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Did you get here Googling "exotic wood raids?" Is this not what you expected? I'm sorry. Settle in for some hot public policy.Last we checked in with Gibson, the famed Tennessee guitar maker had been raided twice by armed federal agents, who seized almost $500,000 in exotic wood imported from India and Madagascar and shut down production. The ebony and rosewood in question have been used for decades to make the instrument's fingerboards and are integral to their style and sound, the company said. (Great video background from Reason, here.)This week, Gibson settled with the government in a "criminal enforcement...

The Justice Department is investigating whether Las Vegas Sands Corp., owned by high-profile Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, broke federal law by failing to report millions of dollars of potentially laundered money transferred to its casinos by two high-rolling Las Vegas gamblers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Solyndra scandal took a big step up the ladder today, as ABC News uncovers new evidence that shows fears over a collapse reached all the way into the West Wing. An OMB analyst tried to raise red flags on the Obama administration’s attempt to rescue the now-bankrupt green-tech firm, before the Department of Energy rejected her advice and restructured the loans in March 2011, which illegally subordinated taxpayers in case of default. An e-mail from Kelly Colyar in August 2011 reminded recipients that she had predicted that very scenario — and that White House chief of staff had been...

Mitt Romney presents one enormous problem for Barack Obama's campaign: No divorce records. That's why the media are so hot to get their hands on Romney's tax records for the past 25 years. They need something to "pick through, distort and lie about" -- as the Republican candidate says. Obama's usual campaign method, used in 100 percent of his races, has been to pry into the private records of his opponents. Democrats aren't going to find any personal dirt on the clean-cut Mormon, so they need complicated tax filings going back decades in order to create the illusion of scandal...

First Amendment: The politically incorrect personal beliefs of a food-chain owner provides politicians nationwide an opportunity to rail against nonexistent discrimination. Want fries with that righteous indignation? Chicago Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A's effort to build a store in his trendy ward after hearing that Chick-fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, had stated in an interview that he believed in marriage as between one man and one woman. Cathy was quoted July 16 in the Baptist Press saying he was "guilty as charged" for supporting "the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a...

Nearly two months after taking a leave of absence from Congress, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s congressional office today said he is being treated at an "in-patient medical facility" for an unnamed ailment. "Recently, we have been made aware that he has grappled with certain physical and emotional ailments privately for a long period of time," Jackson's spokesman Frank Watkins said in a statement. "At present, he is undergoing further evaluation and treatment at an in-patient medical facility." Jackson took a leave of absence from his House duties in early June because of "exhaustion." His condition is now "more serious than...

Rep. Jackson's condition 'more serious' than thought, getting in-patient treatment By Daniel Strauss - 07/05/12 11:56 AM ET Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), who took a leave of absence from Congress, is suffering from a medical condition more serious than "initially believed," according to a statement from his office. The nine-term lawmaker is receiving "in-patient" treatment for "certain physical and emotional ailments," the statement noted. It did not provide additional details about his illness or how long he would be absent from Capital Hill. "Congressman Jackson's medical condition is more serious than we thought and initially believed," Jackson spokesman Frank...

BREAKING: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell: Rep Jesse Jackson Jr is in a rehab facility in AZ suffering from alcoholism and addiction -@JesseRodriguez — HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) July 11, 2012

(CBS News) CHICAGO - Chicago is in the grips of a deadly gang war. At least 275 people have been killed in the city so far this year and many more have been shot, many of them innocent bystanders to the gang violence. Among the latest victims were 12- and 13-year-old girls shot Tuesday night. They survived. Sgt. Matt Little leads one of the teams in Chicago's Gang Enforcement Unit. There are about 200 such officers in the city-- versus 100,000 gang members. "Almost all the violence we're seeing now is from the gangs," Little said. "When there's a shooting...

The mystery surrounding Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., deepened on Tuesday as speculation swirled around the Illinois Democrat’s health and political future. Democratic sources say Jackson — who has not been on Capitol Hill since June 10 — may not return to the House until after the August congressional recess. Jackson’s office said in a June 26 statement that the lawmaker was suffering from exhaustion and would take a “medical leave of absence” to receive treatment for the condition. No date has been given for Jackson’s return, and Democratic lawmakers and aides now believe it could last weeks or even...

Urban Decay: When more Americans are killed in the president's hometown than in Afghanistan, even the media take notice. When will the president notice the carnage in the city run by his former chief of staff? People are dying fast and furiously in Chicago, so much so that it caught the CBS eye and prompted "Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley to sit down Monday night with Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's former chief of staff and mayor of this monument to progressive decay, and ask a very pertinent question. "I got a letter from a viewer the other day who asked...

“Would You Take Away Guns From Law-Abiding Citizens?” Open Poll Causes Stir In American COP Magazine Will You Do It? I’ve known anti-gun cops, who seriously said things like, ‘They have no right to own a gun, it’s my job to protect them. If they have guns, it’s just a danger to me!’ I ike to think my “real” job is as the editor of our sister publication, American Handgunner magazine. A publisher wears many hats, but what I really like to do is write, edit and interact with readers. What I’ve never forgotten is we, you and I, are...

The story of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s severely diminished prospects for becoming a real force in Chicago politics essentially begins and ends at 312, a restaurant across the street from City Hall. That’s where the Democratic congressman and a top aide sat at a sidewalk table on a sunny day in August 2005. They barely touched their lunches, working their cellphones for the latest news on then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s announcement that federal agents had questioned him. Jackson ultimately balked at challenging Daley, but a little more than three years later, he was at 312 again. This time, the...

Urban Decay: Another weekend of violence in the president's hometown, now run by his former chief of staff. If you want to see the fruits of a presidential second term, look at the decline of his city. President Obama and Rahm Emanuel, current mayor and former White House chief of staff, brought the "Chicago Way" to Washington in more ways than one. Not only did they bring a style of bare-knuckled backroom politics of intimidation and cronyism, they brought a statist philosophy of government knows best that has left America's Second City a second-rate city with nowhere to go but...

CHICAGO—U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who defeated a primary challenge this year despite being the target of a House ethics investigation, has been on a medical leave for two weeks and is being treated for exhaustion, his office announced Monday. In a three-sentence news release, Jackson's office disclosed that the Democrat went on leave June 10 but did not provide further details, including how long he would be away. In the release, he asked that his family's privacy be respected.

To those outside legal circles, Sidley Austin is probably best known as the Chicago law firm where Barack Obama and Michelle Obama met. The future president was an intern in 1989. The future first lady was an associate. Barack Obama turned down a job offer at the end of his internship, Michelle Obama left the firm, and the two married in 1992. wo decades later, Sidley Austin is faring well under the Obama administration. (Muckety map shown at link)) Current and former attorneys at the firm receiving presidential appointments include: Virginia A. Seitz - Seitz was a partner at Sidley...

We have often heard Valerie Jarrett is the de-facto President. That might not be far from the truth. Our team has been exhaustively researching this woman,...again. We went back over notes, articles and saved links, as well digging deeper into new documents that we've gotten a hold of. Valerie Jarret is very powerful. I am hoping to keep our article brief, but there is an awful lot to share. As you may know, Valerie Jarrett is Obama,'s closest cabinet member. That is no coincidence. She is one who helped get him where he is. Sure, he knew all the street...

Angry that one promised raise disappeared and that they're being asked to work longer days without what they consider to be an adequate pay increase, Chicago teachers are considering authorizing their first strike in a quarter-century. In a signal of their mounting anger, teachers are voting this week - before a summer of negotiations and a recommendation from an independent fact-finder - on a strike that wouldn't happen until the next school year starts. If they do authorize a strike, teachers in the nation's third-largest school... "This is a reflection of the treatment we as teachers have been subjected to...

‘Thousands of dollars” in state grants awarded to bolster health care in minority communities instead went to pay campaign workers for former state Sen. Rickey Hendon and Democratic candidates Hendon supported, a Chicago nurse has told investigators. The nurse, Tonja Cook, 44, detailed her allegations in four interviews with state and federal authorities between October 2010 and May 2011, records show. In June 2011, federal prosecutors in Springfield charged Cook and another Chicago nurse, Margaret A. Davis, with siphoning $500,000 from state grant funds for Davis’ “personal use.” Hendon, 58, a West Side Democrat who unexpectedly retired from the Senate...

Convicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko has granted his first television interview since he went to prison for corruption. "I was indicted, tried and convicted for a crime I did not commit," he told ABC7's Charles Thomas. "Here I am serving a 10 and a 1/2 year sentence that I believe I do not deserve." Rezko was the wealthiest and most influential member of former governor Rod Blagojevich's inner circle. As he sits in the federal penitentiary in downstate Pekin, Ill., four years after his conviction, Rezko still says he did not do it. At least not the 16 fraud,...