Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Friday that he would lower the federal debt by transforming Medicare and Social Security and reshaping or eliminating other costly government programs. Romney unveiled a blueprint to overhaul entitlement programs popular with seniors, saying he would gradually raise the retirement age for Medicare and Social Security. Under his plan, future retirees would have the option of staying on traditional Medicare or purchasing health insurance from private companies through “premium supports,” or vouchers. Read full article > >

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Romney: Overhaul Medicare and Social Security to reduce debt

G.O.P. presidential candidates are issuing attacks on the federal courts, stoking skepticism among conservatives about the judiciary.

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Republicans Turn Judicial Power Into a Campaign Issue

If gun-toting zombie killers, lewd language or busty women prowling for “hot guys” got on children’s TV shows, parents would run to the federal government’s indecency patrol in protest. But such content is finding its way onto mobile applications aimed at children, who are spending more and more time tapping away on smartphones, iPods and other gadgets. Read full article > >

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Inappropriate content making its way to mobile apps

Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund billionaire at the center of one of the largest insider trading cases in history , was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan. It was the longest prison term in history for insider trading, the federal prosecutor’s office said, and was a major turning point in the Justice Department’s two-year probe of insider trading on Wall Street. The Rajaratnam case pulled back the curtain on a long-suspected dark side of the hedge fund business. Read full article > >

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Hedge fund billionaire gets 11-year sentence in fraud case

With the nation’s Latino population booming and now the country’s largest minority group, the Obama administration’s top Hispanic official is concerned that the federal government is not giving enough attention to Hispanic history and culture. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in the past year has pushed the National Park Service to identify more sites or properties related to the histories of women and minorities that could be added to the National Register of Historic Places or be preserved as national parks or historic landmarks . Read full article > >

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Ken Salazar urges more Latino-themed national parks, sites

Republican candidates who once supported the federal No Child Left Behind law now say the federal government has no place in state and local education decisions.

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News Analysis: G.O.P. Anti-Federalism Aims at Education

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied Virginia’s request for aid to help property owners affected by the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the state Aug. 23.  Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said Friday that he was disappointed and will immediately appeal.  “Disaster relief and public safety are core functions of the federal government,’’ McDonnell said in a statement. “Unfortunately, volunteer groups are ill-equipped to repair earthquake damage and while state and local officials are doing everything they can, federal assistance is necessary in ensuring that affected Virginians are able to get their homes back in working order and get back on their feet again.”  Read full article > >

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FEMA denies Virginia’s request for aid for earthquake damage

NEVADA, Iowa — At the end of a day of back-to-back campaign events in eastern Iowa last week, as an audience of 180 people in a community center ate chili and crackers, Ron Paul suddenly seemed to remember why he was there. After a series of speeches that had veered between obscure Austrian economists and the 1913 U.S. law that established the federal income tax, he finally concluded: “That’s why I’m running for president.” The crowd erupted into applause. Read full article > >

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In third try at presidency, Ron Paul finds GOP ideals shifting in his direction

President Obama will excuse states from key parts of No Child Left Behind, the federal education law, if they adopt certain education reforms in exchange for greater flexibility in deciding how to measure school performance. The Obama administration offered the first details Thursday of the highly anticipated program, with as many as 45 states expected to participate. Read full article > >

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Obama to issue No Child Left Behind waivers to states

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Shell Oil Co. on Monday took a step closer to tapping vast petroleum reserves off Alaska’s Arctic coasts when the federal Environmental Protection Agency approved an air quality permit for one of the company’s drilling vessels. The EPA approved the air permit for the drilling vessel Noble Discover, which Shell hopes to use for exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast, and its support fleet of oil spill response and supply vessels. Read full article > >

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EPA grants air permit to Shell for Arctic offshore drilling in Chukchi sea off Alaska coast

How the federal government dumps half a million worn-out computers and countless other electronic devices every year may help expand the $5 billion electronics recycling industry. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Services Administration are considering new rules of engagement for contract recyclers as they start requiring agencies to dispose of old computers, monitors and other electronic waste. Read full article > >

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E-waste: Recyclers, scrap haulers vie to keep U.S. computer trash home

Those who make sport out of denigrating the federal workforce should meet the winners of this year’s Samuel Heyman Service to America Medals. During a period when some people think that federal employees are overpaid, and they face the uncertainty of budget cuts, the awards — better known as the Sammies — are a welcome and needed relief. Read full article > >

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Rewards of federal service

Five tobacco companies, including some of the largest in the United States, filed a lawsuit against the federal government on Tuesday, alleging that government-mandated graphic warning labels on cigarette packages unconstitutionally infringe on the companies’ rights.

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Big Tobacco sues over graphic labels

Editor’s note: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released a plan in July that he said would achieve $9 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade. Here, we review parts of the proposal. Coburn , a doctor, has some strong ideas about Medicare and Medicaid, which, he said, provide “health-care coverage for approximately one in five Americans and, along with Social Security, make up the backbone of the federal safety net.” Among his proposals : raising the entry age for Medicare; means-testing beneficiary payments; raising some premiums for all seniors; increasing funding for investigating fraud and abuse of both systems; and freezing for 10 years the Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors. Read full article > >

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Coburn’s cuts: Taking on Medicare and Medicaid

The average American family has a lot riding on the current debate in Washington over whether “tax expenditures” should be placed on the budget chopping block as part of an effort to reduce the federal deficit. It has been 25 years since major tax breaks were seriously scrutinized as part of budget negotiations. Back then, under President Ronald Reagan, reductions in tax breaks for individuals were largely compensated with lower income tax rates. Since then, a thick web of tax deductions, exemptions and credits have crept into the federal tax system, much to the benefit of individuals as well as corporations. Read full article > >

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How eliminating tax breaks would affect the average family’s budget