Today the USDA implemented new nutritional standards for school lunches, including allowing the two tablespoons of tomato paste on frozen pizza to count as a serving of vegetables. Yep, according to our government, pizza is a vegetable. more ›

In what has to be one of the most ridiculous mash-ups between our government and food since the Reagan administration proposed ketchup and relish be classified as vegetables comes word Congress is so desperate to keep pizza on school lunch menus they are declaring that two tablespoons of tomato paste as used on the pizza is also a veggie. more ›

Conductors and performers curse the skies, glower and sometimes even halt the performance when helicopters pass over the Hollywood Bowl. Now they're throwing their support behind a federal bill that would restrict low-flying helicopters. more ›

Three Los Angeles-area Congressional representatives were in Washington D.C. Thursday to testify before a House panel about a proposed bill that would put federal restrictions on low-flying helicopters. more ›

Angelenos, be friendly with your neighborhood U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postmen and women. Come winter 2011, the organization will default unless Congress intervenes. more ›

Resigning New York Congressman Anthony Weiner might be out of one job, but has a couple of new offers that could find the not-so-camera-shy politician going Hollywood. A couple of high-profile gigs are dangling like proverbial carrots in front of Weiner, including a working for porn king Larry Flynt, and taking a turn in front of the cameras for TV's "Entourage." more ›

As the final ballot count continued after Tuesday's Special Election, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen conceded in the race to fill the vacated 36th Congressional District seat, leaving the runoff to Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn (D) and businessman Craig Huey (R). more ›

On the eve of Jane Harman's expected resignation from Congress, Marcy Winograd is hoping the third time is a charm in her quest to win the 36th Congressional District seat. Winograd, an anti-war activist and high school teacher who lost both of her previous bids for the 36th district seat to Harman, will officially kick off her campaign at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Fox Drugs in Torrance. more ›

California's Secretary of State Debra Bowen is expected to announce her plans to run to replace departing US Rep. Jane Harman in the 36th District, says Politico. Harman recently shocked many by revealing she would step down to take a job "Bowen hails from Marina Del Rey, which is part of the district, and represented the area in the state Assembly and Senate from 1992 to 2006," noted the Sac Bee last week, when rumors of Bowen's interest in the bid first began to circulate. more ›

Orange County Republican Tan Nguyen, who campaigned to unseat Democratic US Rep. Loretta Sanchez in 2006, was sentenced today for "to a year and a day in prison for obstruction of justice in a probe of a mailer sent to Latino voters," reports the AP. The mailer, sent to 14,000 registered Democrats with Latino last names, said that immigrants would not be allowed to vote. more ›

Congresswoman Jane Harman has just announced she will resign her seat in California's 36th District, and now Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn is poised to announce her intent to run to replace her, says the City Maven. Hahn, who reps the City's 15th District, lost a bid last year for lieutenant governor; she was handily defeated by Gavin Newsom in the primary. more ›

Three awaited congressional ethics charges against 10-term Los Angeles representative Maxine Waters were announced today and as expected, they revolve around an alleged help she gave to bank where her husband owned lucrative stock. Here's the breakdown of the accusations: more ›

She'll be the second Democrat to face such a trial this fall. A representative for portions of central, south and west L.A., including some smaller surrounding cities, Congressmember Maxine Waters will be defending herself against accusations that she violated ethics rules back in 2008. more ›

US Rep. Maxine Waters (D-35th District) will likely face an accusation "of at least one ethics violation in her efforts to help a bank with ties to her husband," according to LA Now. Waters was made aware of the allegations on Friday, and has told an anonymous source that she "plans to fight the charges in a House trial." The charges against Waters, who serves a swath of Los Angeles that includes Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, and Gardena, will be made public on Monday by the Office of Congressional Ethics, which has passed their independent findings to the House Ethics Committee, which, in turn, "turned the matter over to a panel of [...] lawmakers who have been conducting their own probe for months." more ›

In addition to an initiative seeking an increase in alcohol taxes by, ohhhh, 10,000%, two others were cleared for signature gathering last week. One deals with auto insurance and the other with congressional districts. more ›

Although it was highly anticlimactic and awfully frustrating for all parties involved, this week signified a historic move on the health care reform bill. So what exactly happened? Well, the US Senate voted 60-40 -- not in favor of passing a specific bill --- but in favor of ending debate and stopping further filibustering on a specific set of amendments to the health care reform bill known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [full bill and amendments can be found here (.pdf)] more ›

Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson are the focus of separate investigations by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct , reports KPCC. Waters stands accused of arranging a meeting between Treasury officials and an association representing minority banks, one of which she owned stock in. Richardson may have "improperly profited" when she lost her Sacramento home to foreclosure, sold it to a third party and later reacquired it. more ›

A warning, of sorts, came from a delegation of local members of congress today. Two mainstream media headlines begin to the tell the story. From this morning, the Pasadena Star News: 14 SoCal congressional leaders call for prioritizing Gold Line And this afternoon from the LA Times: Mayor's effort to fast-track Westside subway faces challenge more ›

Last week, after a few rallies throughout the state, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger handed in a grant to the feds, asking for $4.8 billion in stimulus money for California's high speed rail project, which would take passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a few hours. Today, that grant drew support from both of California's U.S. Senators and 21 other congressional leaders, including many from Los Angeeles. more ›

William Bratton, the soon-to-be retired Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, was in Washington D.C. today, urging members of congress to make a wireless public safety broadband network a reality nationwide. In his testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, he talks how such a network could help the development of predictive policing: more ›

Senator John McCain has his eye on several transit projects all over the nation that he is labeling "wasteful government spending," including two here in Los Angeles, explains StreetsblogLA. His target is the US Department of Transportation's 2010 spending bill, which comes up "for a vote this week in the upper chamber of Congress." more ›

At around 10:40 a.m. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger held a press conference at Hansen Dam regarding the Station Fire, and other fires currently affecting the state. Just home to California following yesterday's funeral services for his wife's uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Schwarzenegger spoke immediately of his wish to continue to work to ensure the safety of lives, property, and memories. more ›

As expected, Judy Chu won California's 32nd Congressional Seat in yesterday's election. "With 173 of 209 precincts reporting Tuesday night, Chu had 14,115 votes, or 62 percent. She was trailed by her cousin by marriage, Republican Betty Chu, with 7,355 votes, or 32 percent," reported the Associated Press. "Most residents in the 32nd Congressional District are Hispanic, but Judy Chu assembled a diverse coalition and stressed her ability to work across racial and ethnic lines. Her supporters included Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the nation's most recognized Latino politicians." The district stretches from East LA into the San Gabriel Valley, from Monterey Park to Azusa. NPR yesterday featured the race as a unique one because Chu faced off with Betty Chu, the Republican Monterey Park city councilmember and a cousin by marriage. more ›

Well, some of us vote, at least. After the May 19th Special Election where no candidate garnered 50 percent of the vote needed to claim the 32nd seat in the U.S House--left open by Hilda Solis after she joined the Obama administration as the Labor Secretary--a run-off was set for today. Democrat and vice chair of the California Board of Equalization Judy Chu is the frontrunner and is expected to win. She faces off with Republican Monterey Park Councilwoman Betty Chu (no relation) and Libertarian businessman Christopher M. Agrella. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. and to find out where to vote, plug your address into the county's Recorder-Registrar website. The 32nd Congressional District covers a portions of the San Gabriel Valley and other areas including East LA, Rosemead, El Monte, Monterey Park, Baldwin Park, Irwindale, Azusa, Covina and Walnut Valley. more ›

As mentioned last week, a congressional subcommittee tomorrow will hold a hearing on the impact of climate change on National Parks in Twentynine Palms, CA. This is something that should be important to those living in the Los Angeles region because three major national parks units--Santa Monica Mountains, Channel Islands and Joshua Tree--are so close to millions of people. more ›

On the heels of a state climate report that said California will have "less water and more frequent and intense wildfires, heat waves and bad-air days throughout this century," a congressional field hearing next week near Joshua Tree National Park will take on similar issues. more ›

The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act (get it? The FLAME Act) passed this morning in the House of Representatives. If passed and signed by the Senate and President Barack Obama, the measure would create a reserve account that the Forest Service and Department of Interior could tap if they exhaust their firefighting budgets. This would prevent the annual practice of taking money away from other vital programs, such as watershed restoration and global warming research, and services in order to fund wildfire suppression. more ›

Congressional Representative Grace Napolitano, who represents various cities in LA County, is under fire today for personally earning over $200,000 in campaign donations because she has been charging an up to 18% interest rate on a loan she personally made in 1998, finds Bloomberg News: more ›

The $819 billion stimulus package being worked on right now by congress could help California up and down the state. Projected to have $42 billion deficit later this year, the money wouldn't go to state coffers to fix the budget, but rather to counties and cities for ready-to-go infrastructure projects. For example, $4 billion could go to transportation projects alone. But the New York Times warns that California will be an indicator if this stimulus will be successful or not in other states: "There are political hazards, too. Not only is California needy, with high unemployment, the most foreclosures in the country and tax revenues so depressed that it will begin furloughing state workers, it is also politically unruly." more ›

SoCal Connected on KCET continues to impress us with their locally featured news content (this is definitely a show to subscribe to on TIVO). On Thursday night, they did a very nice feature on Congressman Henry Waxman and his powerful and long term career representing the Westside of Los Angeles. more ›