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

Chiquita Brands International, famous for its bananas and other produce, has merged with Fyffes PLC of Ireland. In forming a new enterprise worth $4.6 billion in annual sales, Chiquita will relocate its headquarters to a country with a 12.5% corporate tax rate compared to 35% in the United States. The deal could result in “pre-tax synergies of at least $40 million by 2016,” according to The Street.   read more

Money has gone towards purchasing firefighting equipment and police surveillance technology. Some of it was even spent to prepare for roadside bombs—the kind deployed against American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq that have never been used in South Dakota or any other U.S. state. The only potential threats facing South Dakota, according to a state strategic plan, come from white supremacist groups and environmentalists opposed to uranium mining and the Keystone XL pipeline.   read more

Statistics show that about 90% of heroin users are white men and women who first tried prescription painkillers. Politicians are less likely to act against prescription drugs than they are against heroin because prescription painkillers are produced by pharmaceutical companies that contribute to election campaigns, whereas heroin is distributed by drug cartels that generally do not engage in lobbying.   read more

Confronted with the high-profile problem of immigrant children flooding into the United States, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas have been warned not to speak to members of the media. An internal memo written by Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Eligio “Lee” Peña obtained by the Associated Press revealed the new policy that directs agents not to talk to reporters at any time, on duty or off. Those who do risk being disciplined or even charged with a crime.   read more

A Massachusetts law firm that specialized in helping kick people out of their homes is now facing homelessness itself. Connolly, Geaney, Ablitt & Willard has fallen on hard times after years of working with banks to foreclose on properties. The firm has gone through a series of layoffs and has significantly reduced its 150-person staff. And now it may be evicted from its headquarters in Woburn.   read more

U.S. companies are reaping big benefits from the Iraqi government’s battle with ISIS militias. Three sales, including some big-ticket items, announced last month will put nearly $1 billion in the pockets of American defense contractors if Congress approves the sales. Beechcraft Defense Co. and eight other contractors are selling 24 AT-6C Texan II aircraft, plus spares and other equipment to Iraq. That deal is worth about $790 million.   read more

Caitlan Coleman was taken hostage in October 2012 by the Taliban with her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle, while they were traveling through Afghanistan. Coleman was pregnant at the time and gave birth while in captivity. Boyle’s ex-wife, Zaynab Khadr, is the sister of the only Canadian to be held at Guantánamo Bay, Omar Khadr, who was transferred to Canadian custody in 2012.   read more

In one case, a single reviewer at one company “completed” 15,152 background investigations in just one month (a daily average of more than 500), “with most of these occurring within minutes of each other on multiple days,” the IG’s report states. The audit also discovered at least 17 investigation reports were turned into OPM without a manager at the contractor first reviewing them, which went against procedure.   read more

Lerner is former director of the IRS exempt organizations unit, which evaluates applications from groups for tax-exempt status. She has been the focus of investigations by House Republicans. Now, the IRS says it’s unable to deliver emails between Lerner and those outside the IRS from January 2009 to April 2011. Included in that group are messages to and from the White House, the Federal Election Commission and other agencies.   read more

Gibson’s career in some ways closely tracks that of another Obama administration official. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel served in the Army as a young man, was deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration for a time during the Reagan administration, and later, while working in private industry, was president and CEO of the USO.   read more

In the EU and much of the rest of the world, if a product presents a credible threat of danger to human or environmental health, it’s restricted or banned. In the United States, the regulatory agencies mandate a high level of proof that a product is dangerous before its use is restricted. The U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulates chemicals used in this country, but the process of taking a chemical off store shelves can take years.   read more

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) had filed a Freedom of Information Act suit against the DOJ to learn how the government uses the Patriot Act to gather the communications records of millions of Americans. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the release of five documents sought by EFF. In her opinion, she questioned the government’s practice of withholding documents that have subsequently been found to be suitable for at least partial release.   read more

At least 28 people have been killed by CBP personnel since 2010, and an internal review of the agency’s shooting policy was kept under wraps for more than a year before coming to light. In light of these troubles, CBP’s head of internal affairs for the past eight years, James F. Tomsheck, was moved to another assignment this week. Tomsheck’s supporters say he was made a scapegoat for a system that wasn’t interested in righting its wrongs.   read more

In 2007, Cerar became Slovenia’s representative to NATO. He returned to Ljubljana to serve again as state secretary in the foreign ministry in 2012. Since coming to Washington, Cerar has been active in the Slovenian-American community, including a stint as a judge of a polka contest at the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame.   read more

In 2009, he was made ambassador to China for two years. Tupouniua then returned home as secretary for Foreign Affairs and subsequently as secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2013, Tupouniua went to New York to assume his posts at the UN and as ambassador to the United States.   read more

At least four vehicles transporting these radioactive materials have been stolen since 2005, according to the GAO. Some companies use a loophole in Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations that makes storage requirements less stringent for smaller amounts of nuclear materials. So the companies with large amounts of the materials simply divide them up and store them in smaller containers.   read more