Politics

White House Associate Counsel William H. Kennedy III was stripped of two areas of responsibility Wednesday because of disclosures that he failed to pay Social Security taxes for a nanny despite warnings from his superiors, officials said Wednesday. White House Chief of Staff Thomas (Mack) McLarty and incoming Special Counsel Lloyd N. Cutler decided to … Read more

With the new year also comes nearly 1,000 new state laws. Some are major, most are not, but all will affect someone in California; income taxes, for example, will go down for 3 million Californians. For others, fees and fines will go up. Welfare will become harder to get, criminal sentences will get stiffer, elementary … Read more

Ben Aaron was watching the blood pour out of Ronald Reagan’s chest, more than a cup of it every 15 minutes. Unlike the bright hue of freshly oxygenated blood, this blood was a dark ruby color–”ominously dark,” Aaron thought. It was a rainy afternoon on March 30, 1981, and Dr. Benjamin Aaron, chief of cardiothoracic … Read more

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks with reporters outside a restaurant in Charleston, S.C., on Sunday. (Meg Kinnard / Associated Press) Joe Biden’s income soared from less than $400,000 a year while he was vice president to more than $15 million in the two years after leaving the Obama White House, … Read more

President Bush, while still expressing firm opposition to tax increases during his initial year in office, implied Friday in his first presidential news conference that he might have to accept higher taxes later in his term. His brief comments appeared to be part of a gradual easing away by the White House from Bush’s strict, … Read more

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee calls his cadre of loyal volunteers “Huck’s Army.” And one of his premiere battalions is a tight network of Christian home-schooling families who view the campaign as a civic — and educational — duty. Huckabee has spent roughly $400,000 campaigning in Iowa and has hired enough full-time workers in recent … Read more

Elena Marqueto–Kelly teaches an advanced Spanish class for first- to third-graders at Grupo Educa School in Pasadena. (Axel Koester / For the Los Angeles Times) Ricardo Lara was in college when California voters approved a law that required public school students to speak and learn only in English. It was a debate, the now-state-senator remembers, … Read more

Could this be — hang on — an election fight for the soul of the Democratic Party, a spirited thrust by the antiwar movement into the backyard of Southern California’s defense industry to define just what shade of blue is blue enough these days in confronting the prolonged conflict of Iraq? Or is it merely … Read more

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance greets the Republican National Convention crowd on Wednesday night. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) In his first public address as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance kept the focus on his boss — a trait shared by those who tend to stay in former President … Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scathing remarks on the abortion issue could serve as a launch for a presidential bid if there weren’t so many reasons keeping the California Democrat from running. (Michael R. Blood / Associated Press) Gavin Newsom sounds like a man ready to jump on the next flight to Iowa or New Hampshire or … Read more