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 accident occurred to a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile assigned to the 90th Missile Wing in northern Colorado, the Air Force reported. The missile was damaged while the airmen were troubleshooting a problem with a diagnostic test. An investigation found that the maintenance team chief did not follow the technical guidance, said the Air Force. The team chief and two of his airmen were decertified but returned to duty after being retrained and certified.   read more

Since the beginning of the campaign, 120 allegations of civilian casualties had been received, 87 of which were deemed not credible. This latest news brings the total number of civilians likely killed to 16. In one case an air strike targeting 16 bridges likely killed a civilian driving a truck with a trailer, said Central Command. In another case, a secondary explosion from a vehicle near the intended target probably killed a civilian. Four others were wounded in strikes in Syria and Iraq.   read more

Bergdahl's legal team has been monitoring statements by the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination as possibly affecting their client's right to a fair trial. Fidell said the defense has compiled an eight-page log of "some of the various appalling comments that Mr. Trump has made in an effort to – it's like a lynch mob actually – to incite ill will and vilification of Sgt. Bergdahl. [Trump] may wind up facing a defamation case down the road,"   read more

Cigna had "widespread and systemic failures" that prevented patients from accessing medical services. and it didn't handle complaints and grievances properly from patients who had been denied coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Officials also found Cigna didn't handle its requests for prior authorization and exceptions as it should have. These deficiencies posed "a serious threat to the health and safety of Medicare beneficiaries" and followed years of noncompliance.   read more

Many managers and staff dealing with emissions problems in the department knew of or were involved in developing the "defeat devices." A culture of collective secrecy prevailed, where the installation of the defeat software that would cause the carmaker's biggest ever corporate crisis was openly discussed as long ago as 2006. VW has said it is not aware of any involvement by top management in the affair, which toppled its chief executive last year and is likely to cost billions of dollars.   read more

U.S. security officials intercepted a record 2,653 firearms - 83 percent of them loaded - from carry-on bags at airport security checkpoints in 2015, a 20 percent increase from the previous year, TSA said on Thursday. The firearms were intercepted at 236 airports, 12 more than in 2014, TSA said. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport seized the most guns in 2015 with 153, followed by international airports in Atlanta with 144, Houston with 100, Denver with 90 and Phoenix with 73, TSA reported.   read more

Susan Hedman, the second official to resign over the crisis, had played down an EPA memo that said tests had shown high levels of lead in the city's water, telling Flint and Michigan administrators it was only a draft report. "Our strength can become a weakness if we interpret our responsibility as ending with simple technical compliance," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. The White House said President Obama will ensure officials will be held accountable if any wrongdoing is found.   read more

To help the incumbent's chances at Sunday's poll, Prime Minister Abe's government has dangled prospects of a bigger budget for Okinawa, backing for a Disney resort and aid for impoverished children. Defeat would galvanize resistance to moving the airbase to the less populated Henoko area as agreed with the U.S. two decades ago. The opposition candidate, like Okinawa's governor and many island voters, resents hosting the majority of U.S. troops in Japan and wants the base off Okinawa altogether.   read more

One cause Jackson took up was a fight against cholera. He coordinated the installation of 100 latrines in Cameroon to provide decent sanitation. He also worked to promote trade between that country and the U.S. Jackson testified to Congress on multiple occasions about the Boko Haram kidnapping of girls in Nigeria. He said in an interview that he’d wanted to join the Foreign Service since he read “The Ugly American” as an eighth-grader.   read more

Coal has been the primary source of fuel for U.S. power plants for the last century, but its use has been declining since peaking in 2007, which is expected to continue as the federal government imposes rules to limit carbon emissions. EIA said gas produced a record high 37 million megawatt hours per day of electricity on average during the first ten months of 2015. Coal, meanwhile, produced about 39 MWh per day. One megawatt is enough to power about 1,000 U.S. homes.   read more

"As the role of the Internet in the daily lives of consumers increases, this means an increased potential for surveillance," said the letter to FCC chairman Wheeler. Critics say providers are already harvesting huge amounts of consumer data for use in targeted advertising. "This can create a chilling effect on speech and increase the potential for discriminatory practices derived from data use," the letter said. Wheeler said providers must make sure data they collect about consumers is secure.   read more

The justices will consider whether Obama violated the Constitution, raising the possibility that the court could limit the reach of a president’s executive authority. In 2008, Obama ran for president criticizing President George W. Bush’s expansive use of executive power, which included a warrantless wiretapping program and indefinite detention of terror suspects. Once in office, Obama continued many of Bush’s counterterrorism policies and has zealously guarded presidential power.   read more

From medical marijuana growers to pot private equity firms, many weed entrepreneurs see Mexico as a tempting new business opportunity even though cannabis is still illegal and the market is currently controlled by ruthless drug cartels. Daniel Sparks of BioTrackTHC, a U.S.-based marijuana software firm, said that just as bootleggers gave up on illicit moonshine after Prohibition ended in the U.S., Mexico's drug gangs would have little interest in a legal marijuana market.   read more

Joint employment has emerged as a major issue in franchising, contracting, temporary staffing and other arrangements in which companies use workers but do not directly employ them. The guidance comes as the Obama administration is moving to make millions more Americans eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA. It is also part of a broader federal government push to hold employers accountable to workers.   read more

The EPA said Tuesday that while it "worked within the framework of the law to repeatedly and urgently communicate the steps the state needed to take to properly treat its water, those necessary (EPA) actions were not taken as quickly as they should have been." The agency said its oversight was hampered "by failures and resistance at the state and local levels to work with us in a forthright, transparent and proactive manner."   read more

The FBI report, grouping data from almost 13,000 police agencies, reported increases in murders, manslaughter, two definitions of rape, aggravated assaults and robberies. Murders rose 6.2 percent in the first half of last year, compared with the same period in 2014. Aggravated assaults rose 2.3 percent and robberies were up 0.3 percent. Rapes that includes penetration rose 1.1 percent. Rapes categorized under an older definition of forcible carnal knowledge of a female were up almost 10 percent.   read more