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(IsraelNN.com) The Ministerial Committee on Legislation has approved a proposed a bill banning the commemoration of Independence Day as a day of mourning. The bill was originally proposed by MK Alex Miller (Israel Our Home). It addresses the increasingly widespread practice, by Arab citizens of Israel, of marking Israel’s Independence Day as a day of mourning, or Naqba Day

There's word tonight that Senate Democrats have denied Arlen Specter seniority on the committees on which he will now serve as a Democrat. That means Specter, who has been a senator for 28 years, will now occupy the most junior position among Senate Democrats. A few minutes ago, I asked a GOP Senate source for his reaction. "I don't know if it says more about [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid's lack of commitment or Specter's naiveté," he told me.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - An Illinois House panel overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday that would allow residents to carry concealed handguns or other weapons in public. Illinois and Wisconsin are the only two states in the country that do not allow concealed carry. The House Agriculture and Conservation Committee advanced two versions of the legislation by an 11-1 vote. One version would require the Illinois State Police to issue the concealed carry permits; the other would task county sherrifs with issuing permits. Both bills would require permit applicants to be "law-abiding citizens" and to complete a training course in handgun use, safety,...

Former Vice President Al Gore brought a stark message to the Senate on Wednesday: A new climate change treaty is critical to continuing human life on Earth. The Nobel Peace Prize winner urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to push for a U.S.-brokered treaty in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the United Nations will host a climate change conference. Only the United States can lead such an effort, he said. “This is the one challenge that could completely end human civilization, and it is rushing at us with such speed and force,” said Gore, who won an Oscar for the...

Gore: Earth in 'grave danger' Tom LoBianco (Contact) UPDATED: Former Vice President Al Gore told lawmakers Wednesday morning that the earth is in "grave danger" and that the nation must break its dependence on oil. Mr. Gore said Congress must pass a cap and trade bill and increase tax breaks for renewable energy sources before going before the U.N. climate change conference this December to negotiate new carbon-reduction benchmarks. "Climate change will be increasingly central to our foreign policy and national security, and it will be a focal point of this committee's efforts as well," said Sen. John Kerry, the...

Corruption Chronicles Only half of the members in the U.S. Senate committee that screens among the most important presidential cabinet nominees—Secretary of Homeland Security—bothered to show up for confirmation hearings this week and only two Republicans participated. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee senators evidently had more important things to do than assure the right candidate will head the crucial agency that keeps the nation safe from foreign threats. Only nine of the panel’s 17 members found the time to ask Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary pick—Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano—questions, making the so-called confirmation hearing somewhat laughable. This is embarrassing...

California Rep. Henry Waxman said Thursday the environment and U.S. economy depend on congressional action to confront the threat of climate change. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke as he opened Congress' first hearing on climate legislation. A group of 14 corporate

'Live' IL legislative committee impeachment hearing of Illinois' Governor Rod Blagojevich. (1300 / CST)

A citizens’ advisory committee appointed to advise the Texas Transportation Commission agrees with Texas Farm Bureau that the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) concept needs to be scrapped and new avenues explored to meet the Lone Star State's transportation needs, according to TFB President Kenneth Dierschke. “This advisory committee does not support the TTC concept,” A Citizens’ Report on the Current and Future Needs of the I-35 Corridor, issued Nov. 12, stated. “Instead we recommend a more inclusive solution that respects local communities and private property rights while addressing statewide and local transportation needs.” Dierschke said the state’s largest farm organization agrees...

Kerry expected to get top foreign affairs panel post November 19, 2008 11:10 AM By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff WASHINGTON -- More than three decades after he first appeared before the panel as a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran-turned-antiwar protester, Senator John F. Kerry is widely expected to be named the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position that will give him enormous influence over international relations.

A citizens committee appointed by the Texas Department of Transportation has issued a series of recommendations on what should be done to deal with increasing congestion on Interstate 35, 1200 WOAI news reports. The committee said stretches of Interstate 35, which runs from Laredo to Gainesville and is the most heavily traveled Interstate highway in the country, have 'pushed the limit of the road's design capacity.' Gabby Garcia of TxDOT says the committee reacted strongly against Governor Perry's 'Trans Texas Corridor' toll road plan, saying the TTC 'has come to represent what Texans do not want in transportation project delivery....

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is in line to become the first female chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The opening was created Friday amid a chairmanship shuffle sparked by the announcement that Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was stepping down as head of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A number of gavels will change hands as a result, sending the current Intelligence Committee chairman, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to the Commerce Committee, and opening up the powerful Intelligence Committee post for Feinstein, according to a former Hill aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations were ongoing. Feinstein,...

Welcome to the most grassroots-driven platform development effort in the history of American politics! The Republican Party is seeking your input as we develop the policies and principles upon which we should stand for the next four years. On this website, you can share your thoughts, participate in polls, and communicate directly with the policymakers who will be shaping the party's agenda. All comments and feedback will be reviewed and taken into full consideration as we prepare for our convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. We hope that this process will guarantee the greatest amount of public input into any platform in...

AUSTIN — Maybe Texas’ transportation problems are a lot simpler to understand than recent fights over toll roads make it seem, North Texas leaders told state senators Wednesday. “My first recommendation: You need to provide a lot more revenue for transportation,” Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told the Texas Senate transportation committee. That was hardly the only suggestion from Mr. Morris or the many others who spoke to the committee, which is seeking input as it readies an approach on toll roads, TxDOT and more for the next legislative session. But it might...

Continuing a lifelong practice of helping rural East Texans, Nolan Alders attended a meeting in Austin Tuesday as a member of the citizens' advisory committee for the Trans-Texas Corridor highway project. Alders was among 18 representatives of communities that run along the route of the proposed highway, which runs from Laredo to Texarkana. The committee members prepared for their roles as community representatives, and heard comments from state transportation leaders, including Texas Department of Transportation Executive Director Amadeo Saenz and Commissioner Ted Houghton of the Texas Transportation Commission. TxDOT literature says the TTC-69 committee — and another committee to represent...

As the state's population continues to grow in its urban centers, expansion plans for the highway system continue to be the focus for transportation improvements. The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is aimed to alleviate traffic congestion, improve air quality and provide safer traveling for drivers, among other goals. In 2002, Texas Governor Rick Perry released the plan to create the passageway, which spans northeast from Laredo to Oklahoma and is set to total 4,000 miles in the next 50 years. The $140 billion project calls for the incorporation of new toll roads, commuter railways, power lines and gas pipelines, while...

BELTON - There appears to be no easy way to address the challenges that inflation has brought to the Texas Department of Transportation. “We’ve seen 60 percent inflation over the last five years for transportation projects,” said Chris Lippincott, a TxDOT spokesman. To look to the federal government for assistance would appear foolhardy at this point as the Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to become insolvent by 2009. The fund was created in 1956 to ensure a dependable source of financing for U.S. interstates and highways. “The Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to go into the red very...

Lufkin Mayor Jack Gorden has been selected by the Texas Transportation Committee to serve on a citizens' advisory committee for putting together information regarding the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. According to Texas Department of Transportation officials, advisory committee members represent a cross-section of community and business leaders, landowners, local transportation experts and others. "Our goal is to enhance the public dialogue and meaningfully involve more Texans in transportation decisions," said Texas Transportation Commission Chair Hope Andrade. "These committees will have an important seat at the table as we work together to shape the future of transportation for our state." Gorden...

Second Lt. Cynthia Peters, 8th Cavalry Regiment’s women’s affairs representative, speaks with a curious participant during the first-ever Hawr Rajab Women’s Committee meeting Feb. 7. Photo by Sgt. Luis Delgadillo. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Leaders of the newly-formed group sat before colleagues, government officials, community and Coalition leaders, but the audience they addressed was much larger; what some would even consider the backbone of their community. The first meeting of Hawr Rajab’s Women’s Committee began Feb. 7 with a press conference at the Hawr Rajab boy’s school and a discussion of topics vital to the community’s welfare.If the orators...

Yesterday evening, members of the House of Delegates were given their new committee assignments. There were a lot of changes made, and some were quite interesting. The most interesting - and amusing (in my opinion) is that Delegate Brian Moran - the Democratic Caucus Leader, and Delegate Ward Armstrong - the House Minority Leader, have been assigned to Finance this year. Finance is the committee that deals with tax and fee increases. Keep in mind, that Delegate Moran is running for Governor. Democrats of late have managed to get elected in part, by saying they would not support tax increases....