Wash Post Nation

A year later, where did the hopes for Obama go?

Ann Gerhart — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:35:54 EST

A year ago, Barack Obama's true believers were euphoric. The huge and jubilant gathering in Chicago's Grant Park on election night 2008 gave way to almost 2 million people on the Mall for the president's inauguration.

U.S. proposes new climate service

Juliet Eilperin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

The Obama administration proposed a new climate service on Monday that would provide Americans with predictions on how global warming will affect everything from drought to sea levels.

Federal Reserve hopes clear exit strategy will boost market confidence

Neil Irwin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

When you've flooded the economy with trillions of dollars, mopping up is no easy task.

Corrections

Post — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

-- A graphic with a Feb. 8 Fed Page article about moves to change Senate rules on filibusters misstated the duration of a filibuster by William Proxmire (D- Wis.) on a 1981 bill to raise the debt ceiling. It lasted 16 hours, 12 minutes, not 6 hours, 12 minutes.

Criminal probe is launched in Connecticut power plant blast

Post — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Authorities looking for the cause of an explosion that killed five people at a power plant under construction launched a criminal investigation Monday, saying they could not rule out criminal negligence as the cause.

Limited bus and rail service tests Metro and its users

Ann Scott Tyson — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Analysis: Iranian plan will put nation a step closer to having material for bomb

Glenn Kessler — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Iran's formal notification Monday to a United Nations nuclear watchdog that it will begin producing higher-grade enriched uranium marks a new and potentially dangerous turn in Tehran's confrontation with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

Daniel Weinberg, the man behind the nation's census

Post — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Assistant director American Community Survey and Decennial Census, U.S. Census Bureau

Post — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Q. Does your office encourage telework? What would be the effect on the workforce and its productivity level if the federal government allowed more telework? Send your answers to federaleye@washingtonpost.com, and we'll publish some answers on this page. Send us suggested questions, too.

Calif. insurer's rate increases draw attention of federal government

Alec MacGillis — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:55:56 EST

President Obama's secretary of health and human services fired off a sharply worded letter to a California insurer Monday, demanding to know why it is raising rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent.

Al-Qaeda is a wounded but dangerous enemy

Joby Warrick and Peter Finn — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

In the past six weeks, Americans have witnessed two jarringly different -- but completely accurate -- views of al-Qaeda's terrorist network. One image was that of terrorist leaders being hunted down and killed by satellite-guided, pilotless aircraft. The other was of an agile foe slipping past U....

5 workers killed in explosion at Middleton, Conn., power plant

Post — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

CONNECTICUT An explosion that sounded like a sonic boom blew out the walls of an unfinished power plant in Connecticut and set off a fire during a test of natural gas lines Sunday, killing at least five workers, injuring a dozen or more, and leaving crews picking through debris for more possible...

Local events

Post — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

TUESDAY Recordkeeping and Accounting. Workshop explains accounting principles, financial statements, general business, taxes and management accounting. 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., American Bar Association Building, 740 15th St. NW, third floor, Washington. Sponsor: Service Corps of Retired Executives....

APPOINTMENTS

Post — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic of Bethesda named Mark Lapidus , former director of marketing, vice president of digital media.

INSIDER TRANSACTIONS

Post — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

-- Thomson Financial

Mass. wind farm that Obama administration might support meets strong resistance

Juliet Eilperin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

ABOARD THE IDA LEWIS -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar journeyed out into Nantucket Sound on a Coast Guard vessel last week to signal the Obama administration's readiness to put some muscle behind wind energy. To do that, Salazar has to resolve a battle over building a wind farm on 25 square mile...

NRA, onetime ally feud over next big guns case to go before Supreme Court

Robert Barnes — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

The National Rifle Association was on the outside looking in when the Supreme Court handed gun rights activists a landmark victory in 2008.

With speech before tea party activists, Palin once again steps on political stage

Philip Rucker and Ann Gerhart — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

NASHVILLE -- Sarah Palin chose a gathering of tea party activists on Saturday as the backdrop for her first major political speech since accepting the Republican Party's nomination for vice president 18 months ago. With her remarks, greeted with wild enthusiasm here and carried live by all three ...

Internet gambling again in play

Dan Eggen — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Poker lobbyists are ramping up an aggressive push backed by millions of dollars to legalize Internet gambling in the United States this year, hoping to overcome passionate objections from social conservatives, sports leagues and other longtime opponents.

General-aviation security proposal is being scaled back

Spencer S. Hsu — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Citing industry objections, the Transportation Security Administration is preparing to scale back a controversial plan to expand aviation security rules for the first time to thousands of private planes.

Courts to decide whether First Amendment protects lies about being a war hero

Dan Elliott — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

DENVER -- The federal courts are wrestling with a question of liberty and patriotism: Does the First Amendment right to free speech protect people who lie about being war heroes?

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner: Global bank reform still needed

Post — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Saturday that the recovery in the global economy has not caused major economies to ease up on their commitment to stiffen the rules for banks.

Defense secretary Robert M. Gates skeptical of Iran's claims about nuclear deal

Craig Whitlock — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

ANKARA, TURKEY -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Saturday played down assertions by Iran that it is ready to reach a deal on its nuclear program, saying Tehran's overall response to overtures from the Obama administration has been "quite disappointing."

2010 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS

Post — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Complaints: It's faulty automotive advertising, especially those ads showing cars and trucks rip-roaring along off-road paths or along severely weather-compromised roads. Disclaimers citing the drivers in those advertisements as "professional" or their various driving environments as "closed" are...

Looking for leadership on don't ask, don't tell

On Leadership — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

Ken Adelman is co-founder and vice president of Movers & Shakespeares, which offers executive training and leadership development. He was a Reagan-era ambassador and arms control director.

Can the U.S. government require you to get an IRA?

Martha C. White — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST

One of the biggest priorities for the Middle Class Task Force led by Vice President Biden is a push to improve and standardize American retirement planning. This is where the Obama administration can make big changes. But whether average workers or financial service firms and insurance companies ...

Officials confirm kidnapping of U.S. contractor in Iraq

Ernesto Londoño and Leila Fadel — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:05:54 EST

Baghdad -- An American contractor working for the U.S. military in Baghdad has been kidnapped by a Shiite militant group, U.S. officials said this weekend in response to a statement and video issued by the group.