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

Plaintiffs claim that the company has known that their drinks breached the safety level. When Proposition 65 was passed in California, Pepsi gave the public the impression it had complied with the new chemical requirement when, in fact, it had not. The soft drink maker intentionally misled the public, said the complaint. The lawsuit also argues that many consumers drink more than one 12-ounce serving of Pepsi a day, putting them at an even greater risk from unhealthy exposure to the chemical.   read more

Navy officials Tofalo and Richardson reportedly told associates to pressure lawmakers into paying $90 billion for Ohio class sub replacements. Creating a separate, off-budget fund to finance Navy projects has been rejected in the past and, in the form of the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund, was turned down again this year by the House Appropriations Committee. The Navy is reviewing the two officials’ statements, but POGO is calling for an independent review by the Government Accountability Office.   read more

The dependence on Facebook for news is highest (61%) among Millennials, who were born between 1982 and 2004. Only 37% of them turn to local television for stories. Among Gen Xers, 51% said they use Facebook more than any other source, while 46% rely on local TV. This group was born between 1961 and 1981. Baby Boomers are just the opposite from their younger cohorts. Sixty percent of them (born between 1946 and 1960) turn on their televisions for news, while 39% check on Facebook.   read more

It’s the oldest trick in the book—when Dad tells you no, ask Mom if you can do it. Now President Barack Obama is playing that game with the surveillance of Americans’ phone records. The Obama administration, on the same day the USA Freedom Act became law on June 2, went to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court) with a request (pdf) to continue sweeping up phone records during a six-month “transition” period before the Freedom Act provisions take effect.   read more

Chevalier collected more than $122,000 from 1,246 backers ostensibly to fund “The Doom That Came to Atlantic City.” But instead of producing a game, he spent the money on rent and other things. For that, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created a game of its own—“Prosecute Kickstarter Fraud” and Chevalier was the first player.   read more

One of Pfizer’s antibiotics suppliers in China, NCPC, discharges pharmaceutical waste into the environment. Generic drug company McKesson contracts with an Indian company, Aurobindo, which in turn gets drug supplies from four polluting Chinese factories. And Teva, based in Israel, deals with three Chinese companies that “have been in the Chinese media spotlight for various offenses including improper waste management and the release of noxious chemicals.”   read more

Inmates in private prisons spent 4% to 7% longer incarcerated after accounting for type of crime and length of original sentence. That amounted to 60 to 90 days longer for the average inmate. Private prisons are paid by states on a per-diem basis, meaning a set amount for each day a prisoner is incarcerated. That means the corporations running the prisons are incentivized to keep prisoners longer. This is accomplished by increasing the number of infractions per inmate.   read more

Doherty returned to Washington in 2010 as director of the State Department’s Office of European Union and Regional Affairs and in September 2011 was made deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. She went back to Rome in August 2013 as deputy chief of mission, remaining in that post until her nomination as ambassador.   read more

The Walmart manuals require that drivers must not drive within 10 hours of a previous stint. The compensation for that mandatory layover is $42, or $4.20 an hour. That’s considerably less than minimum wage. Walmart argued that the workers weren’t working during those 10 hours, but the judge cited California code that defined hours worked as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer.   read more

South Dakotans for Responsible Lending is gathering signatures to put a question on the November 2016 South Dakota ballot that would limit the interest charged by payday loan outfits to 36% per year. Payday lenders are crying foul, saying rates that low would force them out of business. The average interest rate on a South Dakota payday loan now hovers around 574%.   read more

The report listed examples of systems for which the development costs wildly exceeded the original estimates. The AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder air-to-air missile, an update of the mainstay of the Air Force and Navy for a half century, came in at 114% over estimate. The MQ-9 Reaper drone was 104% over its estimate.   read more

the war produced 149,000 fatalities in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2001 to April 2014. Included in the figures are U.S. military personnel, non-U.S. Allied troops, contractors, Taliban, al Qaeda and other opposition fighters—as well as more than 47,000 civilians from both countries. There have been 26,270 Afghan civilians killed and 21,500 Pakistanis.   read more

On February 10, 2013, Louis W. Uccellini was made director of the National Weather Service (NWS). The appointment of Uccellini, an expert on blizzards, came shortly after Superstorm Sandy raked the Northeast. Uccellini has written extensively on weather, including co-authoring a two-volume publication, Northeast Snowstorms.   read more

CBP officer Jose Rafael Ducos Bello reported fraud and waste at his agency. He told the committee that he was subjected to so much retaliation that it affected his son, who tried to commit suicide. Michael Keegan, a former Social Security associate commissioner, said he was isolated from other workers and “confined to an empty office” after saying agency officials misled Congress about a building project. Whistleblower is “a term that has become radioactive and derogatory,” said Col. Amerine.   read more

Representatives from six South Pacific countries recently announced that they intend to sue carbon polluters for their role in causing climate change. The plaintiffs are vulnerable to rising sea levels and greater storm activity brought on by climate change. Those wanting to bring the polluters to justice face several hurdles, a big one being finding a court in which to sue. U.S. federal courts are an option, but might not work because polluters in America are covered by the Clean Air Act.   read more

The 2015 Women’s Media Center report shows that women fill only 30% to 40% of positions in the news business. Women produce only 37.3% of news in the U.S. The numbers are even worse in TV news. Women comprise only 32% of news anchors or reporters. Women are most likely to be producers, but as the prestige of a producing job increased, the likelihood of it being filled by a woman fell. On Sunday television talk shows, women comprised only 14% of those interviewed and 29% of roundtable guests.   read more