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The Obama administration’s plan to reduce the deficit includes ideas the White House claims will rescue the Postal Service, which is facing default. The Postal Service would be allowed to sell non-postal products, the plan says. Saturday mail delivery would end, as postal officials have long desired to do. The …

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays and lesbians serving in the military has officially been repealed and is no longer in effect. The Defense Department sent a memo Tuesday announcing the policy change, which takes effect 60 days after President Barack Obama certified the military’s readiness for repeal …

President Barack Obama vowed Monday he would veto any cuts to Medicare unless Congress approves tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. “I will not support any plan that puts all the burden on closing our deficit on ordinary Americans,” Obama said. “We are not going to have a one-sided deal …

Crew flights to the International Space Station will resume in November, preventing the station from being left empty. The Space Station Control Board, consisting of NASA and international partner space agencies, tentatively set Nov. 14 as the date to resume launches. Launches of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been on …

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s top auditor plans to ask the Justice Department to review whether an SEC lawyer broke conflict-of-interest rules during the agency’s investigation of convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff. According to Bloomberg, H. David Kotz, SEC inspector general, is completing a report on former counsel David Becker’s …

Violent crime dropped significantly in 2010, according to FBI figures released Monday. The FBI’s annual “Crime in the United States” report says the estimated volume of violent crimes in 2010 dropped 6 percent, the fourth consecutive year it has declined. Robbery decreased the largest of all violent crimes, doing down …

The week of Sept. 18-24 will be marked to honor the National Guard and Reserve, President Barack Obama said Friday. Obama issued a proclamation calling on state and local officials, private organizations and military commanders to hold ceremonies and events in observation of National Employer Support of the Guard and …

Marine Corps Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who saved 36 of his fellow soldiers’ lives during an ambush in Afghanistan, was awarded the Medal of Honor Thursday. Meyer received his medal at a White House ceremony, with President Barack Obama draping the blue ribbon around his neck. Meyer, a native of Columbia, …

Two senators are so concerned the Veterans Affairs Department may not have the funds it needs to handle veterans’ healthcare, that they put it in writing. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and ranking member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) sent a letter Thursday to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, requesting …

Threatened cuts to defense approaching $1 trillion over the next 10 years could add 1 percent to the nation’s unemployment rate, a Defense Department official said Thursday. As part of the debt ceiling agreement reached in August, at least $350 billion is to be cut from the security budget over …