(CNN) - More than a dozen pieces of jewelry were stolen from former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Deer Valley, Utah home last week, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Park City police told the paper that the thief was likely someone who had access to the house. There was no sign of forced entry.
The $5 million home is currently up for sale, along with another Romney residence in Massachusetts.
The former Massachusetts governor will address activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington Friday, as he aims for his third win in the annual gathering’s presidential preference straw poll.
(CNN) – Vote with us, or else. Liberal groups are joining forces, putting the pressure on conservative Democrats to move further left, or be forced out. In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin reports on friction within the president's party.
Plus: President Obama is calling it a new era of responsibility. Supporters are praising the president's budget plan, but some critics are calling it a blueprint for class warfare. CNN White House Correspondent Dan Lothian and CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash have the latest budget info.
Meanwhile: A major voting rights bill for the District of Columbia passed Thursday in the Senate. CNN Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar has the details.
Finally: When it comes to Americans' views of war, is Afghanistan the new Iraq? CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider has the latest snapshots of public support and hopes for victory.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Concerns about the effects of potentially toxic emissions from burning trash at military installations in Iraq and Afghanistan has members of Congress demanding more tests and research from the military.
The congressmen want to see if there is statistical validity to complaints about illness and disease suffered by troops who have served in those countries.
The emissions, from what are known as 'burn pits,' have been a concern for troops, especially those who served at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq. Many of the soldiers who went through Balad since the beginning of the war had become used to "Iraqi crud," as they dubbed the symptom of excessive coughing and black phlegm. Soldiers complained of respiratory problems and skin infections, and in some cases believed they developed leukemia and tumors from the exposure.
The pits at Balad were at one point open and burning everything from plastics and food to medical waste. In the later years, incinerators were installed at Balad but many other bases in Iraq and Afghanistan still use the pits without incinerators to burn garbage.
Various tests by the military have concluded that emissions are not harmful. The Pentagon's Force Health Protection Directorate analyzed more than 160 air samples and concluded that the only risk is of temporary respiratory distress, nothing that poses a long-term threat.
(CNN) – Mississippi Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor blasted the budget outline President Obama submitted to Capitol Hill today, saying “I don’t like it…change is not running up even bigger deficits that George Bush did.”
“That’s what George Bush did very well. Apparently that’s what President Obama is doing.”
Taylor, a conservative “blue dog” who voted against the stimulus bill, noted he was still reviewing the plan but was troubled by the additional amount of spending for many government programs on top of the recent increased funding many agencies received in the economic stimulus bill.
Watch: Conservative Dems dog Obama
As a member of the Armed Service Committee, Taylor noted the budget only gives the Defense Department a “small increase,” which he said would barely cover the cost of living adjustments for the military.
Taylor pointed to President Obama’s inaugural address that called for Americans to make sacrifices, saying “It’s certainly not reflected in his budget.”
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Requests for more resources to combat terrorism and financial fraud pushed proposed spending for the Justice Department up 3.5 percent to a record $26.5 billion in the president's budget plan, administration officials said Thursday.
Much of the increase would go to the FBI to support the detection and disruption of terrorists, counterintelligence, cybersecurity and other national security threats.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Hedge fund managers stand to pay much higher taxes on their earnings under proposals in President Barack Obama's first budget, which was unveiled Thursday.
The administration proposes reclassifying managers' partnership income as ordinary income, rather than capital gains - effectively more than doubling the rate of tax on the money from 15 percent to 35 percent, or even more.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The U.S. Senate approved legislation Thursday that would give the District of Columbia a vote in Congress.
The measure would give full voting rights in the House of Representatives to the district's congressional delegate, whose activity is currently limited to committee votes and procedural issues.
The measure also gives a new House seat to the state of Utah.
The bill now moves to the House, where it is considered likely to pass.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new national poll indicates that a majority of Americans support President Barack Obama's plan to send 17,000 more U.S. troops to the war in Afghanistan.
And the survey, conducted by CNN and the Opinion Research Corp., suggests that half of all Americans think the U.S. is winning the war in Iraq, the highest response since that question was first asked in a CNN poll in 2004.
The survey's Thursday release comes one day before Obama is expected to travel to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to announce he'll withdraw most combat troops from Iraq within 19 months.
Sixty-three percent of those questioned in the poll say they support Obama's plan to beef up U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with 36 percent opposing the move.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Several top Senate Democrats Thursday expressed concerns about news reports that as many as 50,000 U.S. troops could remain in Iraq after President Obama fulfills his campaign pledge to pull all combat forces from that country, something that is now expected to happen by August of next year.
“That’s a little higher number than I expected,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid, NV, the Senate’s top Democrat.
“It has to be done responsibly, we all agree. But 50,000 is more than I would have thought” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, NY, the third-ranking Senate Democrat. “We await justification for why that many are needed.”
Earlier this week, CNN reported that while the details of what shape U.S. forces will take in Iraq over the next many months remain unclear until a number of additional decisions are made—it’s expected that the President’s announcement Friday will call for the majority of combat forces to be withdrawn, leaving a residual force of as many as 50,000, largely in a training or advisory role.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Wealthy farmers would get less money from the federal government - and none, three years down the line - under proposals in President Barack Obama's first budget, introduced Thursday.
Click on the jump for more info about agriculture funding in the budget.
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