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 agency’s environmental impact statement warned drilling could have serious negative effects on the region, with a 75% risk of a large oil spill in an area where it would be virtually impossible to clean up. And yet, Interior officials decided to allow the drilling to go ahead. “Our Arctic ocean is flat out the worst place on Earth to drill for oil,” said Niel Lawrence. “The world’s last pristine sea, it is both too fragile to survive a spill and too harsh and remote for effective cleanup.”   read more

Questions of legality surface since nonprofits like Right to Rise are supposed to operate independent of a candidate’s campaign. It will be able to collect unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations without disclosing their identities. “This is going to be an avenue for dark money," said Public Citizen's Craig Holman. And what kind of impact it will have on fundraising during the 2016 race? "Others are going to copy it in short order,” predicted FEC attorney Ken Gross.   read more

Angie’s List, a popular website that crowd-sources ratings for services, has halted its expansion in Indianapolis. The impact: $40 million and 1,000 jobs. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the largest labor unions in the country, has decided not to hold its women’s conference planned for October in Indianapolis. The impact: $500,000. The NCAA, which oversees major college sports, said it might reconsider hosting events in Indiana in response to the law.   read more

The SEC ruled that KBR’s actions had the potential to intimidate workers from reporting allegations of fraud. This was done “by requiring its employees and former employees to sign confidentiality agreements imposing pre-notification requirements before contacting the SEC,” said SEC's Andrew Ceresney. Former KBR employee Harry Barko had sued the contractor, accusing it and Halliburton of inflating the cost of a military supply contract for U.S. bases in Iraq.   read more

The local city council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that protects atheists in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. They now join the city’s long list of protected classes that include sex, race, religion, color, age, disability, gender identity, and political beliefs. “This is important because I believe it is only fair that if we protect religion, in all its varieties, we should also protect non-religion from discrimination,” said sponsor Anita Weier.   read more

The requirement was included in Senate Bill 1318, approved this week by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. “It has no data behind it, absolutely no science to show that this is an effective method," said Dr. Ilana Addis.“If ever there is an example of Legislative overreach, this would be it," said Dr. Eric Reuss. "There is absolutely no evidence-based data that the [medication abortion] process can be reversed. If passed, our state government will force physicians to impart hearsay to their patients.”   read more

“Better-informed patients are more likely to take better care of themselves, comply with prescription drug regimens and even detect early-warning signals of illness,” said Steve Lohr. Some hospitals are starting to see the wisdom of letting patients access their records online. Not all hospitals have embraced data sharing. “The problem is that you have institutions whose business models do not favor sharing information, either with other hospitals or patients,” said professor Ben Shneiderman.   read more

Governor Andrew Cuomo had promised the new ethics measures would clean up the state legislature. But the state’s top law enforcement official said, “It is hard to see how these changes in the law will have any meaningful effect on public corruption.” Among other things, the changes don’t address a loophole in state law that permits businesses to give large campaign donations as smaller gifts in an effort to disguise who’s giving the money.   read more

At least three major financial institutions—Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs—have separately said wind and solar power projects won’t be deterred by cheap oil. Financial experts say petroleum and renewable energy are more exclusive of one another than many people realize. Oil is vital for automobiles and home heating, but provides only 1% of the electrical generation in the U.S. Solar, wind and hydropower, however, contribute to 12% of the electricity on the grid.   read more

Such a change was soundly rejected by survey respondents, with 87% saying at-will would politicize their ranks, weaken morale and possibly drive talented people from the federal workforce.More than 90% said making members of the SES at-will employees would discourage them from disagreeing with their political bosses, or increase the likelihood of being fired if they did speak up. One survey respondent said, “It will convert the SES into a cadre of political hacks.”   read more

Lawyer Matt Anderson said the law opens up “the path of least resistance among its species to have a court adjudicate it in a manner that could ultimately be used to discriminate…" It “explicitly applies to disputes between private citizens,” said ThinkProgress. “This means it could be used as a cudgel by corporations to justify discrimination against individuals that might otherwise be protected.” The law already took root elsewhere; Arkansas on Tuesday passed a bill nearly identical to it.   read more

Judge Ramos ruled that Restis will “not get [his] day in court, but cannot be told why.” Glenn Greenwald called the ruling “a truly stunning debasement of the U.S. justice system” that “occurred through the joint efforts of the Obama Justice Department and a meek and frightened Obama-appointed federal judge, Edgardo Ramos, all in order to protect an extremist neocon front group from scrutiny and accountability. The details are crucial for understanding the magnitude of the abuse here.”   read more

Suspicion was first raised when Mo Hailong was found to be snooping around Iowa corn fields owned by Monsanto and Pioneer. The FBI began to investigate the Mos, tapping cellphone calls and going through email. “Stealing hybrid seeds enhanced with traits such as drought resistance doesn’t pose the same immediate threat as a suicide bomber, but the FBI treats economic espionage and similar trade secret theft as dangerous threats to national security,” wrote the Register's Grant Rodgers.   read more

Times are good for veterans seeking work, either with the federal government or in general. The Office of Personnel Management has reported that a third of all new hires by federal agencies last year were veterans, a record. The increase is a result of the Veterans Employment Initiative, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009 to increase the number of veterans in civil service positions. The effort has involved establishing liaisons at every agency to recruit veterans.   read more

Deborah Maynard will deliver the invocation early this month before the Iowa House of Representatives, marking a first for the legislative body. Maynard was asked to appear before lawmakers by her representative, Liz Bennett, a Democrat from Linn County, who was looking for someone different to give the invocation. Bennett has drawn criticism for the selection of Maynard."I am a little bit surprised that it has become as controversial as it has,” Bennett told KCCI.   read more

The smartphone owners were sent daily messages informing them of the number of times their personal information—current location, incoming and outgoing phone calls, their contacts lists—had been shared with app companies. One message read: “Your location has been shared 5,398 times with Facebook, Groupon...and seven other apps in the last 14 days.” People were taken off guard. One person reacted: “4,182 (times) – are you kidding me? It felt like I’m being followed by my own phone. It was scary."   read more