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The top U.S. immigration enforcement official acknowledged Thursday that the Obama administration has in fact released thousands of illegal immigrants from local jails over the last month despite prior claims that the release was only in the hundreds. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton, at a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, said the agency released a total of 2,228 illegal immigrants from local jails "throughout the country" between Feb. 9 and March 1 for "solely budgetary reasons." For the first time, he explained the kinds of detainees that were sprung from local jails -- he said they included detainees held...

<p>The Boy Scouts of America is considering dropping a longtime ban on gay members, according to a spokesman.</p> <p>“The BSA is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation,'' spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement obtained by FoxNews.com. "This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation, but that the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization’s mission, principles or religious beliefs."</p>

A charred lithium ion battery at the center of the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner showed evidence of “thermal runaway” -- which is indicative of a design problem, experts tell FoxNews.com. The All Nippon Airways plane made an emergency landing Wednesday morning in western Japan after its pilots smelled something burning and received a cockpit warning of battery problems. Nearly all 50 of the 787s in use around the world have since been grounded. The battery’s burned insides indicate it operated at a voltage above its design limit, a Japanese investigator said Friday. That’s a clear sign of...

Taxes for most Americans will still go up this year despite declarations from President Obama and others touting Tuesday night's fiscal crisis deal as a victory for middle-class workers. At the same time, tax relief that was included in the package comes at a cost -- contributing, along with new spending, nearly $4 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years, adding to the nation's more than $16 trillion debt. But there will be federal tax hikes in 2013. That's because the legislation pushed through the Senate and House on Jan. 1 does nothing to prevent a temporary cut...

Senior Senate Republican aides tell NRO that the tax side of the fiscal-cliff deal has been finalized. Here’s a sketch of the framework: — Current tax rates would be permanently extended for singles making $400,000 or below, and permanently extended for couples making $450,000 or below — For singles, capital gains and dividends of $400,000 or below would be permanently taxed at 15 percent; capital gains and dividends above $400,000 would be permanently taxed at 20 percent

For those who would see recovery in current economic data, there are these facts to ponder. The first is that most of the decline in the unemployment rate has been a result not of more people working, but of more people leaving the labor force. In November, unemployment went down to 7.7 from 7.9 percent in October, the lowest unemployment rate since late 2008. But at the same time unemployment declined, so did labor force participation--which fell to 63.6 in November from 63.8 percent in October. Half a million Americans have left the labor market in recent months. Long term...

Arizona's Attorney General has proposed a program to train one person at each school in the state to use a firearm in an effort to minimize the risk of a repetition of the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. Tom Horne introduced a proposal Wednesday that would allow a school principal or designated staff member to have access to a secured firearm on school grounds and receive training in the use of firearms and emergency management. The attorney general said in a press release that at least three Arizona sheriffs have endorsed the proposal and other sheriffs are considering participating in the...

Had teachers and administrators at Newtown, Connecticut schools been known to be armed and experienced marksmen, and women – very few would dare threaten gun violence at that city’s schools, or any other school in any community where school policy demanded the presence of armed adults. None dared when I first went to school in the little town of Hot Springs New Mexico in the late 1940’s – because the fact that teachers were armed was highly publicized in local newspapers. Back then there were only two schools, a grade school and high school. I attended both, and both had...

These are pictures of the amazing Salute Our Troops event from the Venetian/Palazzo last weekend. I’ll tell you more about it in a moment. But first, a little about the place. The workforce at Sheldon Adelson’s Venetian/Palazzo resort and casino in Las Vegas is non-union. It’s the only right-to-work sanctuary amidst the Big Labor-locked hotel complexes on the Vegas strip. As such, the Venetian/Palazzo has been a perennial target for disruptive union goons who can’t stand to see a successfully run mega-business with happy employees — not one of whom is forced to work there or forced to fork over...

Key lawmakers expressing concerns about the Obama administration's plan to send 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, where new President Mohamed Morsi's allegiances are as uncertain as his grip on power. Under a foreign aid deal signed in 2010, when Morsi's U.S.-friendly predecessor Hosni Mubarak was in charge, the U.S. is giving the planes to Egypt's air force, which already has more than 200 of the aircraft. The first four jets are to be delivered beginning Jan. 22, a source at the naval air base in Fort Worth, where the planes have been undergoing testing, told FoxNews.com. But the $213...

The Pentagon said Wednesday it is now preparing for billions of dollars in budget cuts should President Obama and congressional Republicans fail to reach an alternative plan by Jan. 1. The move breaks from earlier statements that no plans were being made – a signal that difficulties reaching a deal are beyond the public stalemate or so-called “political theater” and that Washington officials are bracing for the worst. Pentagon spokesman George Little said the Office of Management and Budget instructed the department to begin preparing for the roughly $500 billion cuts over the next 10 years – a situation resulting...

A U.N. conference that kicked off today in Dubai has sparked fear of Internet censorship in the U.S. -- something U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer said he is doing everything in his power to prevent. “Nothing regarding the Internet do we want subject to U.N. review and regulation,” Kramer told FoxNews.com. Monday marked the first day of an 11-day conference. Kramer, who leads the U.S. delegation at the conference, said that the first day had “gone well” and so far delegates are “still in the early stage, talking about what should be reviewed when.” No specific regulations have been debated yet....

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An upcoming U.N. gathering about Internet oversight is raising alarms from a broad coalition of critics, including the U.S., tech giants such as Google and rights groups, concerned that changes could lead to greater efforts to censor Web content and stifle innovation in cyberspace. Among the issues on the agenda at next month's meeting in Dubai are ideas to battle Internet spam and fraud. But also tucked into more than 1,300 proposals are potential hot-button items that opponents believe could be used by in places such as Iran and China to justify their crackdowns...

Republican Rep. Allen West vowed Friday to keep fighting for a partial recount in his re-election race, after a Florida judge denied his request to revisit the count that showed Democrat Patrick Murphy winning. Attorneys for the Tea Party-backed Florida congressman, who was elected in the 2010 Republican wave, argued that all 37,000 ballots cast during early voting in St. Lucie County should be recounted. But after a judge turned him down, West blasted Murphy's "army of lawyers" and made clear he was not conceding the race. "While we respect the court's decision, we remain concerned the voters in St....

A former teacher at the Carmelo School has filed a lawsuit against the school and the Carmel Unified School District for discrimination and wrongful termination for the school's failure to accommodate her needs as a new mother. In the lawsuit filed Oct. 30, Sarah Ann Lewis Boyle of Pacific Grove said her troubles with the Child Development Center began in September 2011. Boyle was due to come back to work on Oct. 3, 2011, and she told manager Laura Dunn she would need about 15 minutes between 9 and 11 a.m. every day to pump her breasts. Dunn reportedly told...

Ohio has been called for Barack Obama. Iowa went for Obama. Colorado went for Obama. Florida and Virginia have not been called yet, but those don’t look good, either. The Romney camp is disputing the Ohio call. Karl Rove on Fox News says it’s not over. But the numbers don’t add up for Romney. He was close. Valiantly close. But not close enough. (Update 12:57am – Romney called Obama to concede and delivered a gracious concession speech.) The Romney/Ryan team fought well and hard, inspiring Republicans and conservatives across the country to get out the vote and fight for restoration...

Despite devastation and millions of power outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a utility crew from Alabama said it has been unable to help a ravaged New Jersey shore town due to a union dispute. Officials from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers presented Alabama-based Decatur Utilities with documents that “required our folks to affiliate with the union,” Ray Hardin, general manager of Decatur, told FOX Business on Friday. “That was something that we could not agree to. It was our understanding and still is that it was a requirement for us to work in that area.” Hardin said...

The Obama administration is committing federal resources to Hurricane Sandy clean-up at a rate that is either impressive or alarming, depending on which disaster matters more -- the storm, or the budget deficit. For the time being, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in better shape than in past storms. Administrator Craig Fugate said this week the agency has $3.6 billion to pay for the federal response. But Fugate said Thursday he's not giving any predictions for what the total bill will be, and the heavy demand could certainly require Congress to consider additional funding during the lame-duck session. With...

Superstorm Sandy has even flooded the Internet. Popular New York based media blogs The Huffington Post, Gawker, Gizmodo, Mediate and more were inaccessible Tuesday after flooding from superstorm Sandy knocked out web host Datagram's servers Monday night -- along with power to millions of New York, New Jersey and Connectivity residents. "We are continuing to battle flooding and fiber outages in downtown New York and Connecticut. ... generators are unable pump fuel due to the flooding in the basements," Datagram wrote on its website early Tuesday morning.

Sandy's no longer a hurricane, but it still packs a wallop. The massive storm was downgraded just after it barged ashore in southern New Jersey, bringing 90-mph winds and a roiling wall of seawater as it moved inland and north toward New York City. It sent 90-mph gusts through the Wall Street canyons and water surging to a record 13 feet in Lower Manhattan, surging into two major commuter tunnels and into subway stations and tracks. It was unclear how much water had come in. The MTA also cut power to some subway tunnels in lower Manhattan, after water came...