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

CD revenues fell 12% to $1.85 billion in 2014. Meanwhile, streaming services accounted for $1.87 billion in revenue, up 29% from the year before. Digital downloads from services such as iTunes were the biggest money-maker at $2.6 billion, but even that figure was down 8.5% from 2013.   read more

The U.S. system of oil pipelines has grown in size by nearly 25% over the past decade. This expansion has resulted in more than 11,600 miles of pipeline being laid, much in the western half of the country. Compare that to Keystone, which would stretch only 1,179 miles. Keystone’s oil carrying capacity would be dramatically less than what’s now flowing through many states via the new pipelines. As they expand, regulators have been almost powerless to ensure that existing pipelines are safe.   read more

Judge William Garnett said the Legal Aid Society and others did not provide sufficient reason under the law to release the transcripts. A Garner family attorney blasted Garnett’s ruling. “I think it’s unfortunate given the great deal of public interest in this case that he’s refused to provide the public access to any of the materials in the grand jury,” he said. “Secret grand juries are an anachronism. The judge has essentially sanctioned the use of a secret trial for a very public matter."   read more

The mission proved costly for the police force, which lost 44 men during the botched raid. Thirty-five members of the elite unit were picked off in a cornfield one by one by Moro Islamic Liberation Front snipers. The surviving commandoes weren’t even able to bring back Marwan’s body as a result of getting attacked by the Moro fighters. They had to settle for cutting off Marwan’s finger to prove to the FBI that the bomb maker, who was on the bureau’s list of most wanted terrorists, was dead.   read more

“The managers told me to put mustard on it, but I ended up having to get rushed to the hospital in an ambulance,” Berry said. The selection of condiment as a balm appears to be a matter of personal preference among McDonald’s managers. Martisse Campbell, who works at a Philadelphia McDonald’s, said that a co-worker who was badly burned was told by a manager to “put mayo on it, and he’d be good.”   read more

Katherine Simonds Dhanani was nominated February 24, 2015, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Somalia. If she’s confirmed, the career Foreign Service officer would be the first ambassador to Somalia since the embassy was closed in 1991. If Dhanani is confirmed, she’ll initially be stationed in Nairobi, Kenya, until a suitable secure facility in constructed in Somalia.   read more

AP reported federal agencies “took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn't find documents and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy.” The administration admitted that in about 30% of the cases in which it kept information hidden, those decisions were wrong and violated the law. The number of unanswered FOIA requests grew by 55% last year, resulting in a current backlog of more than 200,000.   read more

“Finally, the church in its constitutional documents fully recognizes that the love of gays and lesbian couples is worth celebrating in the faith community,” said Rev. Brian D. Ellison. “There is still disagreement, and I don’t mean to minimize that, but I think we are learning that we can disagree and still be church together.” The church has lost members and entire parishes in recent years following earlier pro-gay changes, such as ordaining gays and lesbians as pastors, elders and deacons.   read more

In a move long fought by Big Pharma, the FDA has approved the first generic version of a biologic drug in the U.S., which could reduce the amount of money spent on the specialty medications. The Zarxio approval will directly affect the sales of Amgen’s Neupogen, which also targets chemo patients with infections. Amgen has gone to court in an effort to block the sale of Zarxio. Its availability in the U.S. market could save $5.7 billion in drug costs over the next 10 years   read more

Machen claimed the omitted information uncovered so far was “minimal in quantity” and had, in most cases, already been provided to the defense through other means. But some defense attorneys were upset at the news and wondered just how big a problem the district has on its hands. They also questioned why prosecutors, as opposed to defense attorneys, are the ones who are deciding whether or not the missing data would have had an impact on the cases.   read more

“Those sentenced to death are almost three times as likely to see their death sentence overturned on appeal and to be resentenced to a lesser penalty than they are to be executed,” wrote the authors. “Regardless of one’s view of the death penalty in principle, these numbers raise questions about how the death penalty is applied in practice. The wide differences across states in the odds of carrying out a death sentence are potentially troubling from an equal protection standpoint."   read more

Defense officials have met privately with members of Congress to inform them about the huge loss. “We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” said a legislative aide. The Shiite Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, “have taken over many Yemeni military bases in the northern part of the country, including some in Sana’a that were home to U.S.-trained counter-terrorism units. Other bases have been overrun by fighters from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” wrote the Post.   read more

Inside S&P 500 companies, women of color make up 0.4% of CEOs, according to ThinkProgress. If you’re a Latina woman, there’s no one who looks like you in the top job—no S&P 500 company has a Latina chief executive. White women do much better than women of color; they make up 4.4% of CEOs. That’s still not saying much—they’re 31% of the workforce in general. Women of color hold just 3.1% of all board seats for S&P 500 companies, and 3.9% of all executive positions.   read more

Iberdrola, Spain’s largest electricity provider but hardly a name familiar to most Americans, has raked in more than $2 billion—billion with a “b”—from the U.S. Treasury by investing in American power plants and renewable forms of energy, such as wind farms, according to a report from Good Jobs First. The funds come via a provision in the 2009 Recovery Act that allows companies to take cash payments in lieu of tax credits for some investments.   read more

Schock, 33, has been accused of spending taxpayer funds on redesigning his office with a “Downton Abbey” theme, claiming reimbursement for more miles than his car had been driven, paying for a personal photographer out of congressional office funds and other misspending. Prior to his downfall, Schock was known by some as the nation’s “fittest congressman” after he posed shirtless for Men’s Health. Back in 1792, John Brown of Kentucky resigned from the House in 1792 at the age of 35.   read more

Researchers examined data from nearly 3,500 volunteers, all in their 30s, whose development has been closely watched since they were babies. They found those who were breastfed for a year or more had IQ test scores that were 3.76 points higher than those who were breast-fed for less than one month. Furthermore, those who were breastfed the longest remained in school longer and had monthly salaries that were about a third higher.   read more