GOP lawmakers back Scalise in white supremacist flap
By ERICA WERNER Republican lawmakers are defending the No. 3 House GOP leader over a speech have gave 12 years ago to a white supremacist group. Rep. Steve Scalise (skuh-LEES’)…
Human rights and civil liberties
Edward Brooke, 1st black elected US senator, dies
By SYLVIA WINGFIELD and MARK PRATT Former U.S. Sen. Edward W. Brooke, a liberal Republican who became the first black in U.S. history to win popular election to the Senate,…
PASADENA, Texas emerges as new battleground on voting rights
By PAUL J. WEBER When the movie “Urban Cowboy” made this refinery town famous in 1980, the honkytonk Gilley’s was booming and wannabe cowpokes from the white Houston suburbs flocked…
Beyond marriage, challenges ahead for gay rights groups
By DAVID CRARY Even as same-sex marriage edges closer to becoming legal nationwide, gay rights advocates face other challenges in 2015 that may not bring quick victories. In Congress, for…
Witness confirms cover-up of Mexico army slayings
By MARK STEVENSON When the witness refused to sign a false statement that 22 suspected drug gang members had died in a shootout with the Mexican army, state investigators began…
UN, EU concerned at arrest of top Bahrain Shiite leader
By REEM KHALIFA The UN human rights chief on Tuesday called on Bahrain’s government to immediately release the leader of the country’s main Shiite opposition group and the European Union…
AP poll: Police killings of blacks voted top story of 2014
By DAVID CRARY The police killings of unarmed blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere — and the investigations and tumultuous protests they inspired — was the top news story of…
How do you joke about the Sony hacking? A little carefully
By JOCELYN NOVECK How do you joke about the Sony hacking story? After all, it was an attempt at comedy that launched this whole sobering mess. If you’re Chris Rock,…