WASHINGTON - The federal government may have about 30 percent fewer firefighters for this year’s Western wildfire season than it did last year, according to lawmakers — setting the stage for what could be an election-year debacle on the fire lines.

A federal disaster declaration for Pima County could help the rest of the state prevent fire.

At least Romney had binders. Binders full of qualified women to fill cabinet positions, that is. Democrats mercilessly pounded Romney for the binders comment he made during the 2012 presidential campaign, but I’ll bet the Obama campaign now wishes Romney had passed the binders on to Obama since it seems he’s having a hard time picking women to fill his second term cabinet positions.

WASHINGTON - Former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped rally New York City's police force and its citizens following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, is President Bush's pick to run the Homeland Security Department.

December 3, 2004

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, whose name became synonymous with color-coded terror alerts and tutorials to the public about how to prepare for possible attack, is resigning, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Just days after discovering the nation's first case of mad cow disease, the United States has lost nearly all of its beef exports as more than a dozen countries stopped buying American beef as insurance against potential infection.

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft, a fierce conservative who generated controversy with his tough tactics in the war on terror, and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, one of President Bush's closest friends, resigned Tuesday, the first members of the Cabinet to quit before the start of a second term.