White House portrait unveiling

Former President George W. Bush quickly broke the ice and sliced through the awkwardness of sharing a stage with President Obama, who regularly assails his record on the stump, during the unveiling of the 43rd president's official portrait.

Inside the Beltway: The Badger vote

The tea party understands Wisconsin voters, no matter how many high-powered Democrats show up in the state before the big recall vote on Tuesday.

Obama Minn. trip to test gay marriage's political clout

When President Obama travels to Minnesota Friday, he'll be campaigning in another key state where his recent conversion to support of gay marriage could carry political risk.

Dems succeed in sinking bill against sex-selection abortion

The House rejected a bill to ban sex-selection abortion Thursday despite calls from House Republicans to take a stand on a practice that has resulted in the estimated deaths of 200 million unborn girls around the world.

Edwards not guilty on 1 count, mistrial declared on others

John Edwards' campaign finance fraud case ended in a mistrial Thursday when jurors acquitted him on one charge and deadlocked on the other five, unable to decide whether he used money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress while he ran for president and his wife was dying of cancer.

Blind activist hits China's commitment to rule of law

The blind Chinese civil rights activist who escaped from house arrest in April says China's government needs to stop trying to "put a lid" on its problems and pretending they don't exist.

Euro setup is unsustainable, ECB chief warns

The setup of the 17-country euro currency union is unsustainable, the head of the European Central Bank has told European Union leaders, warning that they quickly must come up with a broad vision for the future to get the bloc through the current financial crisis.

Canadian police think body-parts suspect is overseas

A porn actor wanted in a case in which body parts from a dismembered corpse were mailed to places including the Conservative Party headquarters might have fled North America, Canadian police said Thursday.

Commentary

DECKER: Savage damnation

TRICKLE DOWN TYRANNY: CRUSHING OBAMA'S DREAM OF THE SOCIALIST STATES OF AMERICA

VERNUCCIO AND KOVACS: Big union's unethical influence in government

In one of the most glaring examples of Washington's sordid revolving-door political culture, former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Craig Becker took a job as co-general counsel with the AFL-CIO barely six months after leaving the government.

PENDLEY: Killing jobs to save the sage grouse

At a recent three-day hearing before an Idaho federal district court on whether the court should restrict oil, gas and ranching activities over a vast area of federal land in western Wyoming, an expert summoned by the environmental group that had filed the lawsuit testified, "The greater sage grouse is one stochastic, catastrophic event away from extirpation in Sublette County."

MILLER: Business backlash

President Obama decided to stake his re-election on whether the American people will view Mitt Romney's business success as something negative. In doing so, the president betrayed his true belief that government, not private enterprise, knows best.

GHEI: Spanish slowdown

Spain appears to be the next victim of Europe's spending crisis. Like their colleagues in Athens, Madrid's bureaucrats have been piling on the debt, avoiding any tough structural reforms that might require cutting back. Unlike Greece, however, Spain's economy is so large that it can't realistically be bailed out.