AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.
Click here to visit the new home of Politics Daily!Hot on HuffPost:
Controversial Book On Obama Appears To Have Lifted Key Quote
Walker Recall Effort Struggles To Gain Momentum
tom vilsack
Five Budget Cuts That Could Be Harmful to Your Health
By Andrew Schneider - AOL NewsHard-fought-for laws and regulations to save lives and the environment will be gutted or eliminated in budget cuts passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives or ordered by President Barack Obama's team, experts say. Public health and environmental experts say it's indisputable that lives will be lost if these cuts are made: 1) The Consumer Product Safety Commission. The commission is scheduled next week to roll out its long-awaited public database on the safety of consumer products. For the first time, it will allow shoppers to quickly determine whether products they ...
Shirley Sherrod Sues Andrew Breitbart Over Misleading Video
By Tom Diemer - Politics DailyRemember Shirley Sherrod? The former Agriculture Department employee has sued a conservative blogger for posting an edited video of her in which she appeared to acknowledge discriminating against a white farmer. Sherrod, who initially lost her job over the incident, is African-American. Sherrod filed the defamation lawsuit in Washington, D.C., Superior Court against Andrew Breitbart, who posted the edited video of Sherrod's March 2010 speech before the NAACP. In it, she recalled an episode working for the USDA in Georgia when she could have helped a white farmer -- but didn't. That's what ...
New Dietary Guidelines Call for Less Salt, Sugar, Solid Fat
By Lisa Flam - AOL NewsWith the new year here and Americans everywhere trying to lose weight, the federal government's new dietary guidelines released today call for cutbacks in salt as well as in calories from added sugar and solid fats like butter. The guidelines, which come out every five years, tell people 51 and older, all blacks and people with hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease to cut their salt intake to 1,500 milligrams, or a little more than half a teaspoon a day. The recommendation for sodium applies to about half the U.S. population; everyone else should be limited to less than ...
Shirley Sherrod, Ousted USDA Official: Where Is She Now?
By Mara Gay - AOL NewsShirley Sherrod was just one of a host of people who momentarily grabbed the spotlight in 2010 and dominated a news cycle or two while getting their 15 minutes of fame. In this series, AOL News is checking in on these newsmakers and giving them a 16th minute. Shirley Sherrod Made News in 2010 When She: Was forced to resign by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after a video clip showed her making what some considered to be racist comments about a white farmer. She later received an apology when the full video showed that she was actually advocating racial tolerance and ...
Obama Hails Passage of Settlement for Native Americans, Black Farmers
By Mary C. Curtis - Politics DailyAs congressional leaders and the White House continue efforts to reach a compromise on issues ranging from the expiration of tax cuts to tweaks in the U.S.-Russia START arms treaty, the House approval of the Claims Settlement Act of 2010 brought praise from President Obama and the Departments of Justice, Interior and Agriculture. In a statement Tuesday, the president said: "I am pleased that today, the House has joined the Senate in passing the Claims Settlement Act of 2010. This important legislation will fund the agreements reached in the Pigford II lawsuit, brought by African American ...
White House: Now Is Time to Pay Claims of Black Farmers, Native Americans
By Mary C. Curtis - Politics DailySecretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and other Obama administration officials on Monday urged the House to act on long-delayed settlement claims to Native Americans and African American farmers. In a conference call with reporters, Vilsack -- with Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes and Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli – called the settlements historic. "The president has been very clear to me" that at USDA, "we are to treat farmers, ranchers and growers equally and fairly," said Vilsack. "That means not only making sure we're doing the right thing today but also ...
Native American Farmers Win $680M in Discrimination Suit
By Lauren Frayer - AOL News(Oct. 20) -- The Obama administration has agreed to pay $680 million to Native American farmers who claimed the government denied them the same low-interest rate loans given to white farmers between 1981 and 2007. The farmers filed a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture 11 years ago. Under a settlement announced Tuesday, eligible farmers and ranchers can get up to $250,000 each if they can prove the USDA caused them economic losses, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told The Wall Street Journal. But most farmers will likely opt for a $50,000 payment that requires ...
E-mails Shed Light Vilsack's Decision to Oust Sherrod
By not in system - AOL News
WASHINGTON (Oct. 8) -- Former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod pleaded with officials to hear her out after she was ousted from the USDA during a racial firestorm in July, internal e-mails show. Sherrod's pleas reached Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's e-mail soon after he ordered her dismissed from the department because of supposed racist remarks she made earlier in the year. He initially stuck by his decision despite her warnings that he didn't have the full story. Agriculture Department officials asked Sherrod to leave her job as Georgia's director of rural development ...
Russian Drought Spurs Worldwide Food Price Hikes
By Scott Martelle - AOL News(Sept. 1) -- Severe drought in Russia has sent world food prices 5 percent higher in recent months, according to a new report by the United Nations, and though they remain well below the record levels reached during the 2007-08 world food crisis, the higher prices have already fueled deadly riots in Mozambique. Today police in the capital, Maputo, opened fire on a mob of several thousand people -- some of them throwing stones -- in what officials said was an unsanctioned protest over the rise in food and commodity prices. The Associated Press reported that at least seven people were killed, ...
USDA Lax on E. Coli Strain Linked to Beef Recall
By Andrew Schneider - AOL News(Aug. 30) -- A strain of E. coli that the government doesn't regulate has already sickened hamburger eaters in two states. And federal food safety detectives say more cases may be identified as we approach the summer's last big weekend for picnics and barbecues. The supplier, Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. in Wyalusing, Pa., has recalled approximately 8,500 pounds of ground beef products. Cargill is the nation's second-largest beef processor. The meat was shipped to Connecticut and Maryland for distribution to other states. Justin Sullivan, Getty Images The USDA Food Safety and Inspection ...
Follow Politics Daily
POPULAR
- Nancy Pelosi Confirms House May Skip Up or Down Vote on Senate Health Bill
- Debrahlee Lorenzana: A Double Take on Those Double D's
- Palin Earnings Estimated at $12 Million
- Campbell Brown Quits CNN With Shockingly Frank Farewell
- The Five Most Racist Obama Cartoons?
- Soraya M., Stoned to Death for Being an "Inconvenient Wife''
- Jimmy Carter Leaves Church Over Treatment of Women
- No posts are available.
News From Our Partners
- Dragon arrives at space station in historic 1st
- Picking new leader, Egyptians search for superman
- Egyptians vote in first free presidential vote
- Moon chips from Vegas casino mogul sent to NASA
- Egyptians vote to rid nation of autocratic rule
- More Stories »
- Romneys Love Fancy World of Rarefied Sport
- Rudy Giuliani: Mitt's Great. I'm Just Better
- 'Masters of the Universe' Sure Have Fragile Egos
- Romney: My Mistakes 'Haunt Me'
- Newt Lauds Romney: He's Like Eisenhower
- More Stories »
- The 7 Best Moments from Sunday Talk
- Know Your Enemy
- Cannes’s Mischief Maker
- Cut It Out, Internet Bullies!
- Cut It Out, Internet Bullies!
- More Stories »
- Ambition Counteracting Ambition
- Robert Blagojevich Speaks Out
- In Iowa, Obama Calls Romney's Words 'A Cow Pie of Distortion'
- In Iowa, Obama Calls On Congress to Act on Clean Energy Tax Credits
- Romney Has Interesting Morning in Inner-City Philly
- More Stories »
Top News
More News
More on Aol
Local News
More Blog/Sites
Sites and Services
HuffPost Politics