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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — An elections board in Ohio says a former congressman who served time in federal prison has enough valid signatures to run again for a U.S. House seat.

Director Tom McCabe says the Mahoning County board on Monday approved more than 30 disputed signatures to allow Jim Traficant (TRAF’-eh-kehnt) to make the November ballot in northeast Ohio’s 17th district.

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(CNN) — Primary voters are set to head to the polls this weekend, this time in Louisiana and West Virginia.

In Louisiana, GOP Sen. David Vitter is expected to easily overcome a primary challenge Saturday in his first appearance on the ballot since a 2007 prostitution scandal.

In West Virginia, voters are choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for a November special election to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd, a Democrat.

Full Story at  PoliticalTicker.blogs.CNN.com

(CNN) – Former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski has died at the age of 82, CNN confirmed.

“Rosty” was a fixture in Chicago politics and a dominant force on Capitol Hill for decades, representing Chicago’s Northwest Side from 1959 to 1995 in a storied career that saw incredible highs and lows.

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WASHINGTON — The House has approved a bill to boost safety standards for offshore drilling and remove a liability cap for oil spills, but a partisan fight in the Senate will likely delay action on a response to the Gulf oil spill until Congress returns from its summer recess.

Democratic leaders hailed the House bill, approved Friday, as a comprehensive response to the devastating oil spill. They said it would increase drilling safety and crack down on polluting oil companies, such as BP.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — The Arizona lawmaker who sponsored the state’s controversial new immigration law blasted Tuesday’s lawsuit by the Justice Department, saying, “The misinformation out there is outrageous.”

Appearing on CNN’s “Campbell Brown” hours after the suit against the state was filed, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican, said, “The Obama administration simply is filing suit, a political lawsuit if you will, (be)cause they have no leg to stand on.”

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Washington (CNN) — The Justice Department on Tuesday weighed in on one of the most explosive issues in American politics, filing a lawsuit to overturn a tough new Arizona immigration law that has sharply divided people along partisan, ideological and ethnic lines.

It also asked the federal courts to grant an injunction to stop enforcement of the measure before it takes effect late this month.

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WASHINGTON – It’s an eagerly awaited early benefit of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul: affordable coverage for Americans with medical problems who can’t get a private insurer to even take a look.

Starting in July, a special high-risk pool will offer coverage to uninsured people with pre-existing health conditions at a cost similar to what everyone else pays. It’s the first test of whether the administration can deliver on Obama’s vision within the budget Congress set.

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WASHINGTON – Justice Stephen Breyer predicted Thursday that the Supreme Court will one day pass judgment on this year’s health care overhaul.

Breyer told a congressional panel that the massive health care law, like most major federal legislation, is a good candidate for high court review.

More than a dozen Republican attorneys general in several states are determined to challenge the law in federal court, arguing that its requirement that Americans get health insurance is unconstitutional.

Full Story atCNN.com

Searchlight, Nevada (CNN) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin kicked off a Tea Party rally Saturday in Sen. Harry Reid’s hometown, encouraging disgruntled Americans to “take back our country” while attacking what she called the “Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending spree.”

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WASHINGTON – Newly released documents show the FBI interviewed a naked, chained terror suspect back in 2002 as the bureau struggled with the CIA over how to treat high-value prisoners.

Details of the interrogation were contained in documents released late Friday as part of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, and Judicial Watch.

As the CIA began to use harsh interrogation techniques against captured terror suspects, the FBI became wary of the legality of the methods, which ranged from forced nudity to waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning. As a result, FBI agents were ordered not to participate in such harsh interrogations.