Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent messages to all members of Congress terminating their positions, stating “Your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment.” All Democratic and independent members of Congress, as well as two Republicans, found themselves locked out of their offices after everything inside had been confiscated.   read more

The vans can drive alongside cars or buildings to find drugs or explosives that may be hidden inside. But because they use X-rays, which bounce back from the target, they may expose unknowing people to ionizing radiation, which can increase the risk of cancer. The vans are similar to airport body scanners that were removed by TSA in 2013. The NYPD has refused to release any records about how it uses the vans and what it does to protect people who may be in the vicinity.   read more

Government authorities have for years argued that allowing some legal hunting can help reduce the illegal killing of wolves and grizzly bears. Their theory — though there has been little scientific research to support it — has been that legalizing hunting helps reduce resentment among landowners, increase support for conservation and decrease poaching. But the new study offers the first evidence that government authorization of any legal killing of wolves appears to increase illegal killing.   read more

"A law against driving with THC in your bloodstream is not a law you can know you are obeying except by never smoking marijuana or never driving," said Kleinman. Rather than switching to a new kind of law as AAA recommends, states should consider simply making it a traffic violation, he suggests. Studies show using marijuana and driving roughly doubles the risk of a crash. By comparison, talking on a hands-free cellphone while driving — legal in all states — quadruples crash risk.   read more

The study showed that physicians who receive industry money tend to prescribe higher rates of brand-name drugs — and thus, lower rates of similarly effective, more affordable generic drugs. An aim of the study was to determine and reduce any industry influence that could produce bad behavior. “You want your doctors to be objective rather than doing something because there is a financial gain, be it subconscious or conscious,” Yeh said. “That’s not the way we should be doing medicine.”   read more

The Justice Dept. warned Gov. McCrory that the law violates civil rights protections against sex discrimination in education and employment. Margaret Spellings, former Education Secretary to President George W. Bush, has found her leadership tested as she steers the UNC system between the conservatives who just appointed her and the federal agency she once led. She was criticized by LGBT student groups for not doing more to lobby against the law before it was approved.   read more

While Republican lawmakers have fought to protect coal-fired power plants, data show their home states are often the ones benefiting most from the nation's shift to renewable energy. Leading the way in new wind projects are GOP strongholds Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, home to some of the leading critics of climate science and renewable energy. Nearly all the states that have sued to stop the Clean Power Plan have GOP governors.   read more

The ACLU found 85 out of 110 incidents in which police prolonged "routine stops far beyond the time reasonably required to resolve the underlying issue, solely to pursue investigations of immigration status or wait for immigration officials to respond," Lyall wrote. "In many of these cases, officers are going out of their way to transfer custody to U.S. Border Patrol, regardless of the delay that results." Often, legal residents and/or citizens were detained because of false information.   read more

At the heart of the controversy is the gesture the women chose: Did it represent a divisive political statement, a matter of free speech, or just a case of students showing their sense of accomplishment as graduation draws near? Iraq vet John Burk said the women were identifying with Black Lives Matter activists “known for inflicting violent protest." But others said it's often a pop culture symbol. “For them it’s...a sign that means unity and pride and sisterhood," said Iraq vet Mary Tobin.   read more

The nation’s largest contractor, Lockheed Martin, has received $331 billion in federal dollars since Oct. 2005. The company spent at least $140 million on lobbying and political contributions between Oct. 2005 and Sept. 2015. Boeing, which took in $201 billion over the decade, spent $150 million on political influence. General Dynamics accumulated $136 billion in contracts, while spending $96 million on lobbying and political action committees.   read more

FDA says only 37,500 physicians had completed voluntary training programs by March 2015, less than half the targeted 80,000. Surveys showed 40% of prescribers were unaware of the programs more than a half-year after launch. Prescription opioid overdoses have been rising steadily for well over a decade, reaching nearly 19,000 in 2014 — the highest number on record. Total opioid overdoses exceeded 28,600 that year when combined with heroin, which many switch to after being hooked on painkillers.   read more

Our study compared black and white neighborhoods, and we found that in the same city, the mostly black neighborhoods had twice as many court judgments as the mostly white neighborhoods, even when accounting for income. One big firm, Pressler & Pressler, obtained at least 76,000 judgments for its clients. In about 69,000 of those suits, the firm used the same attorney who took as little as four seconds to review a suit, and he did between 300 and 400 — sometimes as many as 1,000 — per day.   read more

A former police sergeant has been held without charges for seven months in a federal detention cell, part of an effort by the authorities to pressure him to decrypt two computer hard drives. His case is the latest in a growing number of legal battles over digital privacy in the U.S. The challenges are playing out in courts across the country, propelling a national debate over when the government can compel individuals or companies to disclose codes or passwords giving access to private data.   read more

"Family detention camps are prisons," said Grassroots Leadership director Bob Libal. "They are not childcare facilities. DFPS has for a decade refused to regulate these facilities because they do not have authority to do so. The Texas agency has never regulated a facility this large. Yet they came up with a regulation allowing a license in three months. It was not done to protect children, but to protect the Obama administration's family detention program, putting children in harm's way."   read more

"At the seat of our national government - in the congressional chamber based on proportional representation - the chaplain is dividing and excluding citizens based on their religious or nonreligious beliefs," Barker claims. Since 2000, nearly 97% of guest invocations have come from Christians, although just 70% of the country identifies as Christian. Less than 3% were delivered by Jewish representatives. Atheists and agnostics have not given a single invocation in the past 16 years, says Barker.   read more

Eight wolves were exported in 2014 as hunting trophies and another 26 gray wolf "garments were exported from the United States for circus or traveling exhibition purposes," according to the complaint. Bishop said that animal fur exporting is big business and that pelts and parts are used all over the world. "Some people have told me that it takes about 30 bobcat pelts to make a jacket, that it is popular in China or Russia, but I don't know a lot about the industry," he said.   read more

Simply having a first-class compartment made an air rage incident nearly four times more likely, equivalent to the effect of a nine-hour flight delay, the study found. The bad behavior was higher not only for economy passengers, but those in first class too. The results have implications for any physical environment where differences in class or status are apparent. Using dual boarding gates, separating first-class from economy cabin, could help reduce rage incidents, says Prof. DeCelles.   read more