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FILE- In this Dec. 1, 2013 file photo, emergency personnel respond to the scene of a Metro-North passenger train derailment in the Bronx borough of New York. Metro-North trains are equipped with an automatic breaking system that might have prevented the crash, but the system was in place to regulate the distance between trains, not to control speeds as trains approached curves, or passed over hills and bridges. Since the crash, the speed limit was lowered on the approach to the curve, plus an alarm will sound and an automatic braking system will engage is a train approaches the bend too fast. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Railroad safety agency stretched thin and getting thinner, watchdog warns

By Phillip Swarts - The Washington Times

In this Dec. 14, 2012, file photo, Robert and Alissa Parker, at right, leave a firehouse staging area following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Gunman Adam Lanza opened fire inside the school, killing 26 children and adults, including the Parkers' daughter Emilie Parker, 6. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

A year after Newtown, answers and action remain elusive

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson after they received it in April 2011, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. In March 2007, Levinson flew to Kish Island, an Iranian resort awash with tourists, smuggler and organized crime figures. Days later after a meeting with an admitted killer, he vanished. For years the U.S. has publicly described him as a private citizen who was traveling on private business. However, an Associated Press investigation reveals that Levinson was working for the CIA. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)

American missing in Iran was CIA operative who went rogue

By Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo - Associated Press

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks about the pending bipartisan budget compromise struck by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ** FILE **

LAMBRO: Seriously, this is a budget?

By Donald Lambro

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio leaves a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, where he vehemently rebuked conservative groups who oppose the pending bipartisan budget compromise struck by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Boehner said the GOP leadership has had enough tea party-driven intransigence in Congress and he doesn&#8217;t care what they think. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House budget bargain faces Senate filibuster; Republicans line up to oppose

By Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times

Walking through a basement corridor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is pursued by reporters on the morning after a budget deal was worked out between Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. After Ryan presented his plan to the House Republican Conference this morning, Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and GOP leaders signaled support for the deal, which was one of a few key measures left on Congress' to-do list near the end of a bruising year that has produced a partial government shutdown, a flirtation with a first-ever federal default and gridlock on President Obama's agenda. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

GOP hopes taking shutdown off the table with budget deal will pay dividends

By Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times

** FILE ** Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius greets Mary and Willie Williams as they meet with a navigator about their health care options under the Affordable Care Act, at the North Shore Medical Center in Miami, on Tuesday, Nov 19, 2013. (Associated Press)

More than a quarter million sign up for Obamacare in November

By Tom Howell Jr. - The Washington Times

Illustration by Donna Grethen

KIBBE: Another Republican budget surrender

By Matt Kibbe

MALCOLM/REIMER: Over-criminalization undermines respect for legal system

By John G. Malcolm and Norman L. Reimer

A new "Ronald Reagan Official App" features the 40th president's speeches, quotes, dairy entries, historic photos, videos and more. (RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION)

Inside the Beltway: Congress bottoms out in Gallup job approval poll

By Jennifer Harper - The Washington Times

The Director of National Intelligence has concluded that United States Investigations Services failed to conduct a proper background check on NSA data leaker Edward Snowden. (Associated Press)

NAPOLITANO: A conspiracy so vast

By Andrew P. Napolitano

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., announce a tentative agreement between Republican and Democratic negotiators on a government spending plan, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

New budget accord saves $23 billion — after $65 billion spending spree

By Jacqueline Klimas - The Washington Times

McMAHON: It’s unfair to hold Azerbaijan to a higher standard than Russia

By Michael E. McMahon

Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer noted during arguments Tuesday the fact the Environmental Protection Agency has been granted by courts wide latitude in how it interprets the Clean Air Act. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

High court likely to allow Obama’s clean-air rules

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

Illustration by Greg Groesch for The Washington Times

KOENIG: Should Congress hike your taxes … or, instead, slash spending?

By Andy Koenig

Funding boost of $100M for mentally ill a ‘small step’

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, file photo, American Airline planes sit at a gate at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. Four key members of Congress said Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, that all airlines should be able to bid on gates and landing rights that American Airlines and US Airways will give up after their merger. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Congress seeks ban on in-flight calls

By Douglas Ernst - The Washington Times

A person walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 9, 2013, as rain, snow, sleet and freezing rain affected most of the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region on Sunday and into Monday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

KNUDSEN: High stakes in the budgetary breakdown

By Patrick Louis Knudsen

** FILE ** In this Oct. 28, 2013, file photo, Apple CEO Tim Cook, holding the new iPad Air, said he remains confident the company can provide the products consumers want. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NSA monitored ‘World of Warcraft’ players

By Shaun Waterman - The Washington Times

** FILE ** Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, speaks during a GOP fundraiser in Charleston, S.C., on Monday, Nov. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)

As the unemployed wait, lawmakers debate about extended benefits

By David Sherfinski - The Washington Times