US Senate News

Southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital has resumed some outpatient surgeries, more than eight months after its entire surgical unit was shut down because of a reported spike in post-surgical deaths, officials said Monday.

The change was announced in a one-sentence statement saying low-risk, outpatient surgeries resumed last week. The procedures include knee arthroscopies, prostate biopsies, vasectomies and hernia repairs.

The VA halted all surgeries at the Marion, Ill., last August after it found that at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 were 'directly attributable' to substandard care. Read more

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“The photos make the relationship obvious and undeniable.”

Photos of West Virginia's top jurist vacationing with the chief executive of a massive coal producer have transformed an otherwise run-of-the-mill election into that state's most closely watched race, while ... via The Topeka Capital-Journal

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“The natural inclination in these conditions can be to retract. Pull back. Put all big projects on hold. Yet that is exactly the wrong approach and will leave us in worse condition than we are in today when the next upswing occurs”

Sen. Charles Schumer on Monday called for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to oversee a new building boom on Manhattan's West Side, starting with the stalled Pennsylvania Station project. via 7Online.com

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More than 100 people are dead following an earthquake in central China today. At least 900 may even be buried in a collapsed high school. via ClipSyndicate

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A federal prosecutor scornfully denounced political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko on Monday as the engineer of millions of dollars worth of state government fraud who engaged in "the corrupt use of power and influence to benefit himself and his friends."

As closing arguments got under way at Rezko's trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reid Schar said the defendant was part of a wider scheme of corruption in Illinois government.

"He joined that corrupt scheme, he acted in furtherance of it, and he did it for money," Schar told the jury. Read more

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“He didn't even have a way of paying for it”

Hillary who?

OK, Barack Obama has not yet gone that far. But as the lengthy, tiring, roller-coaster race for the Democratic presidential nomination enters its (possible) homestretch, the senator from Illinois increasingly is ignoring the competitor from his own party to focus on presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.

In part, this move likely is intended to be self-fulfilling. By behaving as if he has finally wrapped up the Democratic contest, Senator Obama may generate fresh excitement among his supporters and lure crucial superdelegates into his camp. Read more

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“One of the things that is amazing to me is these politicians that take money from all these special interests and all these lobbyists want to turn around and blast all the people that line up in front of their office every day”

The revolving door between former members of Congress and lucrative lobbying firms usually leads one way. But Jim Slattery is trying to make a U-turn.

After spending more than a decade in Washington making millions of dollars at one of the nation's most prestigious law firms, the former Democratic congressman from Topeka is jumping back into the political arena in a bid to unseat Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.

Roberts' campaign has already gone after Slattery with radio ads calling him a 'Gucci loafers and all' lobbyist who's out of touch with voters. Read more

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“It's not often stuff like this happens ... not in Baker City”

In visits to three rural communities far east of Democrat-rich Portland, former President Bill Clinton touted his wife's economic, education, energy and health care policies and urged residents to support her ... via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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“At the end of the day, all the same issues that apply to any citizen -- the economy, national security -- are part of the Hispanic community too”

Hispanic voters will play a crucial role in determining the next president and will be a key to which party will be in power well beyond November, Republican leaders said Saturday at a state party conference ... via WFTV Orlando

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