U.S. Congress

The head of the National Security Agency is telling Congress that the government's sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots around the world.  Army Gen. Keith Alexander tells the House Intelligence Committee that the two programs that were recently disclosed are critical in the terrorism fight...

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President Obama insists classified intelligence gathering has been fully authorized by Congress.  In a news conference in San Jose, Obama said, quote,  "Nobody is listening to your telephone calls."  He was asked to respond to reports of widespread Internet and phone data mining by the National Security Agency...

Attorney General Martha Coakley and state Senate President Therese Murray are calling on Congress to address a longstanding problem of what to do with the spent fuel at commercial nuclear power plants. Coakley and Murray last week sent a letter to members of Congress urging passage of a bill establishing a process for creating permanent storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel. ...

Bristol County Sheriff Tom Hodgson is not a big fan of the latest Immigration Reform bill making its way through Congress, even after attending a White House briefing Tuesday for law enforcement personnel.  Hodgson tells WBSM News, there's too much emphasis on creating new citizens, and not enough on security issues...

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and Congressman William Keating heard from members of the Mayor's Task Force on Oceans and Fisheries, during a forum Monday at the Whaling Museum.  Mayor Mitchell says the industry has spent the last few years reacting to actions by federal regulators.  ...

President Obama is citing steady progress after the "grueling" recession.  In the annual State of the Union address, the President said there is still much work to do to prompt a more robust recovery.

Massachusetts Mayors, led by Boston Mayor Tom Menino, called on the Federal Government to adopt "common sense" gun reforms.  New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell was among the speakers Thursday during a Boston news conference.  Mitchell says the Mayor's group wants Congress to take action to get military assault-style weapons and high capacity magazines off the streets...

President Obama is unveiling a sweeping package of gun safety proposals and that's apparently causing folks to flock to gun stores across the country.    At Westport Village Sports on State Road, clerk Paul Picard tells WBSM's Jim Phillips, he's noticed increased foot traffic in his store for about a month...

Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren is backing a bill reinstating a national assault weapons ban.