Spartan Echo

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who led the Internal Revenue Service when it was giving extra scrutiny to tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status told Congress on Tuesday, May 21, that he knew little about what was happening while he was still commissioner. Douglas Shulman, who vacated his position last November when [...]

  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Hours after barely winning Venezuela’s presidential election, the ruling party started to flood state media with accusations that opposition provocateurs were firebombing Cuban-run neighborhood health clinics across the country in revenge. More than a week later, a national dispute is raging as the opposition wages a remarkably successful media counteroffensive [...]

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate moved closer Thursday, Apr. 26 to passing a bill to tax purchases made over the Internet. But a final vote in the Senate was delayed until senators return from a weeklong vacation. Although opponents hope senators will hear from angry constituents over the next week, they have a steep hill [...]

    DENVER (AP) — Medical and recreational marijuana may be legal in Colorado, but employers in the state can lawfully fire workers who test positive for the drug, even if it was used off duty, according to a court ruling Thursday. The Colorado Court of Appeals found there is no employment protection for medical [...]

  NEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures slipped Friday, Apr. 26 with the nation’s economic growth during the first quarter coming in a bit weaker than economists had expected. Consumer spending, which drives a huge portion of the economic activity in the U.S., was back in force, however, and partially offset a pullback in government spending. [...]

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairmen of President Barack Obama’s 2010 fiscal commission are wading back into Washington’s budget wars with a revised, somewhat milder plan to rein in intractable federal deficits. The plan released Thursday, Apr. 18  by and former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles [...]

    NEW YORK (AP) — Mass transportation to and from the Boston area is virtually shut down Friday morning as police conduct a massive manhunt for one of two suspects in Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing. The exception is air travel, as planes continue to take off and land at Logan International Airport. Authorities in [...]

  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Former Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman and legislator Brian Moran is teaming with Republican former Del. Chris Saxman and veteran lobbyist Rob Jones to form a new lobbying and business consulting company. The three announced the founding of New South Strategic Partners on Wednesday, April 17. The 53-year-old Moran ran [...]

  NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A shipping company and two workers are scheduled to stand trial in July on federal pollution charges. Diana Shipping Services and engineers Ioannis Prokakis and Antonios Boumpoutelos are accused of discharging bilge waste and sludge from the Panamanian cargo vessel Thetis directly into the sea. According to the indictment, some [...]

  BEIJING (AP) — “Django Unchained” became “Django Unscreened” as Quentin Tarantino’s violent slave-revenge saga was pulled from Chinese theaters on its opening day, with the importer blaming an unspecified technical problem. The rare suspension order by China Film Group Corp. was confirmed by theater employees throughout China, and has led to speculation that the [...]

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Bipartisan immigration legislation emerging in the Senate could prevent hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. illegally from ever becoming citizens, according to a Senate aide with knowledge of the proposals. The bill expected to be unveiled next week would bar anyone who arrived in the U.S. after Dec. 31, [...]