Metering is ON

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Lynn Sweet biography

Lynn Sweet is the Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. She writes a column and a blog for the paper. She has covered politics …Read More

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Mayor a serial caller — to friends in Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON — Mayor Rahm Emanuel is a serial caller, keeping connected with Capitol Hill, Cabinet members and the White House in his first year in office. Emanuel is not one of those mayors who aspire to be a national figure; he arrived in City Hall …

Latest step in Obama ‘evolution’: He now backs gay marriage

President Barack Obama completed a years-long self-described “evolution” — speeded up by comments Vice President Joe Biden made on Sunday — and on Wednesday reversed himself and said he backs gay marriage.

Michelle’s old program gets $5.9 million grant

WASHINGTON — A University of Chicago Medicine’s health program — once headed by First Lady Michelle Obama when it was created, now run by Dr. Eric Whitaker, close friend of the First Couple — was awarded a $5.9 million grant by the Department of Health …

Duncan backs gay marriage, too

WASHINGTON — I’m not sure what’s more remarkable, that Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave a candid answer when asked about gay marriage on Monday. Or that he was able to do it in three words. Duncan was asked by Mark Halperin on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” …

Afghanistan a major focus of NATO summit

WASHINGTON —President Barack Obama made a quick trip to Afghanistan on Tuesday to sign an agreement with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai about the future of the nation once troops leave in 2014 — with many details to be filled in at the upcoming Chicago NATO …

  • Author tracks down Obama’s former girlfriends

    WASHINGTON — No one has heard from Barack Obama’s former girlfriends until now, when two of them — Genevieve Cook and Alex McNear, complete with love letters and a diary detailing their relationships — surface in a new Obama biography by David Maraniss. Obama’s “sexual …Read More

  • Albright still deals with ‘massive surprise’ of roots

    WASHINGTON — When former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright learned her Czech parents were Jewish — at the age of 59 — she started a journey that led to her discovering 25 relatives — including three grandparents — died in the Nazi Holocaust. I talked …Read More

    • Celebs enjoy conversation at White House Correspondents’ dinner

    WASHINGTON — The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has swelled from a Saturday night affair to a multiday series of parties with Hollywood stars and celebrities of all types mingling with media executives, political powerhouses and reporters. President Obama and first lady Michelle just show …

    Rep. Bobby Rush: I’ll stop Metra ‘in its tracks’

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) is threatening to stop Metra “in its tracks” unless more African-Americans firms get work from a massive railroad construction project in his congressional district called the “Englewood Flyover.” “There is no way that this contract will fly,” Rush told …

    Lynn Sweet: What to watch for as Mitt Romney’s campaign goes national

    WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle kick off their first official campaign events May 5 with Ohio and Virginia rallies while Mitt Romney, with the primary over, pivots to the November battle for the White House, scrambling to build a national operation. …

    Ahead of NATO, Nobel summit in Chicago to stress peaceful resolution to world’s problems

    WASHINGTON — Peace and war. Chicago is hosting international gatherings in the span of weeks that are sort of bookends: the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates starts Monday and the NATO summit, where the ongoing Afghanistan War is a major concern, runs May …

    Secret Service has shopping list for terror-proofing NATO summit

    The Secret Service has an extensive shopping list to fortify the Chicago NATO summit, from barriers to withstand a vehicle going 50 mph to 8-foot-high fences that can’t be climbed. The specifics are contained in a bid request from the Secret Service, a document called “sensitive but unclassified.”

    Lithuanians meeting here

    WASHINGTON — This weekend, top Lithuanian diplomats posted in the U.S., Canada and Mexico meet in Oak Brook — because the Chicago area has the most Lithuanian Americans in the U.S. Discussing the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago is just one of several purposes for …

    Democrat’s stay-at-hom-mom comment about Ann Romney brings Twitter response from Michelle Obama

    WASHINGTON — Never, ever suggest that being a stay-at-home-mom is not work. Trying to douse a firestorm dominated the political news cycle, Democratic strategist and CNN political analyst Hilary Rosen apologized Thursday to Ann Romney, mother of five, for her comment that she “never worked …

    Bill Daley: Being a CEO ‘has no relevance’ to the presidency

    WASHINGTON — Probable GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s central argument for his candidacy, his experience as a private-sector CEO, was shredded Wednesday by Bill Daley, President Barack Obama’s former White House chief of staff — a business executive and former Commerce Secretary. “Being president is not …

    Wins in Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C. thrust Romney into general election mode

    WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s wins in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia on Tuesday thrusts his campaign into the general election mode, having to catch up to the Obama re-election operation while keeping an eye on Rick Santorum. The Obama White House and the …

  • Lithuanians meeting here

    WASHINGTON — This weekend, top Lithuanian diplomats posted in the U.S., Canada and Mexico meet in Oak Brook — because the Chicago area has the most Lithuanian Americans in the U.S. Discussing the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago is just one of several purposes for …Read More

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