Free Republic

For months, Kevin Warsh’s path to the Federal Reserve chairmanship ran straight through one Republican senator who refused to budge: Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis had made clear he would block Warsh’s confirmation until the Justice Department dropped what he called an illegitimate criminal probe of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. On Friday, the DOJ dropped it. On Sunday, Tillis dropped his block. The Senate Banking Committee is now expected to vote Wednesday on Warsh’s nomination. A floor vote could follow before Powell’s term as chair expires on May 15. Tillis had made his position clear since January, when...

The head of California's largest union local has stepped aside in the wake of Times reports that the organization and a related charity paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms owned by his wife and mother-in-law. Tyrone Freeman, president of a Service Employees International Union chapter in Los Angeles, said in a written statement late Wednesday that he was taking a leave of absence and that the local would be placed in a temporary trusteeship. --snip-- In addition to the payments to his relatives' firms, Freeman's local, the United Long-Term Care Workers, spent nearly $300,000 last year on a...

ROME — Italy's choice for a European Commission post, who sparked an uproar with his comments on homosexuality and women, said Saturday he will step aside. Rocco Buttiglione (search) said he wanted to give a free hand to incoming Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in forming a new executive. He made the announcement at a news conference a few hours after Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi indicated he was withdrawing Buttiglione as Italy's nominee for the justice commissioner post.