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 would-be governor of New Hampshire used an electronic billboard and his radio show to accuse local businessmen of selling guns, dealing drugs and killing children, they claim in court. It's not the first time Gill's billboards have landed him in hot water. A previous sign sparked outrage for displaying an obscenity in an attack on U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte for corruption. Gill was also recently jailed in contempt of court for an outburst during a divorce proceeding.   read more

In 2012, McKean went to work at the State Dept. as senior advisor to then-Secretary Hillary Clinton for the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. The review is a joint effort of the State Dept. and U.S. Agency for International Development that identifies global trends that could result in opportunities or threats. Later that year, McKean reunited with John Kerry, by this time Secretary of State, as his Director of Policy Planning, where he served until his nomination as Ambassador.   read more

Sha’Quille, age 2, was buried in a pink coffin. She had been napping in bed with her father late last month when she discovered the 9mm handgun he often kept under his pillow. It had a laser sight that lit up like the red lights on her cousins’ sneakers. Her dad woke to see Sha’Quille by his bed, bleeding and crying, the gun at her feet. A bullet had pierced her skull. In a country with more than 30,000 annual gun deaths, the smallest fingers on the trigger belong to children like Sha’Quille.   read more

The CDC reported Tuesday that three in four young kids diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are put on medicines. New CDC data shows that's continued, even after research found behavior therapy is as effective and doesn't give children stomach aches, sleep problems or other drug side effects. On Tuesday, CDC officials doubled down on its previous recommendations, calling on doctors and families to try behavior therapy first. The CDC found 75% of the children were on medicine.   read more

So far the effect is subtle, not noticeable to the eye, and can only be detected by intricate chemical tests. But as ocean acidification increases, scientists expect more reefs to dissolve and become flatter, and that fish will leave. Also, increasing acidity eats away at the shells of the shellfish, making them easier prey for other fish and harder for humans to harvest. Scientists expected limestone to dissolve, but not until the second half of this century.   read more

FDA officials attribute the higher smoking rate in the LGBT community to the "coming out" process, which can cause anxiety and social stigma that may drive people to use tobacco. The agency also points to research suggesting the use of tobacco by gay celebrities encourages younger people to take up smoking. The federal campaign "is designed to challenge the perception that tobacco use is a necessary part of LGBT culture," said Richard Wolitski of the Department of Health and Human Services.   read more

While at Gallatin, in 2010 Kotek was named staff director of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, a group studying nuclear waste disposal. He was criticized by some in the nuclear community for recommending Mary Woollen, executive director of Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, to serve on the panel. Kotek returned to the federal government in January 2015 as principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Nuclear Energy, a post he held until being made acting director.   read more

The proposed rule would give Americans major new protections and deliver a serious blow to Wall Street that could cost the industry billions of dollars. In effect, the move by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the biggest that the agency has made since its inception in 2010 — would unravel audacious legal maneuvers by corporate America that have prevented customers from using the court system to challenge potentially deceitful banking practices.   read more

Few could recount another instance where an evening newscast — the symbol of a network news brand — shifted its entire broadcast to a candidate’s home turf. “Is tomorrow night’s show going to be broadcast from Chappaqua?” ThinkProgress editor Judd Legum tweeted, referring to top Democratic contender Hillary Clinton’s residence. The tweet typified the surprised, and in some cases deeply skeptical, response to NBC’s move on social media, where TV's role in Trump’s rise is often fiercely debated.   read more

“[Tom and Jerry] portrays the violence in a funny manner and sends the message that, yes, I can hit him…and I can blow him up with explosives. It becomes set in [the viewer’s] mind that this is natural,” said Ambassador Abdel Sadek. Despite the SIS head’s statements, it does not yet appear that the government will actually take any steps to censor Tom and Jerry or video games. However, Egypt has had a history of censoring movies, primarily due to the sexual content depicted in some scenes.   read more

The move was applauded by public health experts who said the industry needed oversight and who had been waiting nearly seven years for the agency to provide it. But it infuriated many e-cigarette companies, which argued that the rules would crush smaller producers that could not afford the time and lawyers to complete an arduous federal applications process. That would have the effect of buoying big tobacco companies, some argued, many of which have gotten into the e-cigarette business.   read more

It would be the first significant change to a controversial law used to arrest and prosecute more than 500 women over the past decade, including some who used drugs under a doctor’s care. Many women were turned in to authorities by hospitals that conducted drug tests without consent. Alabama is one of three states that permit pregnant women to be arrested and prosecuted for drug use. It's the only state that allows arrests from early stages of pregnancy, even if babies are born unharmed.   read more

Even President Barack Obama's executive branch cannot read the full report, and the National Archives and Records Administration has stonewalled questions about whether it qualifies as a federal record, which would require preservation. The rights groups worry that more history might be lost, and they reminded archivist Ferriero that the CIA has destroyed "crucial video records of the torture program" more than a decade ago, "without NARA's knowledge or authorization."   read more

Money-making hospitals include nonprofits such as the Carle Foundation Hospital in Illinois, where a state appeals court in January ruled a state law allowing hospitals to avoid taxes is unconstitutional. Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing said her city lost 11% of its assessed tax value when Carle stopped paying $6.5 million a year in property taxes. "We need to question this whole idea of what not-for-profit means," Prussing said. "This is a highly profitable business that manages to not pay taxes."   read more

“We are a gun society...but we should be writing gun laws that make us safer,” said police chief Leonard Papania, “Do you want every incident on your street to escalate to acts of gun violence?” In more than a dozen states with long traditions of robust support for gun ownership rights, and where legislatures have relaxed gun laws, local police have been denouncing the measures. They say the new laws expose officers to greater danger and prevent them from doing their jobs effectively.   read more

Under the plan announced Wednesday, wind companies and other power providers could kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles a year without penalty — nearly four times the current limit. Golden eagles could only be killed if companies minimize the losses, such as by retrofitting power poles to reduce electrocution risk. Companies would pay a $36,000 fee for a long-term permit allowing them to kill or injure eagles, and would have to submit reports of how many eagles they kill.   read more