AP News

Obama: 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan by summer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is dispatching 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, accelerating a risky and expensive war buildup, even as he assures the nation that U.S. forces will begin coming home in July 2011. The first new Marines will join the fight by Christmas....

Welcome to the White House: Are you on The List?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It all starts with an engraved invitation that comes in the mail, conveying the coveted offer to attend a state dinner....

APNewsBreak: Gate crashers spur WH security change
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Secret Service will change some of its screening policies after an attention-hungry couple was able to crash the Obama administration's first state dinner....

Analysis: Obama faces heavy lifting at jobs forum
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The trouble is, the jobs just aren't there and many aren't coming back....

New $100 billion safety net for jobless in works
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As unemployment spikes, the cost of compassion is going up too....

PROMISES, PROMISES: Friday is still WH 'trash day'
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama entered the White House promising a new era of openness in government, but when it comes to bad news, his administration often uses one of the oldest tricks in the public relations playbook: putting it out when the fewest people are likely to notice....

Congress scrambles to extend estate tax
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Next year had been shaping up as a great year to get a big inheritance - no federal taxes on it. Congress, however, has other plans for the few wealthy heirs expecting a big boon. Uncle Sam may take a 45 percent cut after all....

Tempers rise as Senate moves toward health vote
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Republican senator asserted Tuesday during a rancorous floor debate that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will shorten the lives of America's seniors by cutting Medicare....

Gov't fines El Paso Corp., subsidiary $2.3 million
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Transportation Department said Tuesday it has fined the El Paso Corp. and a Colorado subsidiary $2.3 million for safety violations in connection with a pipeline explosion in Wyoming three years ago that killed one worker and sent a giant fireball hundreds of feet into the air....

US, Russia urge completion of arms control deal
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. and Russian presidents are urging their nuclear negotiators to step up efforts to complete a new arms control agreement to replace a Cold War-era pact expiring this week....