Release of emails by Chicago mayor doesn’t end dispute

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to release thousands of pages of private emails does not end a dispute in Illinois about public access to such emails from him and other officials when they deal with government business. Emanuel announced late Wednesday that he had settled a lawsuit by a government watchdog group over emails from his personal accounts, but it allows him and his personal lawyer to decide which emails are public records and which are not.

Deep divide stops effort to repeal North Carolina LGBT law

A supposedly bipartisan deal to repeal North Carolina's anti-LGBT law collapsed when both sides balked and started blaming each other, likely meaning their state will keep being shunned by corporations, entertainers and high-profile sporting events. After more than nine hours of backroom discussions and sporadic public effort, Republican state legislators quit trying to repeal the law called House Bill 2 and went home Wednesday night.

Canada-U.S. trade not broken so no need for Trump to fix it: Freeland

But Canada's trade minister says the world-leading trade relationship between Canada and the United States need not be on the president-elect's to-do list. "I think the reality is the trading relationship with Canada is the farthest possible thing from being broken.

Lieberman defends Trump’s controversial Israel ambassador pick

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman on Thursday defended President-elect Donald Trump's controversial selection as the next Israel ambassador, explaining that "some of the things he said really don't reflect what he believes." "I think you're going to find in the weeks ahead in the confirmation process on David Friedman that it's going to be very clear that he wants -- he and President Trump want to be a part of achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians -- and that some of the things he said don't really reflect what he believes," Lieberman said in an interview on "New Day."

Left, right prep for battle royal over Sessions

Nearly 150 outside groups on the left mobilizing to stop Sessions have delivered a stern, no-compromise message to incoming Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer Left, right prep for battle royal over Sessions DNC hopeful Harrison touts red state experience White House staff pranks Obama with snowmen MORE "We've already been engaged with Schumer's office with a real demand that he should stand up and fight and we will fight anyone who seeks to be an enabler for a racist overseeing our Justice Department," said Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color of Change, which describes itself as the nation's largest online racial justice organization. "People really have two choices.

Trump threatens electronic rights, EFF warns

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is keenly worried that President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress will step up surveillance activities and pass laws to curtail electronic rights. As a result, the EFF is advising the tech sector to use end-to-end encryption for every transaction by default, and to scrub logs.

Please clarify Trump teama s double standard

Secretary Clinton received emails on private server, but it's all right that our president-elect receives phone calls from foreign dignitaries on an unsecured cellphone. The Clinton Foundation was a pay-to-play scheme, but Ivanka Trump gets to sit in on a meeting with Japanese dignitaries while her company is negotiating a licensing agreement that would be funded by Japanese government-owned banks.

Governor Bentley releases a list of candidates interviewing for Jeff Sessions’ seat

With Senator Jeff Sessions preparing for a senate confirmation hearing for the position of U.S. Attorney General, Governor Robert Bentley began interviewing candidates for the seat. "It is probably the most important decision he will make with respect to the future of America, not just Alabama, but America," U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks said.

Bill Clinton’s FBI Director Urges Senators To Confirm Jeff Sessions As Attorney General

Sen. Jeff Sessions is President-elect Donald J. Trump's pick for attorney general. The Left views him as the spawn of Satan over controversial racial remarks he made while serving as a U.S. Attorney for Alabama, which sunk his nomination to a federal judgeship in the 1980s.

Disgraced ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appeals prison

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is asking a U.S. appeals court to nullify his 14-year prison term and order a third sentencing hearing, with a lawyer arguing on his behalf that the Democrat's model behavior behind bars and other factors justified a reduction in his sentence. Attorneys for the Chicago Democrat filed the appeal late Tuesday night with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Before Trump’s presidency, US privacy board in disarray

In this June 6, 2013 file photo, the sign outside the National Security Administration campus in Fort Meade, Md. A federal oversight board that concluded the NSA's once-secret phone records surveillance program was unconstitutional is in disarray just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Senators Urge Action to Block Drastic Drug Price Hikes

Angered by skyrocketing drug prices, a pair of senators on Wednesday urged Congress to block companies from cornering the market on old, off-patent drugs. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Claire McCaskill , D-Mo., released findings from a year-long investigation into companies like Turing Pharmaceuticals, which generated national outrage last year after hiking the price of a life-saving anti-infection drug by more than 5,000 percent.

Tissue, organ research institute to benefit injured soldiers

The Department of Defense is providing $80 million to establish a bio-research and manufacturing institute in Manchester, New Hampshire, to develop transplant tissues and organs for injured American soldiers and other patients. The five-year award was announced Wednesday by Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen , Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan .

The Latest: Trump to meet with Boeing, Lockheed execs

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. Trump's closest advisers see Democrats' complaints that Moscow hacked their private ... The CEO of Boeing is meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago just weeks after a public flap over the cost of the Air Force One project.