Illinois Senate passes minimum wage hike plan
(Reuters) – The Democrat-controlled Illinois Senate passed on Thursday a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage to $9 per hour this year and to $11 by 2019, snubbing a slower wage hike plan floated a day earlier by the state’s new Republican governor.
Exclusive: U.S. pressing Cuba to restore diplomatic ties before April – officials
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is pressing Cuba to allow the opening of its embassy in Havana by April, U.S. officials told Reuters, despite the Communist island’s demand that it first be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror…
Boehner sees call for military authorization vs Islamic State soon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday he expected President Barack Obama to seek congressional authorization soon for using military force against Islamic State and also called for speeding up assist…
Obama budget request for hi-tech energy office ‘timid’: Republican
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate energy committee’s head on Thursday said President Barack Obama’s budget request for an agency that funds projects that could revolutionize energy markets – like long-range car batteries and turning bacteria into fuel …
House takes up bill aimed at fighting ‘patent trolls’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Key Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives joined with a smattering of Democrats to introduce a bill on Thursday aimed at reducing frivolous patent litigation.
Obama to seek new authority for force against Islamic State next week: congressional aides
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will ask Congress for new authority to use force against Islamic State fighters next week, congressional aides said on Thursday.
Oregon’s largest newspaper calls for Governor Kitzhaber to resign
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) – Oregon’s flagship newspaper is calling on the state’s Democratic governor, whom it endorsed for re-election last year, to resign amid a controversy over whether his fiancée’s consulting work posed a conflict of interest with her role as an unpaid adviser.
Lawmakers set new push for more North Korea sanctions: aides
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday to broaden sanctions against North Korea by imposing stiffer punishments on international companies that do business with Pyongyang, congressional committee aides told Reuters.
Obama’s ‘Big Data’ privacy plans get lift from lawmakers
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is working with a Republican congressman on the U.S. House of Representatives’ leadership team and Democrats in both the House and Senate on a bill to protect data collected from students through educational apps….
Republicans will not give up on stalled security funding bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican congressional leaders refused to give up on a Homeland Security funding bill that seeks to block President Barack Obama’s immigration actions, even though it failed to clear a Senate procedural hurdle for the third con…
