NJ students to help Michelle Obama harvest garden

Schoolchildren from New Jersey shore communities battered by Superstorm Sandy will join Michelle Obama for a garden harvest next week.

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2013, file photo, Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, questions Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The committee's ranking Republican Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. listens at left. A long-simmering feud in the Senate between establishment Republicans and tea partyers breaks into full view, with McCain accusing younger colleagues of overplaying their hands and tempting Democrats to change Senate rules that protect the minority party. How to deal with the budget and debt become the latest quarrel in a string of them between McCain _ sometimes joined by other traditionalist Republicans _ and brash, tea party-champions such as Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah.

Tea party vs. old guard in GOP Senate rift

A long-simmering feud between establishment Republicans and tea partyers broke into full view, with Sen. John McCain accusing younger colleagues of overplaying their hands and tempting Democrats to change Senate rules that protect the minority party. Photo Gallery Available

Alaska Rep. Don Young, gone hunting in Africa, misses subcommittee oil hearing

When a key House of Representatives panel took up a bill this week that would require annual lease sales and streamline permitting in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, home state Rep. Don Young missed the session.

Obama increases fed share of Sandy relief for NY

President Barack Obama is providing more Hurricane Sandy disaster relief to New York, increasing the share of public assistance that the government will pay from 75 percent to 90 percent of the cost.

Obama's drone policy at a glance

President Barack Obama defended the United States' use of drone attacks as an important part of the U.S. counterterrorism policy on Thursday but signed new presidential policy guidelines to spell out for Congress and the public the standards that the U.S. will use before carrying out drone attacks.

Obama lifts ban on Guantánamo transfers to Yemen

President Barack Obama is lifting his self-imposed ban on transferring Guantánamo Bay detainees to Yemen, where a leadership upheaval has improved the country's security but not eliminated a terrorist organization trying to recruit jihadists. Photo Gallery Available

Marijuana is drug most often linked to crime, study finds

Marijuana is the drug most often linked to crime in the United States, the U.S. drug czar said Thursday, dismissing calls for legalization as a “bumper-sticker approach” that should be avoided.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listens to a reporter's question during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 23, 2013.

House immigration group resolves dispute

House members writing a bipartisan immigration bill said Thursday they had patched over a dispute that threatened their efforts, even as they and the rest of Congress prepared to return home for a weeklong recess where many could confront voters' questions on the issue. Photo Gallery Available

US criticized over response to Indonesia attacks

The U.S. expressed concern Thursday over increased attacks on religious minorities in Indonesia, but human rights groups accused Washington of downplaying the problem as it looks to forge stronger relations with Jakarta.

Obama sketches more targeted anti-terror plan

Out with the "global war on terror." In with more narrowly targeted counterterrorism policies that persistently zero in on violent extremists at home and abroad.

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