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In Oklahoma, volunteers clean up cemetery in preparation for burial of tornado victims

Carol Morello, Melissa Bell — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:52:00 GMT

MOORE, Okla. — Cathie Parker and her two daughters brought their wheelbarrow, rakes and shovels to the Moore city cemetery Wednesday, wanting to make sure that the victims of Monday’s monster tornado are buried in a place of peace and beauty.

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A growing role for the president: America’s consoler in chief

Joe Heim — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:40:00 GMT

When President Obama travels to Oklahoma on Sunday to meet with the survivors of Monday’s tornado, it will mark the third time this year that he has journeyed to a patch of America to console a community on behalf of the country. During his five years in office, this presidential ritual has become as familiar a symbol of sadness as the sea of stuffed animals and flowers that accompany these mournful scenes.

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U.S. acknowledges killing of four U.S. citizens in counterterrorism operations

Karen DeYoung, Peter Finn — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:20:00 GMT

The Obama administration acknowledged Wednesday that it has killed four Americans in overseas counterterrorism operations since 2009, the first time it has publicly taken responsibility for the deaths.

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On IRS issue, senior White House aides were focused on shielding Obama

Philip Rucker, Juliet Eilperin — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:18:17 GMT

As soon as White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler heard about an upcoming inspector general’s report on the Internal Revenue Service, she knew she had a problem.

The notice Ruemmler saw on April 24 gave her a thumbnail sketch of a disturbing finding: that the IRS had improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups. She shared the news with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and other senior White House aides, who all recognized the danger of the findings.

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Some business owners resist providing employees with contraceptive coverage

Robert Barnes — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:54:00 GMT

CHICAGO — Religiously devout business owners are waging a broad rebellion against providing their employees with contraceptive coverage, bringing dozens of lawsuits that seem certain to land the issue before the Supreme Court.

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Man tied to Boston bombing suspect killed in confrontation with FBI, other law enforcement

Sari Horwitz, Jenna Johnson — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:47:00 GMT

A Chechen man linked to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was fatally shot early Wednesday in an unusual encounter with the FBI and other law enforcement officers in his apartment in Orlando.

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Oklahoma tornado fatalities included two infants, 10 children in all

Debbi Wilgoren — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:35:00 GMT

Two of the 24 people known to have been killed in the tornado that pulverized a suburb of Oklahoma City on Monday were infants, the local medical examiner’s office announced Wednesday.

Case Futrell, 4 months old, and mother Megan Futrell, 29, died of blunt-force trauma, according to an information sheet released by the Oklahoma City medical examiner’s office. A cousin told the Oklahoman newspaper’s online edition that Megan Futrell had sought refuge from the storm for herself and her baby in the walk-in cooler of a 7-Eleven that was destroyed in the storm.

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Fed’s mixed message takes stocks on a wild ride

Ylan Q. Mui — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:21:49 GMT

When Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spoke Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, his words seemed to hint that the central bank’s stimulus wouldn’t be pulled back anytime soon. The Dow Jones industrial average surged.

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Deadly London attack could be act of terror, Prime Minister Cameron says

Anthony Faiola — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:55:00 GMT

LONDON — Two assailants hacked a man to death on a busy southeast London street Wednesday afternoon before delivering a rant about Islam to bystanders, leading Prime Minister David Cameron to cut short a diplomatic trip to Paris to deal with what he described as a likely terrorist attack.

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Appeals court limits labor board’s lawlessness

George F. Will — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:47:19 GMT

Early in an opinion issued recently by a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Judge A. Raymond Randolphsaid: “Although the parties have not raised it, one issue needs to be resolved before we turn to the merits of the case.” The issue he raised but could not resolve — that is up to the Supreme Court — illuminates the Obama administration’s George Wallace-like lawlessness. It also demonstrates the judiciary’s duty to restrain presidents who forget the oath they swear to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”

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Frog, toad and salamander populations plummeting, U.S. survey finds

Darryl Fears — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:46:00 GMT

Frogs, toads and salamanders continue to vanish from the American landscape at an alarming pace, with seven species — including Colorado’s boreal toad and Nevada’s yellow-legged frog — facing 50 percent drops in their numbers within seven years if the current rate of decline continues, according to new government research.

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Push on corporate tax rules goes global

Howard Schneider — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:38:00 GMT

A global effort to tighten corporate tax rules is gaining momentum as politicians in Europe and the United States take aim at American tech giants whose savvy use of international tax laws has provoked a public backlash.

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An audacious plan at the Western Wall

William Booth — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:49:00 GMT

JERUSALEM — In a city where three major faiths guard their holy places with quarrelsome zeal and moving a single stone can have deep religious and geopolitical implications, a new proposal to double the area for Jewish prayer along the iconic Western Wall represents dramatic change for a place that does not easily embrace it.

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Judge apologizes for lack of transparency in James Rosen leak probe

Ann E. Marimow — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:37:00 GMT

The chief judge of the District’s federal court issued an unusual order Wednesday, apologizing to the public and the media for not making certain court documents widely available online.

The gesture of transparency by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth comes at a time when the Obama administration is under scrutiny for an unprecedented number of leak investigations, including one showing that the Justice Department had secretly probed the news-gathering activities of Fox News reporter James Rosen.

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Chicago to shutter 50 schools, largest mass closing in major U.S. city

Lyndsey Layton — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:27:28 GMT

Chicago’s board of education voted Wednesday to shutter 50 schools, the largest number of schools closed at one time by any major U.S. city.

The board, appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), opted to close 49 elementary schools and one high school after the current school year ends. It decided to keep open four additional schools that had been recommended for closure by Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett.

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National Zoo welcomes Bozie the elephant

Michael E. Ruane — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:13:00 GMT

The unmarked truck bearing the secret package bound for Washington picked up a security escort when it hit Connecticut Avenue on Wednesday afternoon.

It had made the clandestine 1,100-mile journey almost without incident. Few knew what time it had departed. Few knew its time of arrival. Its 7,500-pound cargo remained intact.

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Greg Sargent: Harry Reid escalates `nuclear' threat

Greg Sargent — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:03:43 GMT

Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell have been slugging it out on the Senate floor today over Reid's threat to revisit filibuster reform, and the escalating tone suggests this is now very real. Pay close attention to the statement Reid released today about their exchange:

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Group wants special court to release ruling on unlawful U.S. surveillance

Ellen Nakashima — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:02:00 GMT

A civil liberties group is set to file a motion Thursday asking a special federal court to allow the release of a classified opinion that found the government engaged in unlawful surveillance on Americans.

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Lois Lerner invokes Fifth Amendment in House hearing on IRS targeting

William Branigin, Ed O’Keefe — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:36:00 GMT

The head of the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt organizations office, faced with allegations of improper targeting of conservative groups, told a House committee Wednesday that she has done nothing wrong but declined to answer questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

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Lois Lerner didn't say anything today. Why that's a bad thing for the Obama Administration.

Chris Cillizza — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:00:37 GMT

Oh Lois Lerner, you say it best when you say nothing at all.

As expected, Lerner, the head of the Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt office, pled the Fifth Amendment rather than testify today in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about her role in the targeting of conservative groups.

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Chilling video of London attacker explaining machete attack on reported soldier

Max Fisher — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:47:07 GMT

It's not clear how or why two men attacked a man believed to be a British soldier in the London neighborhood of Woolwich, but U.K. officials are already investigating it as a possible act of terrorism.

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James Dale: Boy Scouts' 'compromise' on gay members is dead wrong

James Dale — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:16:12 GMT

At 19, the Boy Scouts of America expelled me for being gay. I was overwhelmed with sadness, grief and anger. Never before had I come face-to-face with institutional discrimination. A group that once taught me self-respect was now telling me that there is something wrong with who I am.

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Iran paves over suspected nuclear testing site despite U.N. protests

Joby Warrick — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:10:46 GMT

Iran has begun paving over a former military site where its scientists are suspected to have conducted nuclear-weapons related experiments, according to a new U.N. report, a move that could doom efforts to reconstruct a critical part of Iran’s nuclear history.

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Prosecutors investigating Va. Gov. McDonnell’s gift forms

Rosalind S. Helderman — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:08:00 GMT

A Richmond prosecutor is investigating whether Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell violated state gift and disclosure laws — a probe that was initiated by state Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli II.

Cuccinelli (R) confirmed Wednesday that he requested Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring to conduct of a review of McDonnell’s annual statement of economic disclosure forms last November.

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Anthony Weiner Mark Sanford

Karen Tumulty — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:57:29 GMT

The comparisons were inevitable: two guys who became a national punchline after being caught in sex scandals make a bid for a political comeback from disgrace.

But once you get past the astonishment and the snickers, the differences are more significant than the similarities between Mark Sanford, the Republican former South Carolina governor elected in a landslide to his old House seat earlier this month, and Anthony Weiner, the Democratic ex-congressman who formally launched his bid for mayor of New York on Wednesday.

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