Liz Halloran

Same-Sex Couple Seeks Immigration Relief From High Court

Liz Halloran — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:48:00 +0000

The Sunday morning party in suburban Washington, D.C., had all the trappings of anticipation.

A lace-trimmed bassinet, a jumble of gifts tied with pink and blue ribbons, a "diaper cake" on the table. And chatter about babies, diets, new spring outfits and the coming end of the school year.

But for Sue Costello, the grandmother-in-waiting, the happy cacophony of the baby shower masked an abiding anxiety about the future of her daughter's family and the twins — a boy and a girl — who are due before June's end.

That future is now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

4 Big Players Emerge In Military Sexual Assault Debate

Liz Halloran — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 22:45:00 +0000

The nation's top military leaders came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday primed to defend their ability to handle, in their chain of command, the sexual assault scandal that has engulfed the armed services.

But the dramatic faceoff with the Senate Armed Services Committee — in particular two of its female members — appeared to only deepen the chasm between the four-star brass and those who want significant change in a system that has failed victims for decades.

If nothing else, the hearing revealed the four players who will play an outsized role in the debate: Army Chief of Staff Gen.

Lautenberg's Death Sets Off New Jersey Senate Scramble

Liz Halloran — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:05:00 +0000

The traditionally collegial U.S.

Court Prepares To Write New Chapters In Civil Rights History

Liz Halloran — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 19:45:00 +0000

It's not unusual for the Supreme Court to find itself at the center of roiling national debates.

But this month, justices are poised to deliver blockbuster opinions involving three of the most divisive issues in the public arena. And in doing so, they will write new and potentially groundbreaking chapters in America's civil rights story.

Affirmative action. Voting rights law.

Bachmann's Legacy: A Trailblazer, For Better And For Worse

Liz Halloran — Wed, 29 May 2013 22:07:00 +0000

Minnesota Rep.

For Chris Christie, Obama Connection Has Risks, Rewards

Liz Halloran — Tue, 28 May 2013 21:59:00 +0000

President Obama's second trip to New Jersey to meet with Republican Gov.

Stunned By Military Sex Scandals, Advocates Demand Changes

Liz Halloran — Sat, 25 May 2013 19:50:00 +0000

West Point alum Donna McAleer was at her Utah home last week when she got a call asking if she'd "seen the latest."

A male Army sergeant, a friend told her, had just been charged with secretly photographing and videotaping at least a dozen female cadets at McAleer's alma mater.

Many of the women were naked; some images were taken in a bathroom at the U.S. Military Academy in New York.

Oklahoma's GOP Senators Find Themselves In Tornado Aid Bind

Liz Halloran — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:57:00 +0000

Even as President Obama was declaring that tornado-devastated Oklahoma would get "everything it needs right away," the state's most vociferous critic of federal emergency aid vowed that he, too, would push for assistance "without delay."

Yet Republican Sen. Tom Coburn's position on federal aid came under close scrutiny in the hours after the tragedy.

Tesla Rides High, But Faces Formidable Foe: Car Dealers

Liz Halloran — Sun, 19 May 2013 04:51:00 +0000

Tesla Motors, the American maker of luxury electric cars, has been riding a wave of good publicity.

Its Model S sedan (base priced at $62,400, after federal tax credits) was just named Motor Trend Car of the Year.

When The Missing Return, Recovery Is Long, Too

Liz Halloran — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:59:00 +0000

They call themselves "Rooters," and they convene in a private online place they call the "RooterHood."

There, they can talk freely and frankly about what it was like to be kidnapped, to be stripped of identity, often sexually abused by their captors, separated from family, friends.

And also about the struggle to recover their uprooted lives, to trust and hope again.

It's a place that would welcome the three young Cleveland women who just last week escaped more than a decade of incarceration and abuse, allegedly at the hands of Ariel Castro, 52, the former school bus driver now facing mul

On Military Sexual Assault Issue, A New Era for An Old Committee

Liz Halloran — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:28:00 +0000

Other bipartisan efforts on Capitol Hill may be collapsing around them, but a cadre of Democratic and Republican women serving on the Senate and House Armed Services committees are leveraging their historic clout to respond together to the sexual assault crisis engulfing the U.S.

Poll: Obama Approval Up, Effectiveness Down; GOP In Doldrums

Liz Halloran — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:34:00 +0000

President Obama's job approval has inched up in recent weeks, but the percentage of Americans who say they believe he is effective has taken a hit, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday.

And while the image of Republican leadership remains "deeply negative," and continues bearing the brunt of the blame for Washington gridlock, the survey found that the GOP runs even with Democrats on the key issues of the economy, immigration and guns.

The survey also showed that even while Republicans hold a negative view of their own leaders, with over half expressing disapproval,

Joy, And New Hope, For All Families Of The Missing

Liz Halloran — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:38:00 +0000

Parents in a networking group for missing children were at a strategy dinner Monday night, discussing the terrors of Internet exploitation and the need for better communication with law enforcement, when news out of Cleveland hit somebody's smartphone and reverberated through the hotel conference room.

"All of a sudden someone said, 'Oh my God,' and started reading the report," said Mika Moulton, president of the Surviving Parents Coalition.

She was among those attending the Justice Department-sponsored gathering called the Family Roundta

Bulletproof Whiteboards And The Marketing Of School Safety

Liz Halloran — Sat, 04 May 2013 10:02:00 +0000

A recent news item out of Minnesota caught our eye: "Bulletproof Whiteboards Unveiled at Rocori Schools."

Bulletproof what? Where?

That would be whiteboards, at the small central Minnesota Rocori School District, which will spend upward of $25,000 for the protective devices produced by a company better known for its military armor products.

"The timing was right," Rocori school board Chairwoman Nadine Schnettler tells us.

Personality Or Party? Mass. Senate Race Shows Value Of Both

Liz Halloran — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:03:00 +0000

When Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was tapped to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, his state — and national — party bosses were wringing their hands.

Why? The prospect of Republican Scott Brown launching another campaign to return to the Senate, where he served after winning a special election in 2010 to complete the term of the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. Brown lost to Democrat Elizabeth Warren last November in a race for a full Senate term.

But Brown opted not to run for Kerry's seat, and now it will go to either Rep.

Max Baucus Says He Was Montana's 'Hired Hand' On Gun Vote

Liz Halloran — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:57:00 +0000

Longtime Democratic Sen.

The Meaning of Boston: Depends On Your Angle, Literally

Liz Halloran — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:18:00 +0000

The opportunistic political sentiment of never letting a crisis go to waste (see: Rahm Emanuel, among others) has been reframed since the Boston bombings by those seizing on the attack as certain evidence of their positions.

In the Los Angeles Times recently, columnist Doyle McManus referred to the attack as akin to a "national Rorschach test" that has

Bush Sees Approval Hike, But Trumanesque Recovery? Unlikely

Liz Halloran — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:16:00 +0000

A poll released days before the opening of George W.

A Rand Paul White House Path Complicated By Dad's Legacy

Liz Halloran — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:18:00 +0000

Freshman Sen.

Tragedy In Real Time: Living A Terrible Week, Vicariously

Liz Halloran — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:02:00 +0000

We have imagined ourselves searching like Kelly Manning for loved ones after the explosions on Boylston Street.

We have pictured ourselves huddling in the basement like Beth and Paul Robinson and their four children as bullets and bombs fly on our own city street.

We have thoug

Boston Bombing Suspects Are Brothers Living In U.S. For Years

Liz Halloran — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:46:00 +0000

Updated 1:50 p.m. ET: (Correcting that brothers shared an apartment in Cambridge, not Watertown.)

The suspects in Monday's deadly Boston Marathon explosions and the Thursday night murder of a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are two brothers from a former Soviet republic who were in the United States legally for years, and lived together in a Cambridge, Mass., apartment.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, on Friday afternoon was still being sought by police.

Bipartisan Senate Gang Begins To Sell Immigration Plan

Liz Halloran — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:51:00 +0000

Bipartisan bonhomie broke out Thursday afternoon when four Democratic and four Republican senators made a case for their comprehensive immigration overhaul proposal.

The scene at the Dirksen Senate Office Building stood in marked contrast to the ugly end Wednesday of a smaller cross-party effort to fashion gun legislation that would have expanded background checks and banned assault-style weapons.

"I think 2013 is the year of immigration reform," said GOP Sen.

Security Expert: Investigators Seek Bomber's 'Signature'

Liz Halloran — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:51:00 +0000

As investigators combed through evidence in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings, seeking both motive and perpetrator, we turned Tuesday to a security expert for guidance on how the investigation may be unfolding.

Bryan Cunningham, a former CIA officer, assistant U.S. attorney and deputy legal adviser for the National Security Council, served in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.

Howard Students Question Rand Paul's Vision Of GOP

Liz Halloran — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:03:00 +0000

Rand Paul going to one of the top historically black colleges in the U.S. and trying to school students on who founded the NAACP?

Priceless.

Rand Paul going to one of the top historically black colleges in the U.S. and trying to make a case for his Republican Party as a historic and continuing defender of the civil rights of African-Americans?

Not boring.

And, judging from the reaction the Kentucky senator received Wednesday at Washington's Howard University, less than persuasive.

"I'm happy that he came, that he reached out," said Howard grad Dawn Hay, 29.

Immigration Overhaul 'Feels Unstoppable Now,' Backers Say

Liz Halloran — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:56:00 +0000

Thousands of supporters will descend on the U.S.

Gun Control Prospects Recede As Politics Swamp Momentum

Liz Halloran — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:30:00 +0000

President Obama's campaign for new federal gun control laws takes him to Colorado on Wednesday, and next week back to Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre renewed the nation's fraught conversation about guns.

Though his trip to Connecticut was designed to coincide with the start of gun control debate in the U.S.

Expert: Recent Attacks On Justice Community 'Really Unprecedented'

Liz Halloran — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Two county prosecutors fatally shot in Texas. Colorado's top prison official gunned down. And a dozen more members of the U.S.

Skim Milk, States' Rights and Political Clout: The High Court And DOMA

Liz Halloran — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:23:00 +0000

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a challenge to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between "one man and one woman as husband and wife."

It was the court's second and final day of hearing appeals involving same-sex marriage laws.

Gay Marriage Arguments: Cellphones, The Internet And Fertility Over 55

Liz Halloran — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:29:00 +0000

The U.S.

How Vermont's 'Civil' War Fueled The Gay Marriage Movement

Liz Halloran — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 18:36:00 +0000

It wasn't so long ago that a handful of Vermont legislators in a shabby Statehouse committee room struggled over what to call their proposal to give marriage-like rights to the state's gay and lesbian residents.

Democrat Howard Dean, governor at the time, had already made clear he'd veto any legislation labeled "marriage." Suggestions like "domestic partner relationship" were too clunky; "civil accord," they decided, evoked a car model.

"We wanted something that sounded dignified," says William Lippert, a Democrat who was vice chairman of the House Judiciary Committee writing the law.