President Obama has signed a bill that aims to keep severely wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in their homes by providing billions of dollars in support to family members who care for them.

At a bill-signing event at the White House on Wednesday, Obama said the government's responsibility to take care of veterans and their families is a “moral obligation.”

The bill instructs the Veterans Affairs Department to offer post-delivery care to female veterans' newborns and create a child-care pilot program. It also includes expanded funding for programs assisting homeless and rural veterans.

The price tag over five years is an estimated $3.7 billion.

Under the legislation, caregivers of the estimated 2,000 severely wounded veterans from the recent conflicts can receive training, a monthly stipend and healthcare.

-- Associated Press

The House on Wednesday approved trade breaks for Haiti's textile industry, the latest of several actions aimed at helping the hemisphere's poorest nation recover from a devastating earthquake.

The measure approved by a voice vote expands the kinds of textile products and apparel that Haiti can export to the United States duty-free.

It also nearly triples the levels under which certain knit and woven apparel products may receive duty-free treatment and extends through 2020 a trade program that had contributed to Haiti's economic growth before the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 230,000.

“Once the earthquake hit, it became clear that something needed to be done to help Haiti regain the footing that it had worked so hard to attain. This legislation does that,” said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.)

Textiles and apparel are Haiti's most important export to the United States, with apparel exports reaching $513 million last year.

Lawmakers stressed that they had crafted the bill so as to gain the support of the U.S. textile industry, which has been hard hit by foreign competition.

The American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, which represents the textile industry, said it was supporting the bill because, while providing Haiti with a path toward economic recovery, “it also takes into account various sensitivities from the perspective of the U.S. textile industry.”

-- Associated Press

Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, has decided not to seek reelection in 2010 and will announce his retirement Wednesday.

Obey was one of several senior Democrats who had been targeted for defeat in the midterm elections that are shaping up to be difficult for President Obama’s party in Congress.

Although Obey, a 71-year-old old-school liberal, faced the toughest reelection fight he had confronted since he was elected in 1969, sources close to him said he did not really fear defeat but was ready to quit and let passage of Obama’s healthcare overhaul be the coda of his career.

Democratic officials remain confident that the party can retain control of Obey’s seat in Wisconsin’s 7th district. He is expected to be succeeded as House Appropriations chairman by Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.).

Obey is one of a few old-bull Democrats who came to Washington in another era – the 1970s and 1980s – when their party dominated Congress for decades. He was part of the reform movement of liberal Democrats who weakened the seniority system that had given conservative Southern Democrats great power in the House.

This year, with the political environment dominated by anti-incumbent sentiment and a clamor for change, the GOP has been campaigning against Obey as a politician whose time has come and gone.

Other senior House Democrats who face tough challenges from Republican opponents this year are House Budget Committee Chairman John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.) and House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.).

-- Janet Hook

Joe the Plumber, who became a conservative star in the 2008 presidential campaign by confronting then-candidate Barack Obama, has been elected to a GOP party post in Ohio.

Samuel Wurzelbacher, to use his real name, was elevated by Republicans as the symbol of middle-class America confronting the policies of the Democrats, especially on taxes. The name Joe the Plumber became a rallying cry at Republican rallies as the McCain-Palin ticket sought to ignite its base.

Wurzelbacher was elected as a GOP committeeman, one of 400 who oversee the GOP in northwestern Ohio's Lucas County. He won his spot by a 38-23 vote Tuesday in his suburban Toledo precinct.

On Oct. 12, 2008, three days before the final presidential debate, Obama toured Wurzelbacher's  neighborhood. Wurzelbacher, who had been playing football with his son in his frontyard at the time, questioned Obama about the Democrat's tax plan and whether it would destroy the American dream.

He earned his name Joe the Plumber from his job and his desire to open a small business, a dream that could have been jeopardized by a tax increase.

Obama explained that taxes would be going up but, in his description, said, "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success too."

It was that comment that threw fuel on the fire for Republicans who argued that Democrats and particularly Obama wanted to redistribute wealth in the United States. The charge that Obama was a "socialist" resurfaced among conservatives during the healthcare insurance overhaul debate.

Since his campaign appearance, Wurzelbacher has written a book and spoken to conservative gatherings.

-- Michael Muskal

Twitter.com/LATimesmuskal

Photo: Samuel Joseph "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher walks through the crowd at a tea party event March 27, 2010, in Searchlight, Nev. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

A year and a day have passed since President Obama got a little jump on Cinco de Mayo at the White House with a slip of the tongue on May 4: "Cinco de quatro,'' Obama called that holiday-eve celebration last year -- Five of four.

On Wednesday, the White House celebration of the Mexican holiday honoring military victory over the French comes right on time, with the president planning to host a Cinco de Mayo evening reception in the Rose Garden.

It's a nice, clear, warm spring day for it. The event, in modern American times, has come to revolve around not so much Mexican military heroes as a certain commercial persona known as Jose Cuervo. And on this certain celebratory Fifth, it seems that a fifth never quite suffices.

But in the midst of a stirring debate over immigration reform in Washington -- and an exploding debate in Arizona, where the state is trying to crack down on illegal immigrants -- it's likely that the president also will have something to say Wednesday about his vision for comprehensive laws toughening the borders and creating paths for citizenship for many of the up to 12 million undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. 

For more details, see The Swamp

-- Mark Silva

Former Sen. Dan Coats won the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Indiana on Tuesday, in a primary election contest seen as a test of strength for the grass-roots conservative "tea party" movement against the party establishment. Voters in North Carolina and Ohio also made their choices in House and Senate primaries.

In Indiana this fall, Coats will face Democrat Brad Ellsworth, currently a member of the House whose nomination is assured. Republican leaders recruited Coats in hopes he could capture a seat now held by retiring centrist Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh.

Coats overcame spirited challenges from four other candidates, including state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, a tea party favorite, and former Rep. John Hostettler, who had the support of onetime presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican.

Coats, 66, retired from the Senate in 1998. He has worked as a lobbyist and was U.S. ambassador to Germany under President George W. Bush. Coats is one of several prominent Republican candidates nationwide denounced by tea party activists as Washington insiders. The Indiana primary was seen as an indication about whether the widely publicized anti-tax movement could have an impact at the ballot box.

Former U.S. ambassador to Germany Dan Coats vies for the Republican nomination for Indiana’s Senate seat Tuesday, in a race seen as a test for the conservative ‘tea party’ movement and Republican prospects in the November election.

Republican leaders recruited Coats, a former senator and former lobbyist, in the hopes he could capture a seat now held by a Democrat. But he is fighting four other candidates, including tea party favorite state Sen. Marlin Stutzman.

Coats is one of several prominent Republican candidates nationwide denounced by tea party activists as Washington insiders. The Indiana primary could offer an indication about whether the widely publicized movement can have an effect at the ballot box.

“I think most of that is more of the ‘let’s throw all the rascals out regardless of who they are and where they’ve been’ kind of thing,” former Indiana Republican chairman Mike McDaniel said.

Republicans are expected to score large gains in both chambers of Congress. But its prospects could be damaged if the party is divided between supporters of mainstream Republicans, like Coats, and tea party activists.

Longtime Sen. John McCain, the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, appears to be shifting more to the right as he faces a challenger in the primary for his seat in Arizona. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has avoided the primary showdown against more conservative contender Marco Rubio, opting to run as an independent in November elections.

The stakes are high for Coats, who had been out of office 12 years when he decided to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh. The Republican Party had hoped to capitalize on what was expected to be a bad year for incumbents and specifically Democrats, but the race was turned upside down when Bayh decided to not seek re-election. Democrat Brad Ellsworth, currently a member of the U.S. House, is assured the party’s nomination.

Among other primary races on Tuesday were an open Senate seat in Ohio and the Democratic race for a challenger to North Carolina Sen. Richard M. Burr, as the states kick off a wave of primaries during the next several months.

-- Associated Press

Facing environmental problems in the Gulf of Mexico, a still fragile economic recovery and an attempted terrorist attack on New York City, President Obama on Tuesday closed a speech to the Business Council with a burst of political optimism.

In his speech, Obama said his government would keep its eye on the economic consequences of the massive oil slick working its way across the gulf. He also praised officials for their work in arresting a person in connection with Saturday's failed terror attack in Times Square and repeated his call for Congress to enact new financial regulations.

But in his closing remarks, the president reverted to his previous role as a community organizer, amplifying on the political agenda he laid out in his commencement speech over the weekend at the University of Michigan.

"We face some very big challenges right now," Obama told the business leaders.

"The only way we're going to get through them -- the only way we ever have -- is if we align the interests of workers and businesses and government around a common purpose. At a time of such economic anxiety, it's tempting and, frankly, sometimes easier, to turn against one another. So politicians can rail against Wall Street or against each other. Businesses can fault Capitol Hill," he said.

"I don't believe we can afford that kind of politics anymore. Not now. I believe that we are in this together. I believe that we will succeed or we'll falter as one people. But I am confident that if we can rise above these failures of the past, then we're not only going to recover but we're going to emerge stronger than before.

"So, yes, these have been a very difficult two years. But the storm is receding and the skies are brightening," Obama said.

-- Michael Muskal

Twitter.com/LATimes

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell on Tuesday publicly endorsed the GOP establishment's candidate for Kentucky's other Senate seat over a newcomer backed by the "tea party" movement and by retiring Sen. Jim Bunning.

In a written statement, McConnell said Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson “has a track record of leading by example” and called on voters to choose him as the Republican nominee in the May 18 primary election.

Grayson faces five Republicans — including political outsider Rand Paul — who are seeking the GOP nomination to run for Bunning's seat. Paul is the son of Texas congressman Ron Paul, who made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. The younger Paul has capitalized on his father's political base.

Bunning opted not to seek reelection under pressure from McConnell and other Republican leaders.

The endorsement underscores the long-standing estrangement between McConnell and Bunning, who endorsed Paul.

It's the latest in a series of high-profile endorsements.

Fundamentalist Christian leader James Dobson rescinded his endorsement of Grayson on Monday, encouraging Kentuckians instead to vote for Paul, a Bowling Green physician.

Dobson, a leading abortion foe and founder of the Colorado-based ministry Focus on the Family, called his Grayson endorsement “an embarrassing mistake” based on what he termed “misleading information” from Republican leaders.

Grayson picked up another key endorsement Monday from Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), a revered political figure in the state's mountain region, which will be a key battleground in the primary.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani have endorsed Grayson.

Paul has been endorsed by Bunning, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes.

-- Associated Press

President Obama on Monday addressed Saturday's attempted bombing at New York's Times Square and the arrest of a suspect.

The president, prior to a speech on the economy at the Business Council in Washington, said the incident was “another sobering reminder of the times in which we live.’’ He said it was both the vigilance of private citizens and the effective cooperation of law-enforcement authorities that interrupted the attempted attack and led to the swift arrest. Faisal Shahzad was taken into custody at JFK Airport shortly after midnight EDT Tuesday.

“The suspect is now in custody and is being questioned,’’ he said. The FBI and their partners in the investigation have “all the tools’’ they need to determine if the suspect acted in concert or alone, he said.

“Justice will be done, and we will continue to do everything in our power to protect the American people." Terrorists, he said, "will stop at nothing" to disrupt Americans' way of life.

But once again, he said, an attempted attack had failed because citizens were “vigilant’’ and authorities acted. “The suspect has been apprehended because of close’’ work at every level of law enforcement, he said.

“New Yorkers have reminded us once again of how to live with our heads held high,’’ Obama said. “As Americans and as a nation, we will not be terrorized. We will not cower in fear. ... We will work together.’’

-- Mark Silva

We already knew that "socialism'' is a loaded word.

Yet, for all that has transpired during the last two years, the basic American fondness for "capitalism'' remains somewhat steady.

And liberals? Forget it. They're "progressives." If those critics who have accused the Obama administration of advancing a socialist agenda with healthcare reform and other initiatives have struck a nerve, it could be because 59% of Americans surveyed reacted negatively to the word socialism.

Capitalism is faring somewhat better despite the collapse of the financial markets and with them the retirement funds of many Americans: 52% reacted positively to the word.

These are among the findings released Tuesday the Pew Research Center.

Socialism also is more of a fighting word among Republicans -- 77% reacted negatively to the term in the Pew survey. Democrats are more open-minded to the idea -- as House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has alleged all along: 44% reacted positively to the term socialism, 47% reacted positively to the term capitalism.

For more details, head over to the Swamp.

-- Mark Silva

The Alaskan who made "Drill, baby, drill" a standard term in the modern American political lexicon says the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially the worst ever off-shore from American coastlines, is no cause for giving up on off-shore drilling.

Sarah Palin, whose home state suffered the worst spill before this, the Exxon Valdez incident in 1989, has reached out to the 1.5 million followers of her Facebook page with an expression of sympathy for the working people along the gulf facing loss of livelihood.

On April 20, the BP-leased rig exploded in water a mile deep and sank two days later 130 miles southeast of New Orleans in an accident that has put an oil slick the size of Puerto Rico on the Gulf of Mexico, with shorelines and fisheries in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida now threatened.

"We've all been shocked and saddened by the tragic events in the Gulf of Mexico," wrote the former governor and 2008 Republican nominee for vice president. "My heart breaks for coastal residents who are facing fears of the unknown impacts of the oil spill.

"Government can and must play an appropriate role here," she adds. "If a company was lax in its prevention practices, it must be held accountable. It is inexcusable for any oil company to not invest in preventative measures. They must be held accountable or the public will forever distrust the industry...."

Yet, Palin contends, "even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk -- whether it's sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization.

"I repeat the slogan 'drill here, drill now' not out of naivete or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills.... I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation."

Read the full story over at the Swamp.

-- Mark Silva

The Justice Department has closed an investigation into the head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under former President George W. Bush without bringing charges, his lawyers said Monday.

Alphonso Jackson was investigated after he made remarks in early 2006 that suggested he had canceled a government contract with a businessman who had criticized Bush.

The Cabinet-level secretary later said he had lied about the cancellation, but his remarks prompted an investigation by the HUD inspector general. The probe found no evidence that Jackson actually took such action.

Federal law prohibits considering political affiliation when awarding contracts. Senate Democrats had sought Jackson's ouster amid allegations about the Bush administration directing contracts to political allies.

The senators had said Jackson refused to answer their questions regarding his activities in the awarding of three separate contracts and his involvement in a case of alleged retaliation against the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

The closure of the Justice Department investigation without any charges showed that the allegations were without support, his lawyers said in a statement.

Jackson resigned in April 2008.

-- Reuters

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dismissed speculation she was interested in being named to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying she intended to keep her current position in the Obama administration.

Clinton had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who has announced his retirement from the high court.

When asked on NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday if she would continue serving as secretary of State for the remainder of the Obama administration's first term in office, Clinton replied, “I intend to. … I think so.”

“I do not and never have wanted to be a judge,” Clinton added.

-- Reuters

Photo: Hillary Clinton on "Meet the Press," aired May 2, 2010. Credit: William B. Plowman / Meet the Press

President Obama's approval ratings may be down among the American public. But at least, he said before a black-tie dinner crowd in Washington on Saturday night, he remains popular in "the country of my birth.''

That's the way the laugh-lines go at the annual White House Correspondents' Assn. dinner, where they never let a good story get in the way of jokes. This is the sort of event where a president admits to a little disappointment -- Obama really was angling for the Nobel Prize for Physics.

This a big deal, this dinner, the president said. "I work a lot, and so I wasn't sure that I should actually come tonight," Obama told his audience. "[Vice President Joe] Biden talked me into it,'' he said, alluding to Biden's open-mic comment at the signing of the historic healthcare reform bill.

"He leaned over and he said, 'Mr. President, this is no ordinary dinner. This is a big ... meal.' "It's been quite a year," said Obama, making his second appearance at the correspondents' dinner.

"Lots of ups, lots of downs, except for my approval ratings, which have just gone down. But that's politics. It doesn't bother me. In fact, I know my approval ratings are still very high in the country of my birth."

For more details, see The Swamp. 

-- Mark Silva

President Obama on Saturday urged graduates at the University of Michigan to participate in public life as the president forcefully defended an activist role for government in dealing with society’s problems.

The president used his commencement speech at Ann Arbor to explain his theory that democracy requires government to have an important role. He also called for civility in political debate as he chastised the overheated media world of Washington, which he is fond of blaming for the ongoing partisan battles that have rocked Washington on almost every major issue from healthcare to immigration.

The speech outlined Obama’s core vision: Individuals have a political responsibility to get involved in public life. Civility allows them to work together to build democracy and that allows them use the power of government to improve things for everyone.

“We can and should debate the role of government in our lives,” Obama told the graduates. “But remember, as you are asked to meet the challenges of our time, that the ability for us to adapt our government to the needs of the age has helped make our democracy work since its inception.”

Have we mentioned lately that timing, in politics, is everything?

The White House announced Saturday that President Obama will visit the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday morning to inspect the effects of a calamitous oil spill from an off-shore exploratory well and the government's response to the crisis.

The president is en route to the University of Michigan for a presidential commencement address. And tonight, he is scheduled to speak at the annual White House Correspondents' Assn. dinner -- a laughfest that this year will feature talk-show king Jay Leno. The dinner is a black-tie event attended by celebrities of screen and stage as well as Washington that will draw national cable television coverage.

Continue reading Obama inspecting oil-spill: Gulf crisis on The Swamp.

-- Mark Silva

RELATED:
Obama seeks to reassure Gulf region on federal response to oil spill

Photo: Captain Peace Marvel, 43, attempts to reposition a boom, meant to keep out oil, that had drifted out of place at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Elsewhere, big waves reportedly were overtopping some of the boom - 250,000 feet of which had been deployed - and washing oil into wetlands. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Laura Bush, the former first lady, didn't realize how stressful Washington was until she left it -- residing now in Dallas with the retired President George W. Bush, she writes about this and more in a memoir that will be released next week.

"I didn't realize how stressed I was until I wasn't,'' she says in an interview that appears in Ladies' Home Journal, featuring the former first lady and her twin daughters on the June cover. "At the end of the book I write about the buoyancy of freedom I felt [when we left Washington]. It was literally almost physical. I felt like I could stand up straighter. I didn't have any idea I was that stressed."

Laura Bush, who next week will launch a two-month book tour in the Virginia suburbs of Washington and in Washington for the release of "Spoken From the Heart," writes about being an only child raised in Midland, Texas.

"It was very lonely being an only child,'' she tells the magazine, according to excerpts released Friday. "I think it was mainly because I was so aware of how my parents wanted other children, and how disappointed they were. And so I was disappointed. I wanted to have those brothers and sisters, too."

She says this about the criticism that her husband, the 43rd president of the United States and son of the 41st, fielded during two terms in office -- particularly during the second term: "The criticism of political figures is so extreme, that they end up being characterized in a way that they're not at all. And we knew that. When George's dad was president, it was very hard for us to tolerate. We hated that. It's too bad because I think it discourages people from even considering public office."

-- Mark Silva

For more, see George Bush reads with a Kindle in the Swamp.

President Obama on Friday sought to reassure Gulf communities that the federal government is committed to helping them deal with the massive oil slick working its way to shore.

In his second public comments in as many days on the disaster, Obama again stressed that the company BP would be responsible for the cleanup, but that the federal government would do all that it could to ensure that people and the environment were helped.

“We are fully prepared to meet our responsibilities to any and all affected communities,” Obama said on Friday addressing the incident, which began with the an explosion and sinking of a deep water oil rig on April 22. “That’s why we have been working closely with state and local authorities since the day of the explosion,” he said.

But beyond the immediate battle against the oil, there is another fight on the horizon. There is a ghost haunting cleanup efforts in the Gulf and it is named Katrina.

At the end of August 2005, Hurricane Katrina swirled through the Gulf killing nearly 2,000 people and causing more than $80 billion in damage. The poor federal response to the disaster also destroyed the already beleaguered political reputation of the Bush administration.

With oil beginning to wash ashore on Friday, the Obama administration is moving aggressively to ensure that that its political future isn’t drowned in a sea of oil.

Obama dispatched top Cabinet officials to tour the scene and monitor cleanup efforts. His administration has been forceful in saying it will hold BP, which operated the well, responsible for cleanup costs which some have pegged at as much as $3 billion in the months to come.

While some local officials have begun grumbling that the federal response has been too slow, the administration has sent officials to the airwaves to explain how deep the commitment is. Obama on Friday personally explained how much material has been sent for the cleanup.

On the policy level, Obama ordered a probe of the causes of the disaster and an inspection of deep-water rigs. Speaking at the White House Rose Garden, Obama said he has ordered Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to report back in 30 days, and any suggestions will be incorporated into future leases to drill for oil.

But the bigger issue is what will the White House do about offshore drilling. Obama wants to open parts of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to new drilling to gather more energy while the nation develops alternative energy resources.

“Let me be clear,” Obama said Friday morning. “I continue to believe that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security. But I‘ve always said it must be done responsibly for the safety of our workers and our environment.

“The local economies and livelihoods of the people of the Gulf Coast as well as the ecology of the region are at stake.”

-- Michael Muskal
Twitter.com/LATimesmuskal

The oil spill working its way to the Mississippi wetlands has the potential to endanger more than wildlife. It could also have an effect on the Obama administration’s energy policy.

Energy is a key part of President Obama’s domestic program. At campaign-style stops, he often praises alternative energy such as solar and wind power as necessary for economic development.

But he always notes that current energy sources will be with the country for a while so he has proposed dealing with that reality in a variety of ways, including expanding offshore oil drilling.

It was Republicans in the last presidential election who made "Drill, baby, drill” a mantra. But Obama was always careful not to close the door on new drilling. His proposed policy walks a fine line between industry and environmentalist concerns.

“The bottom line is this: Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy,” Obama said when he announced his desire to increase drilling.

He has proposed drilling along the Atlantic Coast from Delaware to Florida, plus in some areas off Alaska. He would also lift a ban on drilling in parts of the Gulf of Mexico, about 125 miles from Florida’s beaches.

Of course, all of that was before the explosion on an oil rig and the spill that is expected to hit land Friday or Saturday, where it could imperil the delicate ecology of the marsh wetlands and wildlife.

“I have been receiving frequent briefings from my Cabinet and White House staff,” Obama said Thursday. “While BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and cleanup operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal, including potentially the Department of Defense, to address the incident.”

Earlier, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Obama remained committed to offshore drilling, but that the cause of the oil rig explosion – now under investigation -- could affect what areas the government would open for drilling.

Some senators see the incident as a problem.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, said there was a risk of a potential “environmental and economic disaster” from the spill, and added that he was filing legislation to temporarily prohibit the Obama administration from expanding offshore drilling.

“Until we learn what happened, I'm asking that you also call for an immediate halt to test wells and all other exploratory operations in coastal waters,” Nelson said in a letter to Obama.

-- Michael Muskal

Twitter.com/LATimesmuskal