The House Ethics Committee announced December 2 that it will extend its investigation into allegations that Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) or a surrogate offered to raise campaign funds for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for President Obama’s former Senate seat. In a news release, Committee Chairman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and ranking member Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) disclosed that the committee will need more time to "gather additional information necessary to complete its review."

After years of contentious feuding, Boeing and the machinists union announced Wednesday that they’d reached a tentative four-year contract extension on a collective bargaining agreement. If finalized, the deal would boost wages for union workers, issue bonuses, improve pension benefits, and likely preserve operations at a new $750 million plant in Charleston, South Carolina, a right-to-work state where Boeing jumpstarted a new production line for its 787 airplane.

Responding to a new analysis published Monday, the White House denied charges that President Obama's "official business" trips (paid with taxpayer money) to presidential swing states were actually for campaign events. White House officials suggested that the study overlooks the fact that Obama "expanded the political map dramatically" in 2008, which created a notable spike in the number of battleground states.

Just weeks after the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) professed its support for Occupy Wall Street, the 2.1-million-member organization disclosed an early endorsement of President Obama's reelection. "We believe in a country that invests in good jobs here at home, where everyone pays their fair share," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry (left) averred in a conference call to reporters. "Do we want leaders who side with the needs of rich corporations and the 1 percent, where they are prospering at the expense of everyone else? Or do we want leaders who will side with the rest of us, the 99 percent?"

Scientists are questioning a $433-million government contract for an experimental smallpox drug (ST-246) awarded to Siga Technologies by the Obama administration. Siga, a New York-based pharmaceutical company specializing in disease-causing pathogens, was given a contract in May through a "sole-source" procurement: It was the only company asked to submit a proposal, while the government reportedly blocked other companies from bidding after Siga nearly lost the contract a year ago.

After receiving heated criticism from Republicans and conservative groups, the White House swiftly delayed implementation of a proposed 15-cent tax on fresh-cut Christmas trees. In what critics were calling a government attack on Christmas, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David Shipman announced Tuesday that the Secretary of Agriculture would appoint a new federal board contrived to help market the Christmas tree industry.

Only days after Freddie Mac sought a $6-billion cash lifeline from the Treasury Department, Fannie Mae is now chasing a $7.8-billion check in federal aid. Attributing its steep $5.1-billion third-quarter deficit to losses on derivatives and the persistent failings of the housing market, the government-controlled firm is furthering its heedless course to fiscal Armageddon — while draining the bank accounts of American taxpayers all along the way.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif., left) Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is pushing for a federal probe of the post-ACORN group New York Communities for Change (NYCC) for engaging "in fraud through its participation in the Occupy Wall Street protests." The proposed investigation stems from a Fox News article published in late October regarding the organization's crooked involvement in the OWS movement, where NYCC officials allegedly coordinated "guerrilla" protest events and hired ACORN-affiliated employees to attend the protests and collect donations in a deceitful manner. 

The House Ethics Committee announced Friday that it is launching a probe into whether Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) required congressional aides to work on her 2010 reelection campaign on the government's clock while using House resources. The ethics panel had voted unanimously Thursday to establish a special subcommittee to investigate the Congresswoman, who was already investigated last year by the panel for receiving preferential treatment from a bank on her foreclosed home in Sacramento.

After being exposed for their involvement in the Occupy Wall Street protests, officials with the former New York office of ACORN are firing staff, shredding documents, and blaming "disgruntled ex-employees" for leaking information relating to their collaboration with various protests in and around Zuccotti Park. Fox News reported last week that the former ACORN office, now operating as New York Communities for Change (NYCC), coordinated "guerrilla" protest events, hired "door-to-door canvassers" to collect donations, and gathered 100 former ACORN-affiliated employees to attend OWS protests. The organization also recruited homeless people and paid them $10 an hour to protest, sources told Fox News.