House Panel

At the behest of the Republican leadership of a House of Representatives subcommittee, Capitol Police arrested Joshua Fox, the maker of the Oscar-nominated documentary “Gasland,” when he tried on Wednesday to film a subcommittee hearing on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method used to tap oil and gas reservoirs. With its images of flammable tap water, “Gasland” publicized concerns among critics of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of the technology's possible effect on water supplies.

When Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, convened a hearing Thursday on religious freedom and the mandate that health insurers cover contraception, he ignited a firestorm of protest before he even started. The first of two panels he assembled was all male - something that a Democratic congresswoman on the committee noted immediately and not favorably, given thatwomen's healthwas at the heart of what was being discussed.

Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad was born Carlos Bledsoe, played high school football and attended business school. He mowed his grandmother's lawn. He converted to Islam at a Tennessee mosque, studied in Yemen, and while there reportedly fell in with a group of extremists. By the time he returned to the U.S., federal law enforcement officials say, he had been dangerously radicalized. After he was accused of opening fire with a semiautomatic rifle on a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting station in 2009, he became part of a rising trend ?

At the behest of the Republican leadership of a House of Representatives subcommittee, Capitol Police arrested Joshua Fox, the maker of the Oscar-nominated documentary “Gasland,” when he tried on Wednesday to film a subcommittee hearing on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method used to tap oil and gas reservoirs. With its images of flammable tap water, “Gasland” publicized concerns among critics of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of the technology's possible effect on water supplies.

An apologetic Jon Corzine testified before a congressional panel that he was in "stunned disbelief" when he learned that hundreds of millions of dollars of customer money had disappeared from his now-defunct trading firm MF Global Holdings. "I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date," the former MF Global chief executive told the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday in his first public appearance since the company filed for bankruptcy Oct. 31. As much as $1.2 billion may be missing — far more than the $900-million shortfall that was initially suspected, a trustee handling the liquidation of the firm said recently.

Democratic Rep. Charles B. Rangel, once among the most powerful members of Congress, will face a hearing on charges of violating House ethics rules after a panel of his peers formally accused him of wrongdoing Thursday. For two years, House ethics investigators pored over records of the New York congressman's travel and record-keeping in response to complaints about corporate-paid trips, the use of several rent-stabilized apartments and other allegations. Rangel, 80, could face reprimand, censure or expulsion if the House Ethics Committee determines he violated rules.

A congressional panel Tuesday found Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York guilty of violating 11 House ethics rules, but the Harlem Democrat is likely to escape the most serious punishment for his actions ? expulsion from the House. Instead, it's expected that the once-powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee will be reprimanded or censured by his colleagues for ethics transgressions that include his failure to declare rental income from a Dominican villa, improper solicitation of donations on congressional letterhead and misuse of a rent-controlled apartment as a campaign office.

As waters rose on the Mississippi River, a House committee approved legislation Friday intended to save a government flood insurance program that is nearly $18 billion in debt. The bill, which includes provisions that could make it more difficult to develop in flood-prone areas, has bipartisan support, and sponsors said they hoped to have it on President Obama's desk before the current program expires Sept. 30. "Floodwaters across the South and Midwest are on the rise, and so is the debt owed by this program," said Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.)

Toyota Motor Corp. "deliberately withheld" evidence in lawsuits related to vehicle safety, exhibiting a "systematic disregard for the law," the chairman of a congressional committee said. The firm created "secret electronic 'Books of Knowledge' " that included information about design problems, yet never disclosed their existence in lawsuits, according to internal company documents released by the committee Friday. The allegations, made by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, came two days after Toyota's chief executive appeared before Congress to apologize for the automaker's handling of the sudden acceleration issue.

A congressional subcommittee has sent a letter to Sony Corp. seeking information about a security attack on PlayStation's online network by hackers last week. Addressed to Sony Chairman Kazuo Hirai, the letter requested answers to a detailed list of questions regarding the breach, which exposed the personal information and possibly credit card data of 77 million customer accounts. The letter, written by the House subcommittee on commerce, manufacturing and trading, addresses a number of security concerns, including when the breach occurred, how much data was stolen and why Sony waited a week before it notified customers.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scrutinizing the award by the Obama administration of a $433-million sole-source contract for an experimental smallpox drug. In a letter sent Tuesday to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and three of his Republican colleagues requested documents related to the awarding of the contract this year to Siga Technologies Inc., based in New York City. Siga's controlling shareholder is Ronald O. Perelman, a longtime Democratic Party donor.

An apologetic Jon Corzine testified before a congressional panel that he was in "stunned disbelief" when he learned that hundreds of millions of dollars of customer money had disappeared from his now-defunct trading firm MF Global Holdings. "I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date," the former MF Global chief executive told the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday in his first public appearance since the company filed for bankruptcy Oct. 31. As much as $1.2 billion may be missing — far more than the $900-million shortfall that was initially suspected, a trustee handling the liquidation of the firm said recently.

The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena Friday requiring the Department of Homeland Security to hand over the names of thousands of illegal immigrants who were arrested by local authorities over the last three years but not deported by immigration officials. The subpoena is the latest volley in a contentious debate between House Republicans and the Obama administration over its immigration policy, which makes deportation of illegal immigrants with criminal records a priority.

The Obama administration ignored "red flags" about failed Northern California solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, rushing through a $535-million loan guarantee for the company in 2009 and improperly restructuring the deal last winter in a failed attempt to boost the economy and the green energy industry, House Republicans said. A House Energy subcommittee released internal administration documents Wednesday showing a push to finish work on the loan package in mid-2009 so that Vice President Joe Biden could announce it. And lawmakers spent four hours grilling two administration officials about the decision to risk so much taxpayer money on Solyndra's uncertain technology.

Senior State Department officials came under tough questioning from lawmakers Wednesday over the Obama administration's reluctance to call for Syrian President Bashar Assad's departure. Despite the Assad government's bloody crackdown on demonstrators, U.S. officials have shied away from calling directly for his ouster. They worry that the United States would end up looking weak if Assad managed to hang on in the face of popular pressure. And with American leverage limited in Syria, they also have been reluctant to raise expectations about what the administration might be prepared to do to unseat the regime.

The House Financial Services Committee voted to limit the power of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as Republicans continued to fight against the centerpiece of last year's Wall Street reform law. Voting largely along party lines, the Republican-controlled committee approved three bills Friday aimed at reducing the agency's authority as it prepares to begin operations in July. The bureau has power to set and enforce rules on mortgages, credit cards and other consumer lending products, taking authority from the Federal Reserve and other regulators.

A probe of Qwest Communications International Inc. was closed by a House panel after it found no evidence to link founder Philip Anschutz to an accounting scandal. The investigators' interview with Joseph Nacchio, Qwest's former chief executive, produced no evidence that Anschutz helped Qwest overstate revenue, a committee spokesman said. Anschutz has said he had only a ceremonial role at Qwest, the fourth-biggest U.S. local-telephone company.

As waters rose on the Mississippi River, a House committee approved legislation Friday intended to save a government flood insurance program that is nearly $18 billion in debt. The bill, which includes provisions that could make it more difficult to develop in flood-prone areas, has bipartisan support, and sponsors said they hoped to have it on President Obama's desk before the current program expires Sept. 30. "Floodwaters across the South and Midwest are on the rise, and so is the debt owed by this program," said Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.)

After Karestan Koenen was raped by a local man soon after she arrived in Niger as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1991, she says, she got no support from local Peace Corps officials and a chilling reception when she was sent back to Washington. "I was sent to speak with a Peace Corps staff investigator, who said, 'I am so sick of you girls going over there, drinking, dancing and partying, and then if a guy comes on to you, you say you were raped,' " Koenen told a congressional committee Wednesday.