Study recommends total ban on smoking for soldiers

You’ve seen the iconic picture of a soldier with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but that could soon be a thing of the past. A new study commissioned by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs recommends a complete ban on tobacco, which would end tobacco sales on military bases and prohibit smoking by anyone in uniform, not even combat troops in the thick of battle. According to the study, tobacco use impairs military readiness in the short term

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Massachusetts sues federal government over marriage law

Massachusetts sued the U.S. government on Wednesday, challenging the constitutionality of a federal law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. “We’re taking this action today because, first, we believe that [the Defense of Marriage Act] directly interferes with Massachusetts’ long-standing sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents,” Attorney General Martha Coakley said Wednesday afternoon

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U.S. puts sanctions on Iran-based company linked to N. Korea

The United States on Tuesday imposed financial sanctions on an Iran-based company that it said is a cover for North Korea’s missile proliferation network, the Department of the Treasury announced. The court’s unanimous, unsigned opinion declared that Franken “received the highest number of votes legally cast” and is entitled “to receive the certificate of election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota.” If the ruling brings an end to seven months of challenges by Coleman, Franken would become the 60th member of the Senate Democratic caucus, a move that gives the party a filibuster-proof majority in the chamber, at least on paper

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Sanford plans to return to work Friday despite calls to resign

Embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford plans to return to work Friday, despite calls for him to resign because of a sex scandal. “After spending Thursday with his family in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, Governor Mark Sanford has returned to Columbia and plans on holding a Cabinet meeting on Friday,” his office told CNN by e-mail Thursday, a day after he admitted having an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman

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People on terrorist watch list allowed to buy guns

When people on the government’s terrorist watch list have tried to buy guns or explosives in recent years, the government has let them the vast majority of the time. That’s the finding of a new report by the Government Accountability Office, sent to lawmakers last month and released publicly Monday.

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Starting Health Care Reform in the ER

To get a sense of just how dysfunctional American health care is, members of Congress don’t need to look further than their local emergency department . The overcrowding in EDs is so bad these days that patients who walk in with “immediate” needs, meaning the most severe on a clinical scale, wait an average of 28 minutes to see a doctor, according to a Government Accountability Office report released in May. That’s 27 minutes more than the recommended wait time for such conditions.

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Work begins on nation’s largest mass transit project

The largest mass transit project in the country got under way Monday with the help of federal stimulus dollars, as public officials broke ground on a second passenger rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River. The new tunnel will link New Jersey with New York and eventually will double capacity on the nation’s busiest rail corridor, running from Washington to Boston, Massachusetts, officials said.

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