Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, holds a news conference about fiscal cliff negotiations hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund in Washington, D.C.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov 27.
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[Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) by Flickr user Center for American Progress Action Fund]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi deliver remarks at a joint news conference in Cairo.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 21.
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a news conference to talk about a possible cease-fire with Hamas.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 20.
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Natalie Khawam, the twin sister of Jill Kelley and a peripheral player in the David Petraeus scandal, holds a news conference with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 20.
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State Department Spokesman Victoria Nuland holds a press briefing.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 20.
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Hostess had asked for permission to liquidate the company but US bankruptcy court urged firm to resume talks with BCTGM
Troubled Twinkie maker Hostess Brands and the unions representing its striking workers agreed to start mediation hearings on Tuesday at the urging of a bankruptcy court judge.
Management at the Twinkies and Wonder Bread manufacturer sought permission to liquidate the company on Monday, but was urged by the judge to mediate in private. Mediation will begin on Tuesday. If talks collapse, lawyers for Hostess will be back in court to seek approval to shut down the 82-year-old company.
Hostess filed for bankruptcy for the second time in January and had been negotiating cuts with its unions. Those talks fell apart last week as the company's management blamed the union, and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Makers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union in turn blamed mismanagement. The union also balked at a fresh round of pay cuts it said would cut wages by 27-32%.
Judge Robert Drain of the US bankruptcy court asked attorneys to mediate.
"To me, not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark over this case, which I think – I may be wrong – but I think will only be answered in litigation. And that's no one's desired outcome," the judge said.
Alongside labour disputes, Hostess, which is based in Irving, Texas, has struggled for years with massive debts, management turmoil, rising commodity costs and America's changing tastes.
After the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's filed for bankruptcy in January, it brought on CEO Greg Rayburn as a restructuring expert to work on renegotiating contract with labour unions.
In a filing with the court, BCTGM said it had agreed to "significant labor concessions" with the company when Hostess first filed for bankruptcy in 2004. The company had pledged to reinvest the money saved into the business, according to BCTGM, but instead emerged from bankruptcy with $773m in secured debt, over $100m more than when the case was filed. Six management teams in the last eight years have compounded Hostess' woes, according to the union.
Last week, Rayburn rejected calls for renegotiating contracts with BTGCM. Hostess management had reached agreement with other unions, including the Teamsters.
Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference in New Orleans, La., regarding a multi-billion dollar settlement by BP in connection with the Gulf oil spill.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 15.
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Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 15.
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Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) hold a news conference to discuss the Sept. 11th, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 14.
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Defense Department spokesman holds a press briefing at the Pentagon. The scandal involving CIA Director David Petraeus and U.S. General John Allen is expected to be discussed.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 13.
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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney conducts a briefing. The scandal involving CIA Director David Petraeus is expected to be discussed.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 13.
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asked the US federal government for $30 billion in aid to help his state recover from the devastation left by superstorm Sandy.
The requested funds will help rebuild the economy, infrastructure, housing, public buildings and small businesses, Cuomo told reporters in stressing the "cataclysmic" nature of the storm that killed more than 110 people.
"This is an economy that is important not just for the state, this is an economy that is important for the country," Cuomo said. "The sooner we get the New York economy running, the better for this state and this nation."
His request comes three days before President Barack Obama tours the areas hit hard by the storm that blasted ashore with hurricane force on October 29, triggering major floods and tidal surges in New York and New Jersey.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg meanwhile announced a $500 million emergency plan to repair 37 public schools and three public hospitals closed since Sandy.
Despite major progress, tens of thousands of homes and businesses remain without power, and thus unable to heat the buildings during sometimes frigid temperatures in the city and its suburbs.
"Our city has never experienced a storm as destructive as Hurricane Sandy, and financing for these repairs is as necessary as is it urgent," Bloomberg said, adding that the city could not wait for the release of federal aid funds.
"These school buildings and public hospitals are resources that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers rely on every day... This emergency capital spending is vital investment in our recovery and future."
The schools currently closed are attended by about 26,000 students, who were forced to move to other institutions with their teachers.
About 74,300 customers -- homes, general buildings and private companies -- remained without power, and more than half of those were in areas flooded by the storm, such as Long Island and the Rockaways area of the New York borough of Queens, the Long Island Power Authority said.
LIPA, harshly criticized for its response to the disaster, insisted that 10,000 people were working around the clock to return power to customers.
But in some cases, installations were too badly damaged to function again and additional repairs and tests were needed.
Flood-ravaged areas of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island "cannot get electrical service until their own internal equipment is repaired, tested and certified by an electrician as ready for service," according to utility Con Edison.
Bloomberg has yet to indicate when fuel rationing will end for New York.
In neighboring New Jersey, a similar measure was put in place on November 3, but it was set to be lifted on Tuesday.
"Now it's time to get back to normal & back to work," New Jersey's Republican governor Chris Christie said in a Twitter message.
Obama, re-elected last week, interrupted his campaign for four days in the wake of the storm.
Though he did not go to New York, he did visit New Jersey on October 31, touring the wreckage with Christie in what proved to be an unexpectedly welcome photo op for the Democratic president less than a week before polling day.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Speaker of the House John Boehner addresses spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect in January.
Watch live, broadcast on NBC News on Nov. 9.
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