Cruz joins calls to probe Mississippi race
WASHINGTON -- Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Tea Party groups and losing challenger Chris McDaniel all backed an investigation Tuesday into the June 24 Senate primary runoff in Mississippi, without offering evidence of purported voter fraud they cited in the race.
One day after U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran was certified the primary winner by the state Republican Party, the 76-year-old lawmaker faced fresh denunciations.
The Tea Party Leadership Fund, which claims a membership of 25,000, referred to him as "scum." An appeal sent by the Madison Project under the name of former Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., labeled the six-term veteran corrupt.
Cruz, a Tea Party favorite known for his clashes with the GOP establishment, told reporters that allies of Cochran had run racially offensive ads aimed at persuading black voters to cast ballots in the Republican primary.
On Monday evening, he said on a conservative radio program, The Mark Levin Show, that "even more troubling is in the past week or so we've seen serious allegations of voter fraud."
Cochran's campaign said a partial statewide review showed 234 questionable ballots had been cast. "The numbers contained in this review are drastically lower than the wild claims made by the McDaniel campaign," it said.
Democrats announce birth-control bills
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats said Tuesday that they had developed legislation to override the Supreme Court decision on contraceptives. The bill would ensure that women have access to coverage for birth control even if they work for businesses whose owners have religious objections.
The bill, developed in consultation with President Barack Obama's administration, would require for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby Stores to provide and pay for contraceptive coverage, along with other preventive services, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The measure could be on the Senate floor as early as next week, Senate Democrats said.
House Democrats are developing a companion bill. But the legislation faces long odds in the House, which is controlled by Republicans. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, described the Hobby Lobby decision last week as "a victory for religious freedom."
The Supreme Court said in its decision that a federal rule requiring many employers to provide contraceptive coverage for female employees was unlawful because it violated a 1993 law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Agency probing 67 VA retaliation claims
WASHINGTON -- A federal investigative agency is examining 67 claims of retaliation by Veterans Affairs Department supervisors against employees who filed whistle-blower complaints, including 25 complaints filed since June 1, after a growing scandal involving long patient waits and falsified records at VA hospitals and clinics became public.
The independent Office of Special Counsel said that 30 of the complaints about retaliation have passed the initial review stage and are being further investigated for corrective action and possible discipline against VA supervisors and other executives. The complaints were filed in 28 states at 45 separate facilities, Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said.
Lerner provided the figures in testimony prepared for a Tuesday night hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The Associated Press obtained a copy of her testimony in advance.
Brooklyn eases prosecution in 'pot' cases
NEW YORK -- After months of resistance from the New York Police Department, the Brooklyn district attorney's office announced Tuesday that it would immediately carry out its plan to stop prosecuting low-level marijuana cases.
The policy was proposed in a confidential memorandum in April but was delayed as prosecutors and police officials attempted to iron out their differences in meetings and phone calls.
The policy still offers plenty of exceptions: Only those with no criminal records, or minimal ones, qualify, and the cases of people caught actively smoking in public spaces -- and especially around children -- will not automatically be thrown out.
The district attorney, Kenneth Thompson, said in the memo that the policy was also meant to keep nonviolent people, "and especially young people of color," out of the criminal justice system. An open case, Thompson wrote, can lead to problems with jobs, housing and school.
But the policy also puts the Police Department in what its officials say is a difficult position: There will be one set of enforcement rules in Brooklyn and another in the remaining four boroughs.
A Section on 07/09/2014