Yahoo! News: Politics News

Politics News

• Dems delay auto bailout vote, seek plan from Big 3 (AP)

  AP - Democratic leaders in Congress sidetracked legislation to bail out the auto industry Thursday and demanded the Big Three develop a plan assuring the money would make them economically viable. "Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a hastily called news conference in the Capitol.

  
  

• Stevens leaves to a standing ovation (Politico)

  Politico - Ted Stevens — the longest-serving Republican senator in history — bid farewell to the Senate on Thursday. Although he leaves under criminal conviction, the 85-year-old Alaskan said the future is still bright.

  
  

• Napolitano is no stranger to Washington scandals (AP)

  AP - President-elect Barack Obama's likely pick for Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, is no stranger to headline-making Washington scandals and controversies.

  
  

• Obama likely to make bad nomination or two, history shows (AP)

  AP - No matter how careful he is, sooner or later President-elect Barack Obama is likely to make a bum nomination or two.

  
  

• Hyatt heiress Pritzker out of running for Commerce Secretary (Politico)

  Politico - Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker, national campaign finance chairwoman for the Obama campaign, has taken herself out of the running to be secretary of Commerce, a Democratic official said.

  
  

• Ted Stevens' fall points to political shift (AP)

  AP - Alaska's incoming senator is bullish on gun rights, wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and believes less government is better. And he's a Democrat.

  
  

• Dems: Napolitano emerges for Homeland Security job (AP)

  AP - President-elect Barack Obama is likely to choose Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to be secretary of homeland security, top Obama advisers and several Democrats said Thursday as the shape of Obama's Cabinet begins to emerge.

  
  

• Congress extends jobless benefits through December (AP)

  AP - Congress has passed legislation extending jobless benefits through the December holidays, keeping checks flowing to laid-off workers who would otherwise lose them.

  
  

• HIV tests not yet as routine as cholesterol checks (AP)

  AP - Two years after the government urged that HIV tests become as common as cholesterol checks there are small gains but still one in five people infected with the AIDS virus don't know it, scientists said Thursday.

• Calif. court to hear challenge to gay marriage ban (Reuters)

  Reuters - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand in the meantime.

  
  

• EU welcomes Welsh as a minority languages (AP)

  AP - The Welsh language, which dates back to the 6th century, got a major boost Thursday when the European Union formally recognized it as a minority tongue.